Zumbo Magic

We spent last weekend in Sydney, and took the opportunity to make tracks to the patisserie(s) of Adriano Zumbo, he of Masterchef fame. After catching the ferry to Balmain and walking the 1.5km to the patisserie we were greeted with a lineup of about 40 people - a line that hardly moved at all...
Not ones to stand in line for hours, we decided to push on to his newer cafe/patisserie in Rozelle, a further 1.5km walk. No one can say we didn't earn our sweeties that day! There was still a bit of a line out the door, but we probably only waited about 15 minutes, so we were ok with that.
We chose a passion fruit tart, a pear & almond tart, and "one of each" of the available flavours (10) of macaroons. I can't say that macaroons look terribly enticing to me, but Adriano is well-known for them, and we were there, so we thought "why not".
My skepticism was entirely unfounded - the macaroons were delicious and the texture of the pastry was such that it felt like it melted on the tongue. The downside of this is that I may never be able to enjoy macaroons made by anyone else. (Sidenote: I love strawberries and hate anything 'strawberry-flavoured', but the strawberry & cream macaroon was delightful!)
The tarts were also completely out of this world. Beautiful buttery pastry with a hint of cinnamon (oh, how I love thee). The creamy texture of the passion fruit tart was offset by the slightest bit of tartness which also beautifully complemented the subtle passion fruit taste. On the other tart, again the pear taste was subtle and only slightly sweet, with the toasted almonds adding a really nice crunch to the mix.
I am so sold on this guy! :) Definitely worth the walk.