By Sahar Foladi
Springvale’s Country Cob and Bakery has taken away the coveted title of Australia’s Best Pie Award.
The bakery’s Fish Amok pie won the title for the family-run business at the annual Australia’s Best Pie and Pastie competition run by Baking Association of Australia (BAA).
Owners Chan and Ryan Khun said they’re both very happy and excited about their accomplishment.
“We didn’t think we’d win this year because the flavour was different from last year so we are very proud,” Mr Khun said.
More than 300 bakeries entered with over 1500 pies but the fish amok pie inspired by Cambodian national dish remained unbeatable.
“It’s a very unique flavour and not many people have heard of this flavour until this competition.
“We always have these kinds of fish for special occasions and one day we had a discussion on why don’t we add a traditional twist to the pie.”
The brothers played with different recipes, sourcing ingredients that match the closest and best to the ingredients used back home.
“We explored recipe methods that we thought the judges would like in the competition,” Mr Khun said.
“There were a lot of things we did to get ready for the competition.”
Judges sampled 70 pies over the three days both hot and cold to determine the winners in an objective manner.
“This event is very important and plays a vital role for the baking industry,” the Baking Association of Australia said of the event held in Sydney this year.
The brothers also took down the best mushroom pie category for their Black Forest pie and best flavour beef pie category for Pepper Beef.
“Normally we try to do something different and always come up with creative ideas,” Mr Khun said.
This is the fourth year the brothers have won the title for their small bakery located in three different locations, Boronia, Kyneton and Springvale.
“We were thinking of retiring from the competition for some time to let others enjoy the experience,” Mr Khun laughed.
The small bakery was crowned winners in 2021 and 2022.
Last year their plain beef pie took out the top gong and the year before that, their caramelised pork and pepper pie.
The migrant brothers continue to keep their pie game strong as they come up with new recipes with the help of traditional spices.
“We plan to have a special pie of the month over the next six months as something different and new that the customers can’t find anywhere else.
“We have been doing a lot of things like Lobster pie which is very Malaysian and a Singaporean pie that we recently created.
“Truffle mushroom is a very unique flavour as well that will be on our special months as well as Cambodian curry chicken.”
