Black Star Pastry

Is it just a hype? Maybe, but you just can’t deny that a fresh watermelon cake and their cronuts there are just suuuppppeerrrrbbbb! It is even addictive! I will almost say it’s a must try for anyone who’s visiting Sydney!
There’s generally a long queue which is a negative, and the biggest downside is that watermelon cake must be eaten fresh and cannot be kept for long due to the moisture. Other than these, I cannot think of a single thing to fault this place!
Just go and try for yourselves! Now!

Black Star Pastry has become famous in Newtown and now it’s reached Ultimo and offering the inner city a chance to enjoy it’s dazzling menu options.
They are renowned for the Watermelon Cake and I couldn’t help but grab a chance to join the Watermelon club.
The Watermelon cake is worth all the hype and long line ups. The cake is incredibly artistic to look at and almost takes effort to eat such a marvellous creation. The Cake is fruity and light topped with pistachios and rose petals two layers of almond dacquoise, cream and of course watermelon and strawberries.
The combination works brilliantly but it’s a dish best eaten quickly because this cake isn’t meant to last very long. The cake is perfect for any special occasion and has a really summery picnic feel go it. This cake brings you to an imaginary field of wild fruits with its exquisite tastes.
The rest of the menu is as exciting and interesting. This place does indeed live up to its own hype.

Black Star in Newtown has never disappointed and the food here in Ultimo is just as good. A large selection of pastries, cakes and a few cooked items makes this a great place for a snack or light meal.
The berry Danish was a ripper and the bacon and egg roll was better than expected. I really can’t fault the food. And in fact I would be back again specifically for it.
BUT! The ambience sucks. Really badly. The interior feels like a cheap cafeteria and it is cold and depressing. I think the interior seating area is so bad that it impacts on how you enjoy the food. You don’t gush over the Danish like you would at the tiny store in Newtown. You just sit there and consume your baked good as if it were a simple commodity. Because there is just no atmosphere. No shared excitement. Just a few suits sitting around talking shop.
So it’s a tough place to get excited about despite the food being magnificent. That said, I do have to recommend this place. I just hope they can fix up the seating area as it is totally inconsistent with the quality of the food.

A nice way to end a trip to the museum. The pies are really tasty, the pastry could have been a bit crisper but it was still good. The kids and I shared a pie and chips. Don’t worry about them being ‘beer and brisket’ or ‘lamb and red wine’ you cannot taste the alcohol and the kids liked them. It’s a pretty cool place to just relax and at $ 8 for a pretty big pie, good value. The cakes/​desserts are a bit pricey — $ 6 for a small salted caramel pana cotta, but on the plus side, it was delicious.

It isn’t bad but it isn’t good either.
My bacon and egg roll wasn’t anything to write home about and the kids’ burgers had some weird and not entirely beef looking/​tasting patties which the pigeons didn’t seem to mind. The kids side of salt had some not too unpleasant fries. Unfortunately the little marionette latte wasn’t enough to save the day.
In fairness, I suspect things would be better if they weren’t so busy (rainy Sunday noon) and the place definitely makes sense if you’re visiting the museum with kids.

A welcome addition to the Ultimo neck of the woods, this Black Star Pastry has all the baked favourites and then some…
Seriously, these guys know what’s up when it comes to delivering flavour… Yes, they are known for their baked goods (believe the hype when it comes to their Strawberry watermelon cake, the pistachio lemon curd layer thingy is also a tangy parcel of delight on your taste buds, and GIANT Portuguese style egg custard tarts have unfortunately become a breakfast staple for me…) but the savoury offerings here mix classic flavours with amazing modern touches.
If the Steak Sandwich is on the specials board, don’t even hesitate. Just order it. When the staff recommended it to me they assured me that it would blow my mind.
They didn’t lie… Tender juicy steak, pesto, roasted capsicume, gruyère cheese, caramelised onion, rocket… Everything a steak sandwich should be and more. The right amount of grease for flavour but the steak just melted in your mouth. Then there’s the toast… Roasted mushrooms with almond pesto and rocket and truffle oil (rich, decadent and oh-​so satisfying) and avocado toast (sliced, creamy avocado seasoned with black salt and pepper I believe) with some sort of dollop of avocado mousse on the side.
Kudos to the guys for having a kids menu that has imagination and isn’t all deep fried rubbish. I don’t have kids but it’s great when I go out with my gal-​pals that have them… The kids get to eat fresh and tasty… Rumour has it that the Italian head chef has recreated his mama’s recipe for the spaghetti and meatballs dish on the kid’s menu. I snuck a forkful from my friend’s kid’s bowl and was disappointed they don’t make a full sized serving for adults. Bellissimo!
The coffee here is also reliably good… some places might think they have it nailed but as a regular I can tell you that it makes my morning every morning getting my soy latte at the perfect temperature every time. Plus you get a discount if you BYO keep cup/​reusable takeaway mug.
You don’t need to be a museum-​goer to enter as entrance is separate to the museum (on the level 3 café) You do need to be a museum-​goer for their café on level 1 next to the playground but that’s just an even better reason to check out the Powerhouse Museum.

Bread-​and-​butter pudding and an apple tea.
That makes me sound like a British person in 1860s London, but trust me when I say this is to brunch meetings what Biggie Smalls was to giant fat African American men who thought they could never achieve anything. So everyone knows Black Star’s strawberry watermelon cake by now, but the B&B pudding is the straight up business, it’s dense and sticky and there’s raisins and I think cinnamon and it’s a meal in itself, is what I, trying to get at, it’s actually hard to finish one, so don’t baulk at the $ 7.50 cost because it’s worth it twice over.
There’s a big room with table and chairs in a cafeteria style to sit in, but strolling out the door and sitting with your back to the wall in the sun is also a pretty prime option.