Yesterday was a perfect Sydney spring day, so Kala and I caught a ferry for the short ride to historic Balmain, where we lost ourselves (often unintentionally) in the labyrinth of historic little streets.

We stumbled upon great coffee at Charlottes in Rowntree Street, and investigated the boutiques of Victoria Street before finally finding our way to Adriano Zumbo’s  tiny pâtisserie for a macaron fix. We tried Chocolate Donut and Salted Butter Caramel – delicious, but still not quite good enough to beat Ladurée’s Cassis & Violet.

Footnote:  Patisse has closed it’s retail outlet in Waterloo so I will never know if the Rose & Lychee would have been a winner !!