Of pudding and places

I sigh for the purin of Japanese convenience stores. Crème caramel and excellent, for pennies; and can you get anything like it over here? Loblaws has a crème brûlée, and I bought it, only to discover that you have to caramelize the top yourself with an instrument I've never heard of but which Loblaws assumes you will but naturally possess. (Wikipedia recommends a blowtorch. I don't have that either.) Alternatively you can stick it in an oven to melt. (In July. No.) And there's no caramely syrup at the bottom either, which renders crème brûlée pointless, by me.
( As for the places )