Drury Lane

Ask any Hobart local about the best patisserie in town and Sweet Envy is what you’ll hear again and again. Ask a Sydneysider and it’s a bit more complicated – made even more so by the arrival of Sweet Envy’s boss and chef Alistair Wise in May 2017.

Wise is behind Drury Lane, above Brewtown Newtown. Although the name is different, almost everything else in the bakery is the same as Wise’s range in Hobart. The most lauded of all Sweet Envy’s creations, the pecan sticky bun, has made the journey. It’s a masterful creation – like a cinnamon scroll in structure but surrounded by a dense, gooey salted-caramel glaze. The croissant-style dough inside is as perfectly layered and fluffy as one can imagine.

The other popular order to try is the accurately named Jatz pie: a Jatz-topped caramel slice with layers of Momofuku-style caramel crack, peanut butter, salted caramel and peanut-butter cookie bits.

There’s also a range of savouries such as the gumbo pie; a gratin-like cauliflower-and-cheese tart, and some Bourke Street Bakery-like sausage rolls.

The counter where the pastries get rolled, whacked and stuffed also doubles as Brewtown’s new brew bar, with automated pour-overs and a specialty grinder.