Four To Try: New CBD Bakeries for Sourdough, Salt Bread and “Melbourne-Style Cookies”

If there’s one thing Melbourne simply cannot get enough of, it’s new bakeries. Here are four more to add to your ever-growing hit list.

Bloomwood, CBD

When Bloomwood burst onto Melbourne’s cafe scene in 2024, it quickly became a destination for its Asian-influenced viennoiserie. So far, the team has dreamt up inventions like Korean corn cheese danishes, pandan pain suisse and a limited-edition pastry that echoes Chinese tangyuan (sweet rice balls) with mochi, black-sesame custard and ginger-and-sesame cream – all served alongside a menu of specialty matcha and coffee drinks. 

Last month, the team opened a second location at Bourke Street’s Galleria. Head baker Max Loh, who previously led the kitchen at Bakemono and did a stint as senior chef de partie at the acclaimed Logan Brown in Wellington, New Zealand, pushes the menu towards “items that are more easily paired with daily coffees”, founder Brian Taing told Broadsheet. Find buttery shio pan in special flavours such as ube, salted egg yolk, garlic cream cheese, mentaiko (cod roe) and Hokkaido milk. Plus, croissants, scrolls, toasties and bagels.

Cobb Lane, CBD

When former Vue de Monde chef Matt Forbes opened the first Cobb Lane in Yarraville in 2013, he said a CBD location felt out of reach. But Cobb Lane quietly gained a following for its 36-hour-fermented sourdough and, by 2022, the petite inner-west cafe (originally on Anderson Street, now on Taylor Street) had expanded into markets in Richmond and South Melbourne. It now provides doughnuts, cookies, viennoiserie and other bakes to more than 200 cafes around Melbourne.

In April, Forbes and his business and life partner Amy Newman opened a bakery on Bennetts Lane, just behind Caretaker’s Cottage. Raw products are prepared at the Yarraville bakery, transported, then baked in one of the deck ovens on-site, so the smell of freshly baked bread perpetually wafts through the air. And you’ll find Cobb Lane’s pork-and-fennel sausage rolls and cheesy vego pies as well as a hot version of English pork pie. 

Bread K, CBD

When Korean bakery Bread K opened in Moonee Ponds in 2024, sogeum-ppang (Korean salt bread) was popular, but nowhere near as prevalent in Melbourne as it is now. The small bakery quickly gained a following for its large variety of sogeum-ppang and other Korean baked goods, including soboro buns and chewy “dinosaur egg” bread, which is made with glutinous rice flour, matcha and black sesame.

In March, Bread K opened a city store, bringing its Korean bakes to Sutherland Street. Everything is made at the Moonee Ponds location, but there are some CBD-exclusive items such as soboro buns filled with basil cream cheese, and cream buns stuffed with red bean paste and fresh cream. The casual spot is self-serve, so pick up a tray and load it up. 

Bakestand, CBD

Every so often, someone opens up shop in hopes of becoming the new “it” cookie. But unlike American chains Levain, Milk Bar and Crumble, the latest contender is a Melbourne-born brand, Bakestand.

After opening the first Bakestand at Melbourne Central last month, founders Vi Thao Tran and pastry chef Steven He (Le Yeahllow) have already expanded with a second location inside Melbourne Walk – officially opening on Thursday May 28 – and plan to open a third Bake Stand at Hyde Melbourne Place before the year’s end. 

Bakestand specialises in “Melbourne-style cookies”, which Tran and He say are defined by crisp edges, a chewy centre and their large size (10-centimetre diameter). Flavours include hojicha and milk chocolate; dark chocolate and sea salt; and matcha, strawberry and white chocolate. Each is made with Valrhona chocolate and cultured butter from Sydney-based Pepe Saya. 

Additional reporting by Haymun Win