Macarons by Duncan

I am not a morning person.

Even if I slept at 11pm the night before, the earliest I'd wake up AND not be a cranky little thing is 9am or later. It takes me a good half hour of rolling around in bed before I finally feel ready to get out of bed.

But sometimes you have to make sacrifices.

Today I woke up to my alarm ringing at 7am. I had made plans that would take me to Southgate Avenue. Finished whatever I was meant to do by 9.07am (still early) so I decided to head to the city to try my luck at Liaison cafe- to try and find the ever elusive Macarons by Duncan. Why not? The day was still young and I had nothing else planned.

I had previously been to the cafe two weeks ago at 10.30 am, only to be told the macarons were 'sold out'. I was on time! How can that be? Apparently they lasted less than 10 minutes. Nevermind, I thought to myself, I can always try again.

I arrived at 9.30am this time around and enquired about getting some macarons (that's right people, macarons not macaroons. Unless you want some coconutty confection, get it right). Was told they go on sale at 10am. So I went to the nearby park and sat down, enjoying myself while people in suits rushed to and fro all around me.

At 10am I headed back to the cafe, this time only to be told the macarons go on sale in 10 mins. Argh.

I returned at 10.10am and finally got my hands on 4 lovely, petite macarons- each delicately branded with a colourful dot. There was a limit of 4 macarons per customer, so I bought 3 salted caramel and 1 fresh ginger and dark chocolate.

I've only tasted the salted caramel one so far and I have to say, even though the caramel was deliciously sweet & salty and left me wanting more, it was slightly bitter. The shell was smooth (beautiful to look at), light and crisp- it melted in your mouth, but was slightly chewy. However, they do taste better than most of the other macarons I've had...but I still love the macarons by Adriano Zumbo. I can't wait for him to open a place in Melbourne!

Looking forward to trying the fresh ginger & dark chocolate after dinner tonight :)

ETA: Ok, so I tried the fresh ginger & dark chocolate macaron today and absolutely loved it. The dark chocolate was rich and creamy, the fresh ginger shell was delicately crumbly on the outside and lovely on the inside when the soft almond meringue combined beautifully with the filling and just melted in your mouth. It was a small macaron, but it sure packed a punch with a flavour hit in all the right places. Now I know why people queue out the door just for a taste of his creations.