adriano zumbo chocolat cafe @ darling st., balmain

At the mere mention of Adriano Zumbo, my face lights up. Last week, I actually saw him in person and all I could do was sit there stupidly and stare. J actually looked at me and asked if I wanted to go get a photo with him and here I was in a state of nerves 'But what am I going to say'. So yes, all I ended up doing was stay put and stared longingly through the window where he was. (Yes...I grudgingly admit how stupid I am).

For weeks I'd been reading through other blogs the upcoming opening of Adriano Zumbo's Chocolat Cafe - positioned just a couple of doors down from his main shop which I've been frequenting as much as physically possible this year. J seems amused by the fact that I get excited each time I'm staring at the rows of cakes - and well, he's been doing the sensible thing each time making sure I look for traffic before I run across the road into the shop. And yes, then he eventually pulls me out after my hands are laden with cakes and then he also puts up with the fact that I get grumpy when he's driving (and I'm protectively guarding my cakes to make the trip home). So yes, J would've had more than one reason to be annoyed to see Zumbo in person but fortunately, he seems to get me enough to understand who and what Zumbo is.

It was actually lunch time and the plan had been to go to Zumbo's for dessert after some lunch. J suggested that we may as well have lunch at Zumbo's with the dessert. Great idea! One dark and one chilli hot chocolate (the chilli one has serious bite!), a Toasted Ham & Cheese Brioche, and a Chicken & Avocado Toasted Sandwich all enjoyed in the comfort of the courtyard with a stack of magazines and newspapers. Arguably the best way to spend the weekend.

Definitely recommend their sandwiches and toasts but the main reason I was here was to check out their desserts; it would've been less than a second after I finished my sandwich that I jumped back up to the counter to order. Here's the deconstructed Miss Marple. The girl at the counter actually came around to the table to ask what I thought of this one - I said to her quite honestly, I actually prefer the Miss Marple Cake, this deconstructed version was nice but it was just a little sticky and stuck to the bottom of the plate. And well, those orange balls (melon balls?) were frozen and didn't go that well with the crepes.

In response to my feedback on the deconstructed Miss Marple, the girl looked a little surprised but actually, I was just about to say that the main reason why I didn't like that one as much was because I liked the other dessert we'd ordered 'The Younger Years' - a chocolate fondant served with peanut butter icecream and peanut brittle in a novel silver kidney dish with a shot of raspberry coulis in a syringe. J has fun with it!

You see what I mean!
And ok, then the most embarrassing thing in the world happened. We headed up to the counter to pay and realised that between the two of us, we didn't have enough cash for the the food that we'd eaten (and as they've just opened, they've only got cash sales only). Ended up having to leave J at the shop whilst I quickly dashed to the ATM up the road. It wasn't to bad, cause after going to the ATM, I had enough cash to pick up some goodies for home.

Walking out of the cafe, it hit me then and there the amount of food we'd ate - and to eat so much and not have enough money to pay, it was a little hilarious (or maybe I was just that little bit delirious from the amount of sugar I'd had and the fact that I'd met Zumbo - the man himself!). It was definitely a good day and I look forward to going back and trying out the rest of the menu and fingers crossed Zumbo will be surprising us with more of us his cakes and bakes. And hopefully next time, we'll be just as lucky to get a seat as by the time this post and all other posts by fellow food bloggers make their rounds, I wouldn't be surprised that the whole world will be at Zumbo's cafe trying to get a table!