Adriano Zumbo embraces negative reviews at new Emporium store

'Overpriced' and 'overrated'.

Chefs must dread these reviews, where diners list every detail of what displeased them about a meal in a post online.

But pastry chef and entrepreneur Adriano Zumbo has learned to laugh at the criticism.

With his newest venture, a kiosk at Emporium shopping centre in Melbourne's CBD, he is using negative customer feedback as a talking point.

Simply called Zumbo, it will have a similar offering of macarons, cakes and chocolates to his South Yarra store, but in location more accessible to the rest of Melbourne.

He hopes to open about December 14 or 15, but in the meantime advertising hoardings at the site are printed with some of his customers' blistering reviews.

"Talk about overrated. We waited for approximately 30 minutes only to be completely disappointed by the unimaginative and unimpressive desserts at Zumbo's. We won't return and I advise you not to bother," one reads.

Young chefs working long hours might feel discouraged by that kind of feedback, Zumbo said, but it was impossible to avoid.

"It's funny, you've got to be able to take the piss out of yourself. It's the shock factor and it creates interest," he said.

"There's always a percentage of people who don't like something, but we're confident in what we do."

That is not to say Zumbo discounts negative feedback entirely.

"It pushes you harder, even though you laugh at some of it you push yourself more," he said.

It has been a busy few years for the celebrity pastry chef, who burst onto the radar of many Melburnians with his appearances on MasterChef.

Since then he has launched a range of cake mixes and flavoured Tim Tams, while also running his stores.

The pastry chef said creating supermarket products had not detracted from the Zumbo brand because they were catering for very different experiences.

"The shop is always evolving, keeping people looking for what comes next," Zumbo said.

Emporium Melbourne is at 287 Lonsdale St, Melbourne