In the beginning, there was Victoire, Balmain

Lately, I've been Frustrated.

The success of Adriano Zumbo's cake creations After MasterChef has meant queues out the door and down the street every weekend. And when you do get to the front of the queue, there are only a couple of 'Tiger' cakes and some macaron crumbs remaining. Denied.

I do need my cake fix, and salvation comes in the form of Victoire. Adriano Zumbo actually worked for Victoire (doing the pastries) before he started his burgeoning empire, and what a fabulous place in which to hone your skills.

While it does not have the exotic, colourful creations of Zumbo, Victoire does provide the breads for Rockpool restaurant, among others, and the bread products are still the mainstay of its business. The walnut loaf is to die for, and I really recommend the levain ficelle if you want a crisp-outside, meltingly-soft-inside bread experience. The 'rustic' loaves are also excellent, being a long thin breadstick with sourdough texture, but 10 times more delicious (especially the olive one).

To relieve my Zumbo withdrawal symptoms this weekend, I got the olive rustic loaf together with a rhubarb tart and an apple tart.

The apple tart has apple puree topped with thin slices of apple in a shortcrust shell.
The rhubarb tart contains silky soft red rhubarb underneath a top that is sprinkled with sugar.
Both are divine!

Victoire is located in Darling St, Balmain. It is diagonally opposite the Zumbo shop. So check it out next time you're in the vicinity (though I hope that Zumbo also has what you are after!).