Could these be Australia’s Worst Macarons?

I realise I am no authority in these things. I have never had a genuine Parisian macaron from Laduree or the genius Pierre Hermes. But I confess myself stunned, stupefied & disappointed.

There was such promise when Shane & I were walking around Canberra, nosing around for the best places to eat when I stumbled upon a small  charming patisserie Croissant D’Or. Had I blinked I would have missed it entirely.

Macarons are not easy to find where I live so when I come across some I have to buy them. They also had  a nice looking range of tarts, cakes, cupcakes and other baked goods. I purchased a chocolate, vanilla, hazelnut & raspberry macaron along with a petite chocolate cupcake & petite blueberry almond tart from the french owner who was somewhat short with me & seemed annoyed I had interrupted her conversation with her daughter.

The delicacies were placed unceremoniously in a plain white paper bag (I am quite unaccustomed to this as every time I have purchased a macaron anywhere else they were lovingly encased in a posh presentation box)

I should have advised Shane not to purchase the cupcake because it’s dryness was evident even from the Cabinet (I wouldn’t even begin to speculate on it’s age) however love makes us do foolish things.

We saved the macarons for dessert later in the hotel. Before I could so much as even unzip my camera case Shane had inserted (much in the manner the “reach” toothbrush man unhinges his jaw) & shortly thereafter rejected the chocolate cupcake from his mouth. It is a dark day indeed that my man spits out anything chocolate.

To be fair my little blueberry tart was amazing, the frangipane was moist & fragrant, the pastry short & not to sweet. Bliss. In hindsight I would have also purchased a lemon curd tart also because it was one of the more impressive looking creations in the shop topped with spun sugar & a macaron shell.

Shane & I checked into the hotel, debated over restaurants & eventually booked a table at Tosolinis which I will never regret. We enjoyed roast garlic bread with balsamic vinegar, the lightest, most melt in the mouth gnocchi ever & a beautiful spaghetti bolognaise. The service was rather rushed but they were fully booked & we enjoyed our meals so much it hardly mattered.

We raced home, 2 Queenslanders braced against the chilly Canberra night. My flimsy red felt berret long abandoned in my handbag, such a foolish choice for an evening walk.

I raced to undress & wash, jumped into bed to enjoy my guilty bedtime pleasure….. macarons (what were YOU thinking?)

Alas.

• Chocolate: Crunchy, chalky, scant amount of chocolate cinnamon ganache, huge air pocket.
• Vanilla: Chalky, crunchy, huge air pocket, tiny scraping of some flavourless filling.
• Raspberry: Terrible feet (the worst of the bunch) chalky, crunchy, big air pocket but I will admit the filling was lovely. A fleeting burst of raspberry freshness followed by creaminess & almond.
• Hazelnut: The best of the bunch, decent shell, no air pocket, good foot & nice hazelnut flavour. Almost no filling though.

Overall a good exercise in how to waste $10 & ruin a lovely meal.

I confess I feel  awful to post such a scathing review of any small family owned business however I would feel worse letting any of my readers waste their money on anything I know to be quite inferior.

Whilst my macarons are by no stretch of the imagination perfect yet, they are certainly much better than these. That’s just not good enough.