Yes, there are photos of macarons in this post but I'm not one of those girls. You know, those who, after a trip to Paris, would post/Twitpic/Instagram pictures of a box of those colourful confectionery from the various French macaron-palaces. And go on about them for months after their holidays have ended. Or those who have a photo, usually dreamily soft-around-the-edges, of those flavoured eggwhite discs filed permanently under "Things That I Love" in the sidebars of their pretty-pretty blogs. Nope, I'm not one of them.I love a good macaron but I don't understand this feverish fixation when there are so many other sweet little nibbles worth obsessing over (the tagline for my homemade chocolate truffles labels cheekily reads "Death to the macaron. Long live the chocolate truffle. Yeah!" Haha). Travelling out to Balmain or Manly to join the crazy queues at Sydney's own macaron-mecca? Nah. So it was with great joy and glee that I discovered, with Holly (she read about it somewhere) after lunch last week, Cre Asion, a new-ish Japanese macaron teahouse right on the cusp of our 'hood. A sugar fix only a short walk away and no queues (well, not yet!). Yay!
As with most things Japanese, Cre Asion, a tiny glass-enclosed corner shop space that is sparsely but effectively decked out, is cute. So are the boys behind the counter - pastry chef/co-owner Yu and his barista! They are sweethearts too, offering to make me an iced chocolate that's not on their menu.
And their macarons, not only are they as cute as colourful buttons but are also uniformly textbook-perfect. The rum and raisin one we shared (love how they provided a little knife for that purpose!) was a good introduction to their flawless meringue - a light crust on the outside and chewy within. The egg yolk-yellow ones were yuzu-flavoured. I loved the tangy hit of the citrus fruit but found the curd a little too egg-y? And that's the only tiny whinge I have.
The ones that I took home to share with the boyfriend in the evening had me going all "nyum nyum nyum" again. The brown "Dear Chris" was a chocolate+hazelnut number that is a tribute to chef Christine Manfield whom Yu had worked with previously at Universal. The smaller pink one had a filling of raspberry jam while the purple one was flavoured with creme de cassis - like a crunchy chewy blackcurrant-y Ribena! My favourite of the lot had to be the second pink one - plum saké. I love that Japanese alcoholic beverage and there's a jelly-fied ball of it hidden within the creamy filling! Surprise! Yeah!
Oh, look at me! I was one of those girls for a few paragraphs there. Haha. I'm going to stop before this blog turns all pastel-coloured and frothy-gossamer-y on you. One last thing - go get macaron-mad at Cre Asion before a long line snakes down the cool back alley. I see it coming.
Cafe Cre Asion
21 Alberta Street
Sydney
Website: creasionmacaron.com
Trading Hours: Monday to Friday 8am to 4 pm // Saturday 9am to 4pm // Closed on Sundays
3 comments:
Haha - I'll be expecting lots and lots of cupcakes next... Meanwhile I went into some chichi little macaron boutique here in Melvin the other day, and the woman behind the counter was too busy chatting to someone in a self-congratulatory way about how much better service is in boutique stores like hers etc, to actually serve me. So I left without tasting, and went to the Lindt cafe for my macaon instead. Definitely the Maccas of the Macaron industry, but at least I was served promptly by a friendly young person! Good service (like you clearly found at cre Asion) is just as important as perfect meringue!
I remember reading a year or two ago about how macarons will take over the US and become the next cupcake. So far, that has not happened, at least here in the DC Metro area. People here are still stuck on cupcakes and the only macarons I've found are the frozen ones at Trader Joe's. Maybe in five years or so I can finally see what all the hoopla is about.
Yo, Skye!
Haha! I remember our conversation when you were here.
Was the woman the owner? I think I would be more pissed off if she was just the shopgirl. What's it with some shopgirls these days, swanning around, acting all snooty like they own the business?
"Maccas of the Macaron industry'!!! Wahahahahahahahaha!
When are you going to blog again?!
xx
Hey hey hey, Jin!
It's always so good to hear the American perspective of things from you!
I had no idea. I thought they would be everywhere by now.
Frozen ones?! Do you just leave them out to thaw?
xx
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