Black Star Pastry

Black Star Pastry has reached institution status after more than a decade creating world-class, Instagram-famous delicacies. The popularity of Black Star's singular pastry creations has seen the brand expand across multiple Sydney outposts, a Melbourne shop in St Kilda, as well as a flagship patisserie in Shanghai. But the ever-growing butter-fuelled empire started right here in Newtown back in 2011.

The intimacy of this space belies its pedigree. Christopher Thé, of Claude's fame, is at the helm of this project, which takes classic delights and reworks them through inventive experimentation. The results remain whimsical, sometimes challenging and a sweet tooth's fantasia. Favourites from the menu include the now-iconic strawberry watermelon cake, the orange cake with Persian figs, and the lemon myrtle chiffon cake.

Like all good things, the only fault of Black Star is its popularity. Outside seats and take-aways are always an option though — it's not worth missing out on, no matter how busy this little shopfront happens to be.