A Victorian bakery just won Australia's Best Pie for 2026, and the winning flavour is a Malaysian prawn curry

If you needed proof that Victoria takes its pastry seriously, a bakery with stores out past the tram tracks just won the whole country's top pie title with a curry.

Country Cob Bakery, which runs stores in Kyneton, Boronia and Springvale, has been crowned Australia's Best Pie for 2026 by the Baking Association of Australia. The winning entry was not a classic mince or a chunky beef, it was a Malaysian prawn pie, built on a coconut curry sauce loaded with prawns and wrapped in the bakery's usual golden pastry.

More than 300 bakeries from around the country entered the competition, which ran over three days on the Gold Coast across ten pie categories. Judges assessed each pie cold first to check the bake, then reheated it and scored it again on shape, colour, filling and creativity.

Country Cob walked away with 12 gold medals across the event, and the Malaysian prawn pie taking out the overall title is the bakery's fifth national win since it opened in 2016, following previous crowns in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2023. Five titles in ten years puts them well clear of most of the competition.

The bakery is not resting on the prawn curry either. Reports suggest even bolder flavour combinations are already being tested in the kitchen ahead of next year's competition.

Victoria had a good week all round. Buddy Bakery in Melton took out Best Plain Mince Pie and Best Chunky Plain Beef Pie, North End Bakehouse won Best Vegetarian Pie, and Heavens Bakehouse picked up Best Gluten-Free Pie. Seven of the sixteen major titles went to Victorian bakeries this year.

For a state that already claims the best coffee and the best brunch, adding the best pie in the country feels almost unfair to everyone else.