Country Cob Bakery Boronia

This small bakery is famous for its pies: in 2020, it was crowned the best in Australia. Brothers Chan and Ryan Khun took over the original Country Cob Bakery in Kyneton in 2016, and opened this Boronia location in 2020. The carpark here is almost always full.

If you can resist the smell of the pies upon entrance, it’s worth taking stock of the assortment of sweets and pastries on display in the cabinet. The line-up is changeable, but danishes, scrolls, brownies, and more appear often. Vanilla slices, custard tarts, eclairs and doughnuts are mainstays.

But those golden, flaky pies are the stars of the show here. If you like your classic fillings, try the plain beef or the pepper-beef (this is the one that took out the best in Australia prize). Both are filled with big, satisfying chunks of beef. If you’re after something a bit more out there, the satay seafood pie or the barbeque, whisky and quail egg pie – both of which nod to the brothers’ Cambodian heritage – are the way to go. They’re wild, but they work. There’s plenty of other flavours too, such as the lamb ragu.

Hundreds of pies are handmade every day, and demand is high. You can buy them warm or cold, by the box-full or to scoff in the car on the way home. They’re also affordable: most come in well under the $10 mark.