Review: Cacao macarons at Puccinos

The next stop on my search for the perfect Salted Caramel macaron was Puccinos on Bourke Street. They sell the full range of Cacao macarons (as well as the yummy cakes from Le Petit Gateau).

Cacao call their version a ‘Salty Caramel’ macaron and it was nice to finally eat one that tasted good.  

Cacao's Salty Caramel macaron

The outer shell of the macaron had a great sheen to it, with a nice crunch and the right amount of chewiness.

When it came to the ganache, there was no mistaking that this is a Salty Caramel macaron. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I’d rather a strong flavour than none at all. But it does border on being a little bit too much.

Do I crown this the best Salted Caramel macaron in Melbourne? It is pretty good, but the slight flavour imbalance puts the title just out of reach for Cacao.

Address: 188 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Hours: Mon-Sun: 7am - 9pm

Review: Royal Saxon

After spending a few hours on Church Street sitting on couches, measuring dining tables and trying to figure out the best configuration of furniture for a brand new apartment that we have only inspected once, all the pieces we saw were starting to look the same.

We needed to take a break and the Royal Saxon was like a beacon of light to us weary furniture shoppers, offering much needed food and rest.

The place was renovated a few years ago and it looks great - modern and funky. We sat outside in the courtyard area, where there was lots of light and a beautiful fig tree.

We ordered lunch and started with the mozzarella di bufala, new season figs, basil, mint, lemon and olive oil. It was delicious! All the elements on the plate really worked well together. The figs were perfectly sweet and plump and the mozzarella was soooo good, really fresh and creamy.

Mozzarella di bufula, new season figs, basil, mint, lemon and olive oil

For mains, we had the house-made Italian sausage, roasted peppers, oregano and mozzarella pizza, porterhouse steak with roasted pumpkin (one of the specials they were offering) and zucchini fritti as a side dish.

I had the pizza and you could tell the base was homemade and fresh. The house-made Italian sausage was really tasty and my recent cravings for pizza were very much satisfied. 

House-made Italian sausage, roasted peppers, oregano and mozzarella pizza

My boyfriend had the porterhouse and it was cooked perfectly, just melted in your mouth. The roasted pumpkin was really soft and full of flavour. The oil with herbs on the plate also turned out to be a great dipping sauce for the pizza crust! 

Porterhouse steak with roasted pumpkin

The batter on the zucchini fritti was light and crunchy and the zucchini inside was yum. They were hard to stop eating once we started!

Zucchini fritti

The service from staff was great, although we were there for a late lunch so it wasn't busy.

The prices were a little higher than usual for a pub/bar but it was an enjoyable, good quality meal. We will definitely go back if we are in the area again.

Address: 545 Church St, Richmond
Hours: Mon-Thurs: 12pm - 12am
          Sat: 12pm - 1pm
          Sun: 12pm - 11pm

Review: Laurent macarons

 
I have been warned by many people that Laurent’s macarons are not very good. I always felt that was a little weird, seeing as they are meant to be a French bakery and all.

So I tried one today to finally confirm this for myself.

I had a look at their selection and I was surprised to see that they don’t offer a Salted Caramel macaron (though apparently it is on its way). So I tried a Vanilla one instead.

Oh lordy. It was indeed terrible.

As soon as the macarons were brought to the table, I knew they would be bad. The outer shell didn’t look crispy at all and it was missing the usual ‘sheen’ that macarons are supposed to have. I took a bite and found that it was like eating almond meal cake with some cream in the middle. It also lacked vanilla flavouring.

Laurent's vanilla macaron - notice the lackluster shell?

Laurent's vanilla macaron - the shell was very cakey and not very nice

This macaron didn't taste good at all and turned me off wanting to try their future Salted Caramel macaron. I now agree that Laurent macarons should definitely be avoided...

Address: 304-306 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
Hours: Mon-Sat: 8am - 6pm
          Sun: 9am - 5pm