The best things we tasted this week

Maxim Boon, Sydney editor
The humble crème brûlée is kind of like the Bondi Beach of desserts: it’s wildly popular, tried and trusted, but it’s hardly going to earn you much in the way of bragging rights. Throw a stone in any direction in Sydney, and you’re likely to hit a restaurant that has this perennially-pleasing sweet on its menu, so it takes one seriously special variant to stand out from that crowd. And such a brûlée exists at Black Bar and Grill at the Star. This up-market steakhouse is all about classics delivered with sky-high finesse and outstanding produce, but its current brûlée is more than merely very well executed. The cream is an if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it vanilla infusion with a flawlessly smooth texture and depth. So far, so obvious. However, unlike more common-or-garden varieties, this brûlée isn’t about straight-up sugar. The caramel veneer is atom thin, crisp and caramelised to just a hair’s-breadth from burnt so that there’s just a whisper of char on the palate without any overpowering bitterness. A passionfruit and caramel reduction introduces a fruity tartness, which is cranked up to the heavens by a citrus and passion fruit sorbet, so concentrated in sharp, biting flavour that it slices through the otherwise polite creaminess like a bolt of lightning. I’ve had a lot of brûlées in my time, but this one truly is the crème de la crème.

Emily Lloyd-Tait, food and drink editor
When partying late into the wee small hours is back on the cards in Sydney you'd best believe that this wrap is going to feature in many, many people's highlights reel of the night before. It's designed with drinking in mind, with a whole barage of strong flavours vying for pole position. Somehow they all manage to pull together to create one very feisty sandwich. The shell is a properly crisp flatbread spread with spiced lamb mince that's been grilled into a Middle Eastern pizza called a lahmacun. They use it as a wrap, encasing pickles, sumac onions, fresh tomato, herbs, and a heady whack of garlic paste into a after-hours snack that could cut through even the thickest brain fog. Happily, until we're out at night you can grab it in the day too.

Divya Venkataraman, staff writer
Tucked in a CBD laneway is a bold venture from the chefs behind Lumi and Oscillate Wildly, called Restaurant Leo. It’s a shame the CBD isn’t thronged with the usual crowds because they’re missing out on Leo’s lobster maccheroncini – tiny, tubular pasta shells lathered in a lobster and scampi bisque-style sauce and scattered with plump lobster chunks. The end result? A surprisingly salty, luxuriously creamy sauce which takes on a glossy sheen in the bright, white tableclothed dining room. If there’s room for more decadence, reserve it for the custard-soft, green-grape-topped panna cotta.

Alannah Maher, national editorial assistant
The humble doughnut has become a competitive hallmark in the snacking game. With ‘OMG!’ literally in its name, you might expect a spectacle of Instagram-geared rounds piled to high heavens with sickly sweet toppings, but you'd be way off base. This market regular has focussed their energies on finessing twelve sugar dustings made from fruits, veggies and spices. Each fluffy, crisp-fried discs is cooked to order and then dressed in the flavoured sugar of your choice. There's cinnamon, natch,  but if you’re willing to get adventurous, there's a berry-chilli option and one fragrant with chai spices like ginger and cardamom. We downed these bad boys at the monthly Sydney Vegan Market (yes, they’re certified by Vegan Australia) but you can find OMG! tents popping up at numerous markets and events around Sydney. These doughnuts are not only cruelty free but also free from gluten and nuts. Single doughnuts are $3.50, or you can buy them in incremental packs of three ($10), six ($18), and up to 24 ($60).