By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Springvale-based baker brothers Ryan and Chan Khun’s flair for reinventing the humble pie has proven a winner.
Their diverse menu at Country Cob Bakery struck gold 14 times as well as one silver out of their 15 entries at the recent Great Aussie Pie Competition in Sydney.
Their latest unique offering, a slow-cooked BBQ beef, mac & cheese pie, won Australia’s best BBQ pie.
Their seafood penang ranked second, vegan laksa third and “traditional” meat pie fifth.
Each of those pies were awarded gold medals – as were the scallop mornay, steak mince & cheese, Mongolian lamb cumin, lamb ragu, chunky combo beef, chicken biryani, Rueben sandwich, Jack Daniel steak, chicken cheese vegie, and pepper steak varieties.
The brothers, both born in Cambodian, trained as bakers and pastry chefs after migrating to Australia.
Their first business was a bread bakery in Melbourne’s West. But they tired of the 1am wake-ups and sold up.
“When everyone is sleeping, you wake up. And we’re sleeping when everyone’s awake.”
They then found and bought a pie bakery Country Cob Bakery in Kyneton and recently opened a second branch in Springvale – near their parents in Keysborough.
By trial and error, Chan created the ideal pie crust while Ryan worked on the fillings from all over the globe.
“We’re a very good team,” Ryan says.
“Our girls at the business are the judge of what tastes good. We follow their guidance.”
Ryan keeps up with global culinary trends, such as for his New York-inspired Rueben sandwich – which won gold in the breakfast pie category.
“Every year we come up with a new flavour for competition.
“We never stop. We’re always looking for something different, something new.”
For customers, the cutting-edge mac cheese and scallop pies are building strong cult followings, Ryan says.
But still, the ‘traditional’ beef pie remains the No.1 seller.
