Macarons – ohdenny

Adriano Zumbo’s DIY Salted Caramel Macarons

November 7, 2014 Posted in Baking1 Comment

Because my attempts at making macarons had been less than fruitful, I decided to try doing it the easy way and just buy one of those Macaron-mixes. With Adriano Zumbo’s macarons being quite famously known, I was quite excited to try his Salted Caramel pack and going off the instructions it seemed pretty straight forward without the need for Italian meringue or Swiss meringue fuss.

Adriano Zumbo – Salted Caramel Macarons (DIY)

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 36 minutes
Serves: 15

Ingredients
Shells
¼ cup (62 ml) water
Baking paper
Baking trays

Filling
1 ½ tbsp. (30 g) soft salted butter
¼ tsp sea salt flakes (optional)

Zumbo Pack
Almond Meal
Egg White Mix
Caramel
Stencil and Piping Bags (x2)

Method

Shells
1. Preheat oven to 160C (140C fan forced). Trim baking paper to fit baking trays.

2. Using the ring provided, trace inner circles on the back of the baking paper, leaving 2cm gap between each.

3. In a small bowl, whip meringue mix and water with an electric mixer on medium speed, until it begins to thicken, increase to maximum speed for 4 minutes or until very stiff.

4. Sift almond base over meringue (pushing through any lumps). Combine thoroughly with a spatula.

5. Using the electric mixer, pulse for a second then check beaters. Batter should slide very slowly off the beaters. Only pulse again if still too thick (Do not over-pulse)

6. Transfer mix to piping bag, cut off the tip and pipe onto baking paper. Allow to stand for 10 minutes. (Makes at least 40 shells)

7. Bake trays one at a time for 14-18 minutes. Macarons are done when the ‘feet’ have just set. Slide baking paper onto a bench to cool completely. Carefully peel off shells and sort the best 30 shells into matching pairs.

Filling
1. In a bowl, beat caramel filling and soft butter on low speed using an electric mixer until combined. Beat on high for 2 minutes. If using, stir through salt flakes. Transfer mix to remaining piping bag. Pipe onto one macaron shell and sandwich together.

Impressions

The macarons come out beautifully with ‘feet’! What a joyous feeling that is and relatively easy to do. I think the key thing with the macarons is just knowing what the stiff mixture looks like (it isn’t as stiff as a normal meringue would be though)

The macaron shells have just enough air, and also slightly chewy. The filling although ridiculously rich with sugar and butter is delicious and smooth. If you want to make macarons the easy way, I think this will suit you just fine. However, if you like to be a bit creative and go beyond the standard flavours, trying to do it the traditional way would be the way to go.

Zumbo Patisserie Melbourne

December 27, 2013 Posted in Desserts, Food Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, South YarraLeave a comment

Anyone who has ever watched Masterchef would probably know of the name Zumbo. Known for his intricate and complex desserts and in particular the V8 cake and the Zumbo Macarons Tower, he has certainly made a name for himself all across Australia.

Zumbo Patisserie has finally reached Melbourne, and it picks a hot spot too in South Yarra. Conveniently located minutes walk from the South Yarra railway station and in between newly develop(ing) apartments and Toorak Road. South Yarra has become the dessert place to be with the likes of LuxBite and Burch & Purchese.

The Zumbo store is smaller than I expected, and yet they manage to showcase a variety of their larger cakes, mini cakes and desserts, macarons and pastries.

From top left: V8 (8″), Apple Fields (8″), Non Che Nudo Ka, Lemon Meringue, Secret Carrot’s Business

From bottom left: V8 (6″), Dr Dot, Apple Fields (6″)

From left: Orange & Coconut, Decorated Fondant, Mylo Sacher Cyrus, Capsicum & Peanut

From left: (Minis) Dr Dot, Secret Carrot’s Business, The Annoying Orange Cake, Non Che Nudo Ka

From left: Lemon Meringue Tart, Tart Aux Fruits De La Passion

Macaron Flavours on the day (Subject to change): Pandan & Sticky Rice Pudding, Yoghurt & Passionfruit, Francesco Brownie, Salted Butter Caramel Toast, Toasted Marshmallow, Ghana Milk Chocolate, Blueberry Pancake, Caramel, Apple Pie, Fingerbun, Passionfruit & Basil, Meat Pie (Movember)

During November, all the Macaron boxes were in support for Movember as well as the very interesting Meat Pie which I didn’t have a chance to try.

Assortment of pastries and the Zonuts

I managed to (barely) bring back a few cakes and macarons. You can see they are a little bit travelled. We have here the Annoying Orange Cake, Apple Fields and Dr Dot as well as the macarons with the flavours listed below.

Macarons

From left to right we have Apple Pie, Salted butter caramel on toast, Salted butter popcorn, Blueberry pancake, Fingerbun (fruit bread like), Pandan & sticky rice.

The Pandan & sticky rice macarons was something I was very keen to try. I found the pandan flavour to be too mild, very subtle. The texture of the slightly hard sticky rice makes it interesting to eat but with the pandan flavour lacking it didn’t really work as well as I hoped it would. It also goes without saying for all the six macarons that the shells are some of the best in Melbourne. Just enough bite to shell and still moist with the almond meal inside but not too much air in the shells’.

The Salted butter caramel on toast was also superb, the salty caramel filling that is just salted enough to complement the sweetness of the caramel and the slightly viscous nature of the caramel both sticky yet still retaining enough bite was just perfection.

Salted butter popcorn was, unfortunately, a bit of a letdown. You can see it very much looks like popcorn, but the flavour of the filling just tasted like whipped butter. The flavour of just popped buttered popcorn was almost non existent.

The Apple Pie was quite the delight to eat, packed full of flavour in the filling. It really does remind you of eating a apple danish of some sort. Excellent in every way, the freshness of the apple filling really makes it top notch.

The Fingerbun wasn’t something I was very familiar with but after trying this it definitely reminded me of a fruit cake. I checked what the Fingerbuns were and my assessment of what it was (sweet bread with sultanas and icing) seemed to be roughly on point. Flavourwise, I liked it but not being much of a fruit cake/bread fan it’s not something I’d immediately order again.

Lucky last was the Blueberry pancake macaron. Again, a milder tasting blueberry flavour but enough sweetness and slightly tart.

Overall the macarons I found weren’t overly sweet but with macarons they are basically packed full of sugar so that’s expected.

Cakes

The annoying orange cake is made of flourless chocolate cake, orange caramel, olive sable, chocolate & clove mousse, orange & white chocolate jam. It reminded me of the Jaffa lollies because of the chocolate and oranges. The chocolate cake was very light and the orange flavoured caramel, and jam complemented the cake well. The orange zest also gave it a boost of orange which I found to be very pleasant on the palette.

The Apple Fields cake made of malt shortbread, sunflower praline crunch, honey cremeaux,sunflower chiffon cake, roasted apple jelly compote, apple mousse, was delicious. The apple flavour just oozed out of the compote (jelly) along with the mousse. Very distinct layers all complementing each other well, with none overpowering one over the other. Soft, sweet and bursting full of apples. Lovely

The Dr. Dot is made of chocolate sable, white nougat, roasted cocoa hib, creme brulee, raspberry vinegar jelly, gianduja mousse, dark chocolate glaze all in their distinct layers surrounded by the mousse and glaze. I absolutely adored this cake, probably because of the chocolate and raspberry working stupendously well together. I love a good raspberry jelly and this was one of them. Smooth but still retaining the essence and texture of raspberries and the nutty nougat gives it a bit of crunch. I thought it had hazelnut flavour in it too, but that seems not to be the case. The mousse is super smooth and ridiculously light. Even looking at the photos again makes me want to taste it again.

Impressions

Although the impressions of many Melburnians seemed to have mixed feelings about the quality of the food here, I still think it has earned its place. Not everything hits the mark, and the prices lean on the more expensive side of things but for special occasions I think it’s reasonable.

The very complex V8 cakes were surprisingly expensive but after much thought realised of how much work would go into these cakes (the 6″ is $70, 8″ is $125) with all the different layers.

LuxBite and Le Petit Gateau does cakes and macarons well as well and I found them to be on average cheaper for what you get. More variety of patisseries the better I’d say though!

Adriano Zumbo Patisserie

12 -14 Claremont St
South Yarra VIC 3141

La Belle Miette Macarons

January 25, 2013 Posted in Chadstone, Confectionery, Food Reviews, Melbourne, Restaurant Reviews, Scoresby, TravelLeave a comment

I never actually got a chance to visit La Belle Miette on Hardware Lane in the city since my work place is so far out. Luckily, they had a pop-up store in Chadstone Shopping Centre before Christmas. I believe it’s still there but I’m unsure as I haven’t ventured to Chadstone SC for a few months.

I’ve heard good reviews about their macarons so it seemed like a great opportunity to give these ones a try. At the pop-up store, they had quite a number of flavours, I think around 15. Some of your standard like Vanilla and Hazelnut but some very interesting ones which you’ll see below.

Here we have the Raspberry flavoured macaron, it was pleasant tasting as it had a slight tanginess to the filling with a crispy and soft inside. Nothing too out of the ordinary though. Luxbites Raspberry macaron I felt was way more flavourful and had a very nice zing (probably due to the fresh raspberries).

Here’s where it gets interesting, La Belle Miette’s Bastille has a Moet et Chandon and Blackcurrant filling which was absolutely delicious. You can really taste the champagne in the cream, and my golly do I love it. The blackcurrant jelly adds texture and berry sweetness which is delightful to eat.

La Belle Miette calls this one the Mariage Freres Earl Grey Chocolate and the tea flavour is strong in this one. If you like that slightly musty tea leaves taste (Earl Grey basically) you will definitely like this one. The chocolate isn’t too sweetness, I think they use dark chocolate or a higher percentage cocoa which in my opinion is preferable. I never really like milk chocolate all that much.

For something a little more tropical, they have a Mango and Coconut macaron, I found the mango tasted a bit artificial but I would think they would use real mangos to make the filling. So I’m not sure why it tasted a a bit off. This coconut flavour was quite nice, it complements the mango well. A tad pina colada so it’s not really to my liking.

While I was tasting this I was like what am I eating? Several minutes later, ding! POMEGRANATE. They call this Pimm’s & Pomegranate and I don’t really know what to think of it. It certainly isn’t too sweet, it has that fruity flavour but over than that I wasn’t too overly excited by it.

Impressions

I say La Belle Miette macarons are one of the better ones around. I do really enjoy the variety of macarons and that Moet macaron, although is pricier then the rest is one of my favourite macarons ever. Give them a try because they are bite sized punches of flavour.

La Belle Miette

Melbourne CBD

30 Hardware Lane
Melbourne VIC 3000

Chadstone Shopping Centre

Malvern East VIC 3145 (Next to Seed/Sass & Bide)

Luxbites

December 7, 2012 Posted in Confectionery, Desserts, Food Reviews, French, Malaysian, Restaurant Reviews, South YarraLeave a comment

I heard so many good things about LuxBite that I had to force myself (not too hard, obviously) to make my way to their South Yarra location. LuxBite serves primarily sweet desserts and confectionary, but they also serve coffee, breakfast and lunch too! What makes LuxBite slightly different is that they have a slight Asian influenced to some of their desserts, for example one of their macarons has a Kaya filling. Kaya is a Malaysian term for Coconut Jam and homemade Kaya is absolutely delicious.

Their store is quite close by to South Yarra station, so it makes it convenient for those without cars or car-averse.

In the above picture, hopefully you can see their selection of macaron flavours. There are your popular flavours such as Salted Caramel and Hazelnut have more interesting flavours like Rose and Ribena Lemonade.

Their store has quite a number of sweet delights to choose from, with many having that French flair ala Elcairs as shown at the bottom of the image.

It was really hard to choose a couple of desserts to try because they have so many on offer! We were still heading towards the city for the day so I couldn’t choose anything that needed to go to the fridge quickly so that helped.

As shown above, we chose the Chocolate Hazelnut Macaron. It’s this plus sized macaron with chunks of hazelnut pieces and a hazelnut and chocolate ganache. I quite enjoyed the macaron, it’s as you would want from a macaron. Crispy, slightly chewy and sweet. The hazelnut flavour of the chocolate and nuts really helped blend everything together. A real treat.

We chose the interesting Lemonade Ribeena and Kaya Toast macarons. The Kaya Toast macaron has kaya as it’s filling. I think it’s homemade, but their kaya was unfortunately too sweet for my liking. I would even have preferred the Kaya jam jars you can buy from an Asian grocer with pandan. Even that jam is less sweet. For those that haven’t tried Kaya before may like it though but for me it lacked the coconut flavour and was way too sweet to be enjoyable.

The Lemonade Ribena on the otherhand was very interesting. It has this cream based lemonade flavour filling but inside there is what I believe (or remember) a small Ribena jelly cube. The Ribena jelly was delicious and made that macaron one of my favourites because it had such a pleasant flavour and was different to things I’ve tried before.

Last on my list was LuxBite’s Lychee Raspberry Macaron. I love all things Lychee too so I couldn’t help to be intrigued by a Lychee and Raspberry Macaron, plus it looked amazing.

Inside this macaron, there is a whole lychee, but the salmon pink filling as you can see in the image was also slightly Lychee flavoured. The combination of the sweetness of Lychee along with the sourness of the icing sugar dusted Raspberries worked a treat. It melded together really well as the freshness of the Raspberries cut through that sweetness of basically everything else. A joy to eat.

Impressions

LuxBite impresses with its well crafted pieces that look amazing and taste great too. It’s no wonder people keep coming back for more. I really do recommend giving LuxBite a try.

LuxBite (Menu)

38 Toorak Road
South Yarra VIC 3141

Lemon Macarons

November 30, 2012 Posted in Baking, Confectionery, Cooking, Desserts, Recipes1 Comment

I love lemons and when I make something new, if there is a way to add lemons to it I will. I made Lemon Macarons with Lemon Curd and they turned out quite well if I don’t say so myself. I remember making macarons again and again but never could get those damned feet until I switched to the Italian Meringue method. This was my only success with French Meringue. Check out the recipe from Tartelette Blog with the Lemon Curd recipe from Taste.com.au.

Lemon Macarons (Tartelette Blog) with Lemon Curd

French Meringue Macarons

Ingredients

Makes 50 to 60 shells, for 25 to 30 filled macarons.
2¾ cups (8.8 ounces/250 grams) almond flour
2¾ cups (12.4 ounces/350 grams)
powdered sugar
1 cup egg whites (from 7 or 8 eggs),
at room temperature
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons powdered egg whites, if weather is humid
¾ cup (5.3 ounces/150 grams) superfine granulated sugar
5 to 7 drops gel paste food coloring (optional) (I used 2 teaspoons lemon zest instead)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (325°F for a non-convection oven) 150°C, and line your baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Blend the almond flour with the powdered sugar in your food processor to make a fine powder (or sift together, discarding any large crumbs and adding a bit more almond flour and powdered sugar as needed to compensate). Then sift the mixture through a strainer until it is as fine as you can get it. This keeps crumbs from forming on the macaron tops as they bake.

3. With the wire whip attachment on the electric mixer, beat the egg whites with the salt and the powdered egg whites (if you are using them), starting slowly and then increasing speed as the whites start to rise. Add the granulated sugar and the food coloring. Beat until the egg whites form stiff peaks and your meringue is firm and shiny.

4. Pour the beaten egg whites onto your almond flour mixture and gently fold them in, using a rubber spatula. Move your spatula from the bottom of the bowl to the edges with one hand, using your other hand to rotate the bowl. Now slap the sides of the bowl until the batter falls in a wide ribbon when you raise your spatula. When you can’t see any crumbs of almond flour and the mixture is shiny and flowing, you are ready to start piping.
The French have a special word—macaronner—to describe the physical action of mixing all the ingredients for macarons. This has to be done by hand. You cannot do it with your mixer—you must be able to feel the consistency of the macaron batter.

5. Fit your pastry bag with a number 8 tip and fill with batter. Start by squeezing out a small amount of mix onto a parchment-lined baking sheet to form a 2½-inch circle. Be sure to leave 1 inch of space between macarons so they will not touch each other while they bake.
If the peak that forms on the top of the macaron does not disappear after piping, it means the batter could have been beaten a little more. Tap the baking sheet on the tabletop, making sure to hold the parchment paper in place with your thumbs.
Let the piped macarons rest for 15 minutes.

6. Bake for 14 minutes at 300°F/ 150°C. After the first 5 minutes, open the oven door briefly to let the steam out.
Let the macarons cool completely on a rack before taking them off the parchment paper. Press the bottom of a cooled baked macaron shell with your finger; it should be soft. If the bottom of the shell is hard, reduce the baking time for the rest of your macarons from 14 minutes to 13 minutes.
Using a pastry bag requires some practice. It may seem awkward at first, but you’ll soon get the hang of it.

Prepare the bag (if it hasn’t been used before) by cutting about 2 inches off the narrow end—just enough so that when you insert a number 8 decorating tip, about a third of the tip extends outside the bag. Push the tip firmly in place and spoon in your filling, leaving enough room at the top to twist the bag shut. It is best to fill the bag with half of the batter at a time, that way it is not too heavy. To make it easier to fill your pastry bag, place it upright in an empty jar or other straight-sided container. This will help steady the bag while you fill it with batter.
Squeezing the bag slowly, pipe each macaron shell out in a single dollop. Lift the bag quickly to finish.

Lemon Curd (Taste.com.au)
Ingredients
2 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar (Half sugar to 80g)
1/3 cup (80g) chilled unsalted butter
Zest and juice of 2 lemons

Method
1. Whisk whole eggs, yolks and sugar in a saucepan until smooth, then place pan over a low heat.
2. Add the butter, juice and zest and whisk continuously until thickened. Strain through a sieve into a sterilised jar. Lemon curd keeps, covered, in the fridge for 2 weeks.

Impressions

This was the first time I made macarons and they came out with feet! I don’t know what happened with the proportions for the shell because I recall reducing the icing sugar to half but it ended up extremely sweet anyway! Maybe I didn’t reduce the sugar at all haha. I loved the lemon curd, it was perfectly sweet and sour with that lemon aftertaste tang. Lovely.

Praline Mud Cake @ Le Petit Gateau

August 3, 2012 Posted in Desserts, Food Reviews, MelbourneLeave a comment

Le Petit Gateau is still my go to dessert place. Sadly, now that I’m working, it’s challenging to make a trip down there since they close at 5pm on weekdays, and unfortunately don’t open on weekends.

However, it’s most definitely worth the time and effort to make your way here. My first encounter with Le Petit Gateau’s cakes was when my sister bought one to celebrate my mother’s birthday. She has this undying love for the combination of nuts and chocolate. Just like me!

I was so amazed that there was even a cake that had the flavour of Hazelnuts. This Hazelnut Praline Mud Cake was made for us choc+nut lovers.

The mud cake has that nice dense texture, with I believe a sprinkling of thinly chopped nuts through the cake. Although it may be rich, it is certainly delectable.

What makes this cake so beautiful is that silky smooth chocolate icing layer around the cake. Glossy, and it just melts in your mouth. It has such a pleasant hazelnut flavour, that it’s like you’re eating the filling of a Ferrero Rocher again and again, but only better. Absolutely delicious.

The chocolate strip on top is tempered to perfection, with that nice snap when you break it. Those candied almonds and chocolate bits just are the icing on the iced chocolate mud cake.

It even tasted better when I was greeted with the cake on my own birthday months ago! Happy Birthday to me!

Everyone must at least make a trip to Le Petit Gateau at least once. Their selection of petit (Hehe) cakes will make you salivate. If cakes aren’t your thing, but macarons are? This is the place to visit. I’m not certain if I have mentioned this but their macarons are amazing. One of the best macarons I’ve ever come across in Victoria. Their macaron flavours constantly change, but for those that like a bit of Green Tea, their Green Tea flavoured macarons are delicious. Crisp outer layer, not too airy, and just the right amount of chewiness.

Even just thinking about it, makes me want to go before work (when the shop opens at 7:30am) or taking up my whole lunch hour just to get there and back! To be honest, it would be well worth it.

Le Petit Gateau

458 Little Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

Opening Hours
Monday to Friday, 7:30am-5pm

Tel: 03 9944 8893
fax: 03 9944 8895

Queen Vic Market Cake Shop – Macarons

March 30, 2012 Posted in Confectionery, Desserts, MelbourneLeave a comment

If you have ever visited Queen Victoria Market’s Food Hall, I bet you would have come across this store. They have a wide selection of colourful macarons that definitely look enticing enough to eat.

This Cake Store also has a variety of other sweet snacks and desserts to satisfy those sweet tooth cravings.

I tried their Chocolate Macaron, and shell is slightly too crunchy without that nice chew that Macarons usually have. The filling was quite nice though, but Chocolate anything is usually good.

I really can’t remember what this one was but the Chocolate Ganache filling was probably a bit too sweet for my liking.

This Vanilla Macaron was actually pretty nice. Again the shells aren’t really my favourite as they are slightly too high and airy.

I think this one was Coffee, and that was probably one of my favourite one. The coffee flavour had a good bitterness to it which offset some of the sweetness so it makes it much more pleasant to eat.

Overall, their macarons were a slight letdown. I much prefer Le Petit Gateau’s Macarons to be honest even though they don’t have a wide variety of macarons.

I haven’t tried any of the other Cake Shop offerings but they do seem tempting!

Queen Victoria Market Cake Shop

155 Victoria St
Melbourne Victoria 3000

Gânache Chocolate Macarons

June 28, 2011 Posted in Confectionery, Food Reviews, Melbourne1 Comment

I’m just such a sucker for macarons. I just love how creative people can be with them and the many different flavours and combinations that can be made with them. I recently came across Gânache Chocolate on Collins St, close to the corner of Collins and Swanston. I didn’t get to try their chocolates, and their cakes look really appetising but I wasn’t in the mood at the time. I think they only recently opened and by recently as in within a year but I can’t be too sure.

Macarons, however, I will always snap up that opportunity. There were 6 flavours to choose from but I can’t really remember them all that well. From memory, there was Passionfruit, Hazelnut, Coffee, Chocolate, Vanilla and Blueberry variations.

I picked up the Passionfruit, Hazelnut and Coffee and they all had quite a good taste and texture and just how I like them to be.

The Passionfruit Macaron, I’d prefer a jam of sorts for the filling but of course, I was at a chocolatier, and what else are they famous for? It was still really fresh and just had a nice balance between the creamy texture of the chocolate with the crunch and chewiness of the shell.

Similarly, the hazelnut and coffee ones were just as good and being know for their chocolates, of course the chocolate taste would stand out! Definitely one of the better servings in the CBD.

I’m going to go see their cakes and chocolates next time I’m around there so be on the look out for that post in the future.

Gânache Chocolate

245 Collins St,
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Tel/Fax: 03 9650 8388

Mon – Thurs: 8am – 8pm
Fri: 8am – 10pm
Sat: 9am – 10pm
Sun: 9am – 6pm

They also have a store in South Yarra, check out their website for details on the address of that one.

Bonjouk Macarons

June 1, 2011 Posted in Confectionery, Glen WaverleyLeave a comment

Bonjouk is located near Specsavers and Thomas Dux Grocer in The Glen Shopping Centre. It mainly serves cafe style food and drinks, and have more recently started selling macarons in their small expansion.

The macarons definitely look appetizing, but they cost $2.70 so it’s a bit on the high end of what they usually go for but I just wanted to try them so I’ll become some kind of skilled macaron expert (jk).

The hulk looking one was a pistachio flavoured macaron with what looks like to be a green jelly. I can tell you, the pistachio flavour was lacking and it was just too sweet for my liking and well the shell is a whole another issue.

The Tiramisu macaron also looked promising, and the filling delivers a great example of how to create a tiramisu flavoured macaron but as noted the macaron shell issue is still here. The problem I have with this shell, is how it doesn’t even seem like a macaron. It is just crisp on the outside, with no real chewy marshmallow balance that most macarons I’ve tasted have. It is also hollow inside so it just lacks the macaron appeal. The shell looks really nice, and high, but that’s what detracts from the experience, along with the lack of almond flavour to it too.

So overall my issue with the shell is that, it just doesn’t taste like a macaron and that’s the biggest worry of all.

I won’t continue with the criticism of the shell, as it is present in the other two macarons too. I’ll just comment on the flavour.

This macaron, I believe, is strawberry’s and cream, and the cream with the strawberry jelly are nice just not very interesting and again, it’s just way too sweet.

This is a Blueberry cheesecake macaron, and the filling is quite nice. Although it was sweet, the cream cheese flavour just balances the sweetness enough to make it balanced. It also has a nice fresh blueberry jam bite in the middle so overall the filling is one of the better ones that Bonjouk sell.

Lasting impressions:

I won’t be trying them again for quite some time. The macaron shell is just way too sweet and the other issues with it really spoil the taste of the macaron as a whole. This is basically what a macaron shouldn’t be

Bonjouk at The Glen

235 Springvale Rd
Glen Waverley, VIC 3150
The Glen Shoppimg Centre

Lindt Chocolat Cafe

April 8, 2011 Posted in Chadstone, Confectionery, Food Reviews, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Lindt, famously known for all things chocolate have opened two stores in Victoria in the last couple of years. Situated inside Chadstone, the fashion capital, I believe this is the second Lindt Cafe in Victoria after the first one opened on Collins St in the city.

It doesn’t look as impressive as the City one as it has that ‘I’m in a shopping centre not a cafe’ feel to it. Alas, it’s the closest one around for the South East Melburnians.

As a lover of all things macarons, I had to try them. Obviously. I’d tried them before when my cousin came to visit in October, I tried the Champagne Vanilla flavour and it was good. Not too sweet and the cream filling was quite nice.

I think the yellow one was a Salted Caramel, the brown one was Hazelnut and I have no idea what the pink one was. Strawberry maybe? with a vanilla filling? My memory is already fading.

Salted Caramel was pretty good because it’s not overly sweet like some macarons can be, it has a slight bitter tinge to it that I quite enjoy.

I think the hazelnut macaron was a let down, I haven’t had a strong hazelnut flavoured macaron yet so I’m still waiting. Unless I make a spectacular one. Jokes aside, Lindt Cafe have a tasty selection of macarons, like Pistachio and Passionfruit but none of them stray to the odd and strange side like Zumbo’s creations in Sydney. They are also quite a decent size compared with Cacao and Le Petit Gateau which are a little on the small size for a similar price.

Their cakes also looked quite appetising but it was 11am and after already ordering macarons, it probably wasn’t a good idea to order a slice.

I had a Mocha, and boy is it chocolately good. Might be a bit too sweet , had to add a bit of hot water into it and it was perfect.

Check it out if you’re shopping there.

Lindt Chocolat Cafe
Shop B193, Lower Ground Level
Chadstone Shopping Centre
Tel: (03) 9568 2444
Mon – Wed 9am – 5.30pm
Thur – Fri 9am– 9.30pm
Sat 9am – 5.30pm
Sun 10:00am – 5.30pm