meanwhile, up the road, adriano zumbo celebrated his birthday by inventing macaron day — today! — in which the shop’s inventory was solely macarons.

50 kinds of macaron.

when i wandered over to the shop after dropping the kid off at school, i was pleasantly surprised by the very manageable queue. according to independent reports, had i been there an hour earlier, i would’ve almost still been in line.

it wasn’t too long before i made it through the door, and then not too long after that it was my turn to fill a box. i hadn’t been conscientious enough to study the lengthy list of flavours on the internet beforehand and make a cribsheet, so faced with the boxes (and boxes and boxes) of mysterious multicoloured biscuits and the halfhearted guide offered by the guy behind the counter, i aimed for 20, and eventually made it out with 24.

here’s what i got:
– burnt toast and butter
– carrot cake
– cheeseburger
– chocolate and salted caramel
– date and orange
– doughnut
– finger bun
– french toast
– goats cheese and blueberry
– golden gaytime
– green tea and pistachio x 2
– lamington
– mango and tonka bean
– mango and… something else
– maple syrup, bacon and pancake x 2
– olive oil and rosemary
– pain d’epice x 2
– pink grapefruit
– strawberries and cream
– toasted marshmallow
– turkish delight

and now, looking at the masterlist on the zumbo website, i would also like to have come away with:
– burnt butter
– chocolate foie gras
– mastic, yoghurt, cucumber and mint
– vegemite sourdough

yesss. very interesting indeed.

so far (only five in), i have found them to be quite mild in flavour, with the exception of the cheeseburger. ’twas a big, moist mouthful — so moist, in fact, that it had pretty much disintegrated in the box. i ate it first (perhaps tiring out my tastebuds for the subsequent four).

it was bright red, with a scattering of sesame seeds and a dusting of black powder which tasted of charred meat. the filling appeared to be a great wodge of ketchup, with little chunks of crisp, tangy pickle all the way through, and a miniature slice of cheese to seal the deal. after it was gone, i wished i’d had another. perhaps i will need to stalk a real cheeseburger tomorrow.

happy birthday, zumbo!