Ryan and Chan Khun of Country Cob bakery in Melbourne have won Australia's Best Pie with a Malaysian prawn curry filling, their fifth win in eight years from the Baking Association of Australia (BAA). The winning entry features golden pastry encasing coconut-poached prawns with galangal, lemongrass, chilli, and ginger.
From Pie Novice to Champion Baker
Ryan Khun arrived in Australia from Cambodia in 2012 at age 27, never having tasted a pie. His first pie, a meat pie from a service station, left him unimpressed. "There is something I don't really like," he recalls. Despite an IT background in Cambodia, he joined his brother Chan at his bakery in Kyneton, Victoria. "I never thought I would be baking," says Khun, who started work at midnight, rolling out dough from their home upstairs.
For years, the brothers only baked bread, with pies supplied by a third party. Those pies were not up to Khun's standard: "They were too dry, too salty." Determined to improve, they enrolled in baking trade school while working baker's hours and began making their own pies and cakes.
Award-Winning Innovations
Their first original recipe was a garlic prawn pie, still on the menu. In 2018, they won the BAA's best overall pie for the first time with a satay fish entry, described by a judge as "unbelievable – well created with that smooth satay flavour and seafood cooked to perfection." They won again in 2019 with a caramelised pork and pepper pie inspired by the Cambodian dish kaw sach chrouk, and in 2023 with a fish amok filling.
"We never thought this was going to work," says Khun. The bakery's mostly white customer base was initially apprehensive, but fillings were tweaked to suit local tastes – slightly sweeter and less spicy. A small multicultural team deliberates on new flavours; the Malaysian prawn pie took three months to perfect.
Expanding the Menu and Business
Not all flavours succeeded: kung pao chicken, kimchi pork, and beef bulgolgi were among the failures. Singapore chilli crab and "super cheese" are in development. Country Cob has expanded from its original Kyneton store to branches in Boronia and Springvale, plus a production kitchen in Dandenong South, baking over 10,000 pies weekly.
"I love baking," says Khun. "I enjoy making pies and making everyone happy when they enjoy the pie." Customers like Yvonne Au, a Malaysian Australian retiree, travelled to Springvale for the award-winning prawn pie. While she disagreed it was Malaysian in flavour, she called it "quite tasty." Bob Reggio, who drove from Sydney with a Mustang driver's club, said: "Absolutely delicious … it brings a tear to my eye." Customer Teresa Nguyen added: "We're not a boring country … We're not monoculture."
