You may think that I am trolling around Sydney going to each and every patisserie and you'd probably be right. My latest stop was Black Star Pastry, tucked away in Australia Street Newtown, right next to Oscillate Wildy and opposite Newtown Police Station. Who knew that in this little street, there would be so much foodie goodness? And what is Black Star Pastry? It's Christopher Thé's newish patissserie, he of Claudes and Quay fame.
Mel and I are an ambitious pair-we've just ingested an enormous lunch and yet we're still looking for sweets not 20 minutes later. Our eyes, and ambitions are definitely bigger than our stomachs. We walk past the crowd sitting outside on stools nursing their coffees (beans from The Little Marionette) and cakes resting on the Philippe Starck Gnome tables. There's a young boy who wanders in with his mouth covered with chocolate-a satisfied customer in need of more sustenance no doubt. It's a small space with seating in the bay window as well as small stools and tables outside. We quickly nab a window seat while I decide on what we're having.
It only makes logical sense that we try a Ginger Ninja, the gingerbread biscuits that they're so famous for. The Winona Ryder-esque girl behind the counter lets us know that the brownies are especially good and fresh from the oven and we also try two of the cakes: a fig, plum and orange cake as well as a cake we were initially drawn to for the look: a strawberry, rose and watermelon dacquoise cake. Yes a Watermelon cake!
We take our cakes to the stool and we dig in. It's very gingery, nicely so, and enrobed in a rich chocolate. The brownie was perhaps the most ambitious of items for us to try after our lunch. It's soft and gooey inside and packed full of whole macadamias.
_Small Plum, Fig and Orange cake $4 and Strawberry, Rose and Watermelon cake $6
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The cakes however are the things that take my fancy the most, particularly the strawberry, rose and watermelon dacquoise cake. For those of you that haven't tried a cake with fresh watermelon, do and do so soon. This cake is layered with almond dacquoise, cream and a slice of watermelon and plump, sweet strawberries and is undeniably light and refreshing yet still sumptuous with the cream and nutty dacquoise sponge. Importantly for us and our recent lunch, it's also as light as a feather so we don't feel like we've just eaten a cake. The small round fig and plum topped cake is full of tiny pieces of candied orange and tastes like a deliciously fragrant marmalade butter cake.
_Christopher Thé and wife Rose
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Christopher and his wife Rose come out from the kitchen and we have a quick chat about the business and any future plans (to keep baking delicious goodies-why fix what's not broken?)
Yes were ambitious but then again we polished off those cakes as if the Titanic were going down and we were the last ones on board.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you have an emergency dessert tank where you can accommodate desserts?
Black Star Pastry
277 Australia Street, Newtown
Tel: +61 (02) 9557 8656
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 7am-5pm
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