Adriano Zumbo Pâtissier, South Yarra

I’m sure all foodies and dessert lovers in Australia would have at some stage heard of his name. At least you may have seen his famous croquembouche on MasterChef Australia which torments the contestants time after time.

Even though I must say I don’t have a huge sweet tooth, I still love ordering desserts just so I can gawk at their prettiness.

I’ve been wanting to visit Adriano’s Sydney based shops for a long time but never had the chance, so when he decided to open a shop down in Melbourne, I was super excited.

Tucked away on Claremont St in South Yarra (right next to Two Birds One Stone), you’d need to know it was there or else it’s easily miss-able.

The shop is not big by any means but everything about it screams ZUMBO. You definitely can’t miss what the shop’s all about.

There’s not a lot of seating at the shop so takeaway is what most people would opt for. I wasn’t about to give up though. Luckily, as soon as I made my order, a table became free and I rushed over before any other patrons got to it. Sorry guys, I need that table to take my photos on.

As we went fairly late in the day, there weren’t too many desserts left. I ordered the Secret Carrot’s Business ($9) for myself purely because I thought it was the prettiest dessert there. I actually don’t like carrots. So in hindsight this was a bad choice. It wasn’t the cheapest dessert you can get as it’s about the same price as Chez Dre which I like a lot more so it’s just so-so in terms of value.

The dessert was made up of fluffy carrot sponge on the top, a dense cheesecake base, bits of dehydrated carrots, tempered white chocolate, droplets of lemon curd and cream cheese mousse in between the layers. I loved the veggie patch look and thought it was quite creative without being over the top, but the combination of flavours didn’t really wow me.

The second dessert we got was the Dr Dot ($9.50). It was the better dessert out of the two with a dark chocolate glaze, creamy chocolatey mousse, a tangy raspberry vinegar jelly to cut some of the sweetness and a pistachio nougat to add that crunchy texture.

It got a little heavy at the end so we ordered a tea to help us wash it all down. I loved the colour combination of the tea set – it seemed very Zumbo-like.

To top off the visit, we also got a macaron each. Yes I know I said I didn’t have a sweet tooth, but when I see those beautiful morsels sitting in that window beckoning me to buy them, I just couldn’t help myself.

We chose the salted butter popcorn ($2.50) and the malted milkshake ($2.50). The salted butter popcorn was quite chewy which Yuye liked and wasn’t overly sweet. I liked the popcorn flavour and little bits of popcorn on top which gave it a different texture.

The malted milkshake was not as chewy and had a distinct malt flavour. Both macarons were not bad, although I would rather eat La Belle Miette’s macarons in a heartbeat. They were nevertheless creative flavours.

Would I return? If I was in the area and perhaps only for takeaway – it’s not entirely worth fighting for a table. If I had to travel for my cake craving, I would rather visit Chez Dre or La Belle Miette. With that said though, it wasn’t at all bad and definitely worth a visit if you have a sweet tooth.

Adriano Zumbo Pâtissier

Address: 12 -14 Claremont St South Yarra, VIC 3141
Phone: 1800 858 611
Website: http://www.adrianozumbo.com/
Opening Hours: Monday-Sunday 7am-7pm