Macarons at Cafe Cre Asion are a Journey to the East…an exotic Oriental taste adventure.
Our experience
MoMo & Coco acknowledge fellow Sydney-based blogger, Food Booze Shoes, for her recommendation of Cafe Cre Asion.
There are times when we wonder how we managed some years ago without the iPhone’s GPS/Google Maps capability. So imagine attempting to locate a relatively new macaron specialty sweet boutique in a city that it is not our place of residence and in a part of that city which is not our usual haunt as when we do visit, we are usually in the legal/business district and the tourist area. Throw a laneway location into the mix, and we are thanking those clever IT wizzes who came up with non-paper-pen mapping. Even if our handy iPhones though, it took us two encirclings of the block to figure out where we were and where our target was. Fail. Cafe Cre Asion is secreted away from all foot traffic. Would you have been able to find it?
It’s a compact place selling beverages, a few platters of home-made East Asian-style pastries and a colourful display of macarons. There’s a cluster of low-level stools that bring a Japon-esque air to the place. The staff are lovely, and take the time to explain the weird and wonderful macaron flavours that MoMo & Coco have not seen anywhere else in all our Australian and overseas sweet adventures.
Macarons are priced at $2.70 a piece, and come in a rough brown paper box and a matching paper bag. Both are stamped with Cafe Cre Asion’s insignia which evokes a rather Oriental design. There are about 15 different macaron flavours available, 10 of which are East Asian in inspiration and the rest are flavours that may be found in most other macaron specialty sweet boutiques. MoMo & Coco selected the 10 East Asian inspired macarons for this blog-documented sampling.
The “Orange Marmalade Macaron” packs in a good dose of marmalade flavour, with a proper flicker of sour as its endnote. The ganache filling though is a little drippy.
The “Kinako Macaron” we are told by the staff at Cafe Cre Asion, extracts the essence of roasted soybean. As we have never had roasted soybean before (we have only had soybean), we were unsure what to expect. A delicate soybean flavour does develop slowly and is quite lovely. There’s no discernible “roast” tone though.
The “Cornflake Peanut Butter Macaron” is one of MoMo & Coco’s favourite macarons from Cafe Cre Asion. It’s creamy and smooth, but it’s not an overpowering peanut butter flavour. The cornflake becomes more pronounced towards the middle of one’s eating.
The “Coriander Sugar Macaron” imparts a caramel taste. It requires a more sensitive palate than ours to detect the coriander element.
The “Jasmine Macaron” is unfortunately too lightly flavoured, a wispy anaemic little thing. All sugar, and nothing else. Again, it probably requires a more sensitive palate than ours to find the alleged jasmine flavour.
The “Lychee Raspberry Mcacaron” tasted for some strange reason, more like a rose macaron than a lychee or raspberry macaron per se. For accuracy, it should be re-labelled.
The “Bamboo Charcoal Sesame Macaron” has a most intriguing name, and an equally intriguing taste. That unmistakeable grainy, slightly bland tone of black sesame makes a dominant presence, as does a mid-note of charcoal. MoMo & Coco have only ever had bamboo in a cooked dish, and it is usually of little flavour so it is not possible to tell if this macaron had the alleged bamboo or not. A very interesting little macaron, you might not like it but it’s worth sampling to contemplate.
Lavender is always a difficult ingredient to work with, too little and there’s nothing, too much and it’s soap. The “Lavender Macaron” from Cafe Cre Asion is beautiful, gentle but not wispy. We are thinking it would be even lovelier if paired with honey.
The “Balsamic Vinegar Cherry Macaron” stays very true to its name. We don’t know what tempted us to eat a vinegar macaron but we are unlikely to do so again. It’s infused with a very potent vinegar, but the cherry flavour is not present.
The “Hoji Tea Macaron” is another MoMo & Coco favourite from Cafe Cre Asion. Its tea flavour does not manifest until the very end of the macaron, when it yields a rounded smokier, earthier green tea tone.
Our verdict
Macarons from Cafe Cre Asion are like a Journey to the East. Exotic lovely things, worth trying for an Oriental taste adventure.
- In terms of appearance – Cafe Cre Asion’s macarons are generally consistent in appearance, properly fatty rather than flatty, with moderate-sized feet (the hem of the shell) that were not overly-frilly and were always present. However, the shells are a little bumpy and a few hid empty shells.
- In terms of taste – Most of Cafe Cre Asion’s macarons were flavoursome, with the stand-outs being mostly the East Asian-inspired macarons, the Cornflake Peanut Butter, Lavender, Kinako, Bamboo Charcoal Sesame, Balsamic Vinegar Cherry, and the Hoji Tea. The rest required far more sensitive palates to detect their alleged flavours. The ganache filling tended to be a little thick and often icing-sugar hard.
- In terms of texture – Cafe Cre Asion’s macarons are consistent in texture, a degree chewier and less melt-in-the-mouth than we prefer, but still good as none were crunchy, dry, soggy or sticky. It’s more the icing-sugar hard ganache filling that is the main let-down of the macarons.
- With regards to maturation – “Maturation” (ie allowing to stand for a day or so, or refrigerate for a few hours) is not necessary. Cafe Cre Asion’s macarons may be eaten on the day of purchase, and from our experiments, up to a day thereafter.
Dessert adventure checklist
- ☑ Dessert destination: Cafe Cre Asion, 21 Alberta Street, Sydney CBD, NSW 2000.
- ☑ Budget: $.
- ☑ Sweet irresistibles: Macarons
- ☑ Must-eat: The “Cornflake Peanut Butter,” “Kinako,” and “Bamboo Charcoal Sesame” macarons
- ☑ The short and sweet story: Macarons at Cafe Cre Asion are a Journey to the East…an exotic Oriental taste adventure.
Dessert Correspondents 