I have heard about the wonderful macarons from Adriano Zumbo in Australia for quite a long time. Thus, I took the opportunity to purchase the entire range of macarons (affectionately dubbed “Zumbarons”) from Adriano Zumbo Patisserie when I was in Sydney. 
Adriano Zumbo is also credited with making the Zonut, and his version of the croquembouche – the Macaron Tower (available in 65 and 95 pieces). He also makes a lot of beautifully quirky and delicious pastries and cakes like the mylo can.
He’s been regularly featured in MasterChef Australia and I’ve wondered just how good his macarons taste compared to Ladurée at Champs-Élysées, Paris and Pierre Herme – both of which we tried during our trip to France earlier this year.
I actually went to two of his shops, the bigger of which is located at The Star. The shop also doubles as a cafe and carries 12 different flavors of his macarons. I bought a 12-pack which comes in a nice sliding box with one each of the entire Zumbaron range in the shop:
- salted butter caramel on toast
- hazelnut praline
- malted milkshake
- francesco brownie
- passionfruit & honeycomb
- caramelized white chocolate
- fingerbun
- berry brulée
- lime & mandarin
- caramel au beurre sale
- salted butter popcorn
- toasted marshmallow
Adriano Zumbo’s two most popular (famous?) macarons would be the salted butter popcorn (with real popcorn covering the shell of the macaron) and the malted milkshake (a rather interesting blue hued macaron).
Each Zumbaron retails for AUD 2.50 and there are *no bulk discounts*. You can get a nice 2-piece box of Zumbarons for AUD 5 and the 12-piece long box costs AUD 30. That comes up to almost RM 8 per macaron!
It’s worth every cent though! I had two of them fresh and bought one to eat on the spot too. There’s a sign that says Zumbarons don’t travel well and I made sure to keep a gentle hand on mine since I wanted to bring the 12-piece sliding box with every single Zumbaron flavor I managed to find back for my better half to try.
Adriano Zumbo actually has 40 different Zumbarons that rotates seasonally but those are only available with a pre-order. I visited a couple of his shops and found that the one with the most variety on offer is at The Star at Sydney with 12 different flavors on offer.
We both liked it and we thought it was way better than Ladurée and slightly better almost on par with Pierre Hermé in France. I particularly liked the salted butter caramel on toast (which actually has toast) and the francesco brownie (which actually has bits of brownie). My dear also liked the lime & mandarin which packs a refreshing, zesty bite.
His malted milkshake Zumbaron is pretty good too and the salted butter popcorn is just pure genius with bits of popcorn on the shell – no wonder it’s the two most popular flavors. His macarons are made for the adult palate and doesn’t have excessive amounts of sugar – some of them even taste slightly salty!
I also bought a bake-at-home Zumbaron kit so we’ll be making our own salted caramel macarons soon! 🙂
You can find Adriano Zumbo Patissier in Melbourne and Sydney. Adriano Zumbo at The Star is their latest exciting concept store and carries their full range of cakes, pastries and Zumbarons. It’s the main one I went to and you can find them at:
Adriano Zumbo Patissier
The Star
80 Pyrmont Street, New South Wales
RM8 per macaron is not cheap for Malaysianssss.. hahahaha.. but but .. i would love to try them one day, especially francesco brownie which sounds very delicious.. hehehe..
and you really bought a lot of them back home !! O.O
Yeah, it’s the second best macaron we’ve ever had! 🙂
The best would be Pierre Herme in Paris. We thought Zumbarons was slightly better but we were just very hungry. Haha!
Objectively Pierre Herme is still better, but that’s more expensive, starting from RM 11 – RM 20 per macaron. They have different prices for macarons.
BTW, just think of it as a once in a while thing, then the price won’t be so bad. Yeah, I bought almost RM 200 worth of macarons from Adriano Zumbo back!
The macarons looks fragile !! Yeah, better handle with care.
Yeah, they are very fragile! 🙂
I carried them with care, making sure not to knock them and keeping it close so it wouldn’t bump anything but some still cracked.
Ya, you brought these all the way back for Ling. Such stuff must hand carry. I guess none will be coming to Sibu? Hehehehehehe!!!!
Yeah, it definitely must be hand carried or it won’t survive the trip! 🙂
Haha! Unfortunately not, macarons needs to be eaten 3-4 days from purchase anyway or they’ll degrade in quality. I wanted her to tell me which one is better – Laduree and Pierre Herme from our trip to France or Adriano Zumbo and in the end we thought Pierre Herme is best, followed closely by Zumbarons and with Laduree a distant third.
Aaahhh yes I’ve seen him on Masterchef Australia. The bake at home kit looks interesting. I’m curious if they would turn out as nice.
Yeah, the Macaron Tower is what made him famous! 🙂
It’s his version of the croquembouche, he made the MasterChef Australia contestants do a version of it.
Hmm…that’s a good question! My guess would be no, it’s hard to be as good as Adriano Zumbo (or his assistants) but it seems quite easy and if you do it well, it’ll be very close.
ooo, i’d like to try salted butter popcorn, malted milkshake and caramelised white chocolate. it’s cool how there’s practically a countless number of flavours and varieties for macarons, as long as the pastry chefs are willing to experiment. someday, i hope to see a mangosteen-flavoured macaron, heheh 😀
good luck with macaron-baking! sounds like it could be fun 😀
They have so many delicious flavors! 🙂
I’m keen to try the blue cheese and beer flavors when they come back! Also the fennel macaron sounds pretty good – I had an olive + vanilla macaron from Pierre Herme and it was delicious!
It had real pieces of olive inside the macaron too.
Thanks mate! We’re keen to start baking some Zumbarons at home too!
Call me jakun, I’ve never eaten macaroons.. Who wants to bake me some? Oops, I sound like STP, kekekeke.. Of course I’ve seen them, in bakeries and also in shopping malls.. But when I see the price, oh my, RM8 or more for 4 (or 5) piece?? Hmm..
I find that the macarons over here are borderline disgusting! 🙂
I’m not kidding, they’re made sooooo sweet that it puts you off after one bite. The ones from France are actually well balanced and some are even savory!
I once got a giant macaron from one of the popular shops here (will remain unnamed) and was horrified by the taste.
It’s worth it to pay more for quality macarons in France and Australia. BTW, they’re not expensive, it’s just the currency conversion that pushes them into RM 8 – RM 11 per macaron prices.
its good stuff! Met him when he was in Malaysia and my love for real macaroons developed!
Nice! I’ve never had the change to meet him before! 🙂
It must have been fun to meet Adriano Zumbo! I’ll like to have the chance if I get it too, I hear he’s sometimes at The Star and would come out but he wasn’t there when we went.
Hmm…would it be halal to make Zumbarons in Malaysia though? I know Adriano Zumbo makes some of his macarons with alcohol e.g. there’s the popular Mojito macaron, he also has a beer and gin & tonic macarons.
The best one (albeit seasonal) is his fig with burnt honey & red wine macaron!
Wow that’s a lot of macaron flavours! Can you believe it, I have been in Sydney for more than 2 years now and have never tried a zumbaron! But I did get a macaron baking kit like yours too.. will make them when I get some free time! 🙂
Yeah, he has 40 regular ones in total that he rotates seasonally! 🙂
There’s also alcoholic macarons sometimes e.g. beer, mojito, fig with burnt honey & red wine (very good, had it once in 2012 but didn’t know Adriano Zumbo that well then, just like how I ate at a Michelin star restaurant in Hong Kong and didn’t realize it until later).
Nice! You have the baking kit too! We’re going to try next weekend and see how it turns out. Good luck with yours!
I bought the exact same baking kit and it turned out to be a disaster :p nothing managed to go in the oven! Lol
Sorry to hear that!
We’re going to make ours soon, will let you know how it turns out! 🙂
Argh, I miss macarons. They call them macaroons here all to often which is sad, but what’s more disappointing is that I haven’t been to Zumbo’s new store since it opened!
Looks fantastic though – can’t wait to visit soon 🙂