Best cheap eat

Winner

Black Star Pastry, Newtown

The reason we love this café/patisserie so much, dear snack-loving readers, is the fact that you can buy restaurant-quality pastries for less than a tenner. Owned and run by Christopher Thé (former pastry chef at Woollahra fine diner Claude's), Black Star offers everything from macarons to ginger ninjas (gingerbread men clad in choc ninja costumes). And it's all made in the tiny kitchen out the back of an even tinier shopfront. There's the flaky, buttery quiche Lorraine with hunks of ham and savoury custard, individual tartes Tatin gleaming with crimson slices of apple, and quince and almond tart. Or try the out-of-this-world lamb shank pie - beautifully tender hunks of braised lamb shank with red wine and vegies captured in featherlight pastry. There are also sangas. Squeeze into the shop for a coffee  - you'd come here for it alone if the food wasn't so darn good. Bag one of the wee tables outside on the footpath; you might even be lucky enough to get the Philippe Starck gnome table.

Runners-up

Din Tai Fung, Haymarket
It's dumplings a-go-go here. The xiao long bao (aka soup filled dumplings) are the house specialty, but watch how you eat them - they're filled with lava-hot pork stock.

Guzman y Gomez, Newtown
Proper Mexican food in Sydney? Yes, the dream is finally a reality. Eat a burrito – it's a meal in itself – beans, rice, cheese and the meat of your choice (we love the steak strips) all wrapped in a soft tortilla.

Mamak, Haymarket
Order the murtabak for $9.50 – it's a roti parcel filled with spicy mince – with a half dozen chicken satay skewers for $8 and you'll still leave with change from a twenty. Or simply have the nasi lemak for $6.50 – it's arguably Malaysia's national dish and for good reason.

Gumshara Ramen, Haymarket
The tonkotsu ramen is the most collagen-enriched, silken bowl of pork rich broth with firm yet yielding noodles ever found in a bowl and costs less than ten dollars.

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