Black Star Pastry

The brainchild of Christopher Thé (former pastry chef at Woollahra fine diner Claude's), this brand spanking Newtown patisserie offers everything from macaroons to individual tartes Tatins and even a toast station where you can apply your own spreads. And it's all made in the tiny little kitchen out the back of an even tinier shopfront

First published on 4 Apr 2009. Updated on 24 Feb 2012.

Right next door to Oscillate Wildly (who, incidentally, have recently lost chef Dan Puskas but gained Est. chef Karl Firla), Black Star Pastry shares a similar skeleton - pressed metal ceilings, dinky little space, plenty of character. The main part of the room is taken up by a counter covered in pastries and chocolates from the flaky, buttery quiche Lorraine with hunks of ham and proper custard to ginger ninjas. (Think of them as like gingerbread men, except that instead of just running away they can also pull out a man's still-beating heart.) Or have a pie - beautifully tender hunks of braised lamb shank with red wine and vegies are captured in feather-light pastry.

They also have a beef mince number as well as excellent sauso rolls. You'll find a little banquette lining the inside of the shop window with a few stools scattered about and a pile of magazines a foot high next to the ever-pumping coffee machine. The coffee, by the by, is great - gutsy and smooth and very slightly nutty – you'd come here for the coffee 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. But back to the pastries. The bread and butter pudding, served in a little cardboard container, comes with a stout jug of crème anglaise. Topped with candied orange peel, this crisp, buttery pudding studded with raisins and swimming in as much custard sauce as you can handle with make you think you've carked it and gone to pudding heaven.

There are also individual tartes Tatins with wafer-thin slices of apple baked until dark and sugary, house-made chocolates, and macaroons. The toast station offers butter, Vegemite and house-made jams on the go. If you're after a savoury, there are also sangas; try the serrano ham on olive bread, or chicken and avocado on whole wheat. Get yourself to Newtown on a Saturday morning for brekky or lunch. Hell, get a cab over there in your lunch break. Just don't miss the pudding.

Not licensed, around $6.50pp.

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