Paris Patisseries: Pierre Herme - The Maiden Voyage.

Pierre Herme - Le Roi de Macaron. A fourth generation baker who began his apprenticeship at the age of 14. Legend in the world of pastry.

I've spent countless hours reading about him and his creations on the internet and in books. I searched for months for his out of print 'Macaron' book and jumped for joy when I finally found one that I could afford (and it is still probably the most expensive cookbook I own, and using it requires translating first, since it is entirely in French).

There are two Pierre Herme patisseries and for my first trip I head to the one on rue de Vaugirard in the 15th arrondissement.

The store is gorgeous. The display cases are modern and colourful and hold the beautiful works of pastry art that Herme is famous for. The back wall is is covered in the names of the creations and the ceiling is wallpapered with the logo. It's spectacular.

I see some difficult choices in my future.

The pastry case

The chocolate case

The macaron case

I'm not entirely sure I'll get one of these through customs.

Decisions, decisions. My head hurts. I think the cure for that might be a box of 12 macarons. I get one of every flavour and double up on a few that I know will be winners. They are:

~ Milk chocolate & passionfruit

~ Salted caramel

~ Rose

~ Chocolate

~ White truffle and hazelnut

~ Chestnut and matcha green tea

~ Coffee

I already know that I'm going to be visiting the other Pierre Herme patisserie so I decided that this enough for today - I don't want to overwhelm myself.

Now for the verdict. The trip to the patisserie itself was fantastic. It's so pretty and my little bag of goodies from there just felt so precious to me. Too precious to just crack them out on the Paris sidewalk. I waited until we were back at the hostel later that day before I try my first macaron. I've heard so many good things about the milk chocolate and passionfruit one, so it was always going to be my first. Can I just say for a combo that I had never thought of together - holy crap it was good. The shell was so light and crisp and the ganache was so smooth and packed some serious flavour punch. It was so good that I had to let someone know about it, so instead of selfishly keeping the other for myself, I made Libby eat the other (she loved it).

The other clear favourites are the salted caramel and the rose.

It took me a while to get through them all (since a couple of days later I added to the pile with some from Laduree) and I'm still munching on macarons when I get back to Toronto!

Bonjour Balmain!

Lately, it seems that nearly every weekend I find an excuse to go the Essential Ingredient - my bank account has suffered greatly since they moved back over the bridge and onto my turf. And since I'm going to Rozelle, I thought, I may as well continue on to Balmain for some pastry perfection.

A long overdue trip to Adriano Zumbo and Victoire - the perfect way to spend a gorgeous Sydney spring day.

I was prepared for half of Sydney to be doing exactly the same and for the line to be halfway up the street, but I walked straight in and hadn't even finished looking at everything before one of the staff asked if they could help me.

The Zumbo front window is full of Viennoiserie items, quiches, cookies and bread - my kind of window. The shop is long and narrow, with a glass case counter running all the way along that houses 'the collection'. Right up the back of the shop are the macarons and a large number of people wedged into the small space in front of them.

Macaron flavours for the day were mango/tonka bean, strawberry/mint, coffee, chocolate/early grey, rice pudding, salted caramel, passionfruit/yogurt, fennel/pear/pistachio - naturally, I ordered one of each. I also got a 'Quasimodo' (can't remember all the elements exactly but I was sold at pistachio and cherry) and 'Escape from a Colombian Rainforest' (chocolate mousse, dark chocolate fizzy discs, cherry cola jelly).

My next stop is Victoire - it used to be directly opposite Zumbo (and the man himself worked there for a number of years), but it has recently moved up to the Rozelle end of Darling Street - I wonder how much of this had to do with the competition that popped up directly opposite.

I want to buy one of every type of bread in Victoire, but I settle for a small levain and a rustic olive. I've eaten a third of the rustic olive before I even make it back to car. It's delicious with a thin crust and a chewy, moist crumb and just a little salty from the olives.

The demolition of the goodies from Zumbo happens later in the afternoon at my brother and sister-in-laws house.

Anything containing fennel makes me so very happy, so I went for the pear, fennel and pistachio macaron first. The macaron shell is light and crisp on the outside and a little chewy in the inside and the ganache is super smooth. I must admit, I couldn't really taste either pear or pistachio here, only fennel - not a bad thing given my love for it.

Probably the flavour winner for the macarons is the passionfruit/yogurt. It's tangy, fresh and very passionfruity!

The 'Quasimodo' isn't particular pretty, but is very tasty. The top is quite squidgy, almost like rice pudding with a creamy/nutty flavour. Underneath is a layer of cherries and a cakey base.

The 'Escape from a Colombian Rainforest' looks great. It is super smooth and light chocolate mousse, flourless chocolate sponge, cherry coke jelly covered with a red fizzy powder and topped with a silver painted disc of chocolate that looks like the top of a coke can.

And lastly - the aftermath:

Very happy belly.