Have you seen an abundance of macarons around town lately?

Perhaps at the markets, or bundled nicely in a display at cafes? Maybe at the National Portrait Gallery cafe, at ONA cafe and at Bittersweet in Kingston, just to name a few? It would be the safe assumption of most Canberrans that these are sourced from Sydney, along with many other cafe-standard pastry and cakes.

Happily I can reveal that they are the core product of Dream Cuisine Patisserie, a local operation started up in 2010 by mother and son team Marilyn Chalkley and Owen Saddler. Since then, they have been treating Canberrans to their delectable macarons, tarts and pastries through wholesale distribution and their stalls at  the EPIC farmers markets and the Kingston bus depot markets.

But it was only two months or so ago that the patisserie got itself a shop front. And it’s a mighty fine one at that. It’s a perfect crisp and clear winter’s day when I make my way to Dream Cuisine Patisserie on Whyalla Street in Fyshwick. There’s plenty of parking and I’m immediately impressed by the bold facade and the chairs and tables out the front full of people which makes a great contrast to everything else in predominantly industrial Fyshwick.

The idea was to create food that made people smile. Marilyn had fallen in love with macarons from visiting Paris and wanted to replicate them here in a traditional way. It was perfect timing – just as the business got going, macarons were popularised in Australia by their appearance on Masterchef and pastry chefs such as Adriano Zumbo in Sydney.

Aside from the emphasis on authenticity, the ingredients used to make each macaron is sourced with care – the nuts (mostly almonds, but also pistachios, hazelnuts and occassionally walnuts) are sourced from Australian growers, the flavours are not artificial but derives from their natural sources. The only thing artificial about them is their colour, without which they would all be the same cakey colour.

Similarly, the pastry for the tarts and the croissant is made from Australian organic and freshly milled flour with all of its natural oils and depth of flavour. I was astounded to learn that hardly any bakeries make their pastry for croissant from scratch, the norm is to buy pastry frozen and bake it freshly every day. Not at dream cuisine. The croissant are crafted from pastry which is made from scratch, from organic milled flour and cultured butter.

It’s such a delight to see a business that is fundamentally true to food at its core, that strives for the best quality ingredients to create the fullest flavour for each product.

The macarons are quite incredible. I’ve never really been a fan of them much before as I generally find them too sweet with a hollow, artificial flavour. These are different. Of course they are sweet, they are macarons. But what you notice is that each one has such a strong, distinct flavour, a flavour that bowls you over with each bite. The pistachio with a strong hint of lime is a creative flavour match that is part traditional with a mexican edge, the smoky, deep lavender and with the sweet but subtle honey coming through, and the strawberries and champagne, where with each bite you can almost taste the bittersweet champagne bubbles. It’s the texture that really hits you too. The art is in each shell being not too hard and not too soft. Hard enough that there is a crunch when you bite into them but soft enough on the palette so that they ooze with flavour.

It’s so hard to pick a favourite. We sample several of the bite-sized macarons – of which I’m particularly a fan – about a third of the size of a standard one which leaves you more room to try the array of flavours. The chocolate macaron is rich and velvety, the hazelnut one divine. I think all in all, my favourite is the salted caramel. It is just perfect. But so are they all. All were accompanied by coffee sourced from the highly acclaimed Sydney roasters, Coffee Alchemy.

On a weekday, the cafe was bustling with a steady lunch crowd, and a steady flow of folk dropping in for coffee. It was wonderful to see such a bustling place in unlikely surrounds. The cafe also does pizza and quiche based on the same baking principles, and the pizza we try is a knock-out with a perfect base and the sophistication of caramelised onions.

I adore so many things about it, from the bright pantone chairs and mugs, the mismatched coloured coffee cups, the glass window which lets you see into the kitchen, the hard work of Canberrans transforming a dream, perhaps a whim, into a glorious reality. The place has a kind of pizzazz I haven’t seen in a cafe around town lately, particularly as the basic hipster decor of polished concrete and stainless steel tends to dominate. There’s no hidden meaning at Dream Cuisine, nothing quirky or understated. It’s pure joy, pure fun and every mouthful is a delight.

Open between 6:30 and 4 every day and Saturday between 9 and 2pm, opening hours allow for a pre-work croissant, a languid coffee break or lunch or a weekend pastry fix. I can’t wait for my second visit.