Victoria’s top meat pies: Johnny Ripe, Wonder Pies, One Stop Bakery
The humble meat pie has evolved from a canteen classic to a gourmet delight. We’ve mapped the top picks from around Victoria.
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The 2023 Victorian Baking Show has just crowned the nation’s best meat pie.
Country Cobb Bakery – which has stores in Kyneton, Boronia Springvale and Chadstone – won for the fifth time.
The bakery also took a gold medal for best gourmet pie.
Did the judges get it right?
The Leader team put the call out to see who makes the best pies around the state.
Check out the results.
Country Cob Bakery – Kyneton
130-132 Mollison Street, Kyneton
Kyneton’s Country Cob Bakery has reasserted its supremacy as a pie making kingpin by taking two gold medals at the prestigious Victorian Baking Championships.
It won the crown for both the Plain Beef Pie and Gourmet Pie (a scallop mornay pie) categories from among 143 bakeries at the competition held on the first weekend in March at Bendigo.
The bakery, which has outlets at Springvale, Boronia and Chadstone, has won more than 350 medals and trophies for its pies and pastries.
It held the title of Australia’s Best Pie Maker for three years in a row, awarded by the Baking Association of Australia between 2018 – 2020.
The Country Cob has a range of seafood pie options including a signature lobster pie at $18.50 to cheaper options including a garlic prawn pie for $9.50 and curry scallop pie for $10.50.
Johnny Ripe, Main Ridge
284 Main Creek Road, Main Ridge
This small batch bakery was first known for its apple pies, filled with fruit grown at a Mornington Peninsula orchard.
However, the chefs behind the business soon started wrapping their buttery, melt in the mouth pastry around savoury fillings including generous chunks of grass fed beef and succulent pieces of freshly caught fish.
Johnny Ripe pies are now sought after across Victoria and the Main Ride bakery supplies cafes, markets and grocers from Foster to Footscray.
Demand has forced production to move to a commercial kitchen in Mornington but the same old fashioned methods are used.
If meat pies aren’t your cup of tea Johnny Ripe also fills the crust with fish or chicken and makes a hearty sausage roll.
Patient sweet tooths also look forward to November when the bakery produces fruit mince tarts to die for.
The pies come in small sizes to suit one and large family sizes to feed the crew.
Banjo’s Bakery and Cafe
96 Main Street, Mornington
A good pie is the hallmark of a quality bakery.
At Banjo’s Bakery and Cafe the staple has been elevated to cult status thanks to some innovative suggestions by customers.
The Mornington business introduces a limited edition pie each year and invites locals to guess the flavour.
Matt Sly, who took on the Main Street business in 2018, said the competition had delivered some unusual guesses such as the double cheeseburger and chicken parma pies.
“They were great ideas that later became pies,” he said.
In 2020 the cafe introduced the spag bol pie filled with angel hair spaghetti tangled with a rich and meaty bolognese sauce.
Wonder Pies
113 Newlands Rd, Coburg North
If you want to be spoiled for choice with an array of delicious gourmet pies, look no further than Wonder Pies in Coburg.
The bakery is brainchild of renowned chef Raymond Capaldi, where the humble pie becomes a sophisticated dish, with handcrafted deep pan pies with a short crust, puff pastry and a French glaze.
They have 23 different types of pie in total, including some vegan options, with the bestseller being the chicken tandoori.
In addition to the classic beef mince pie, you can try other more unique flavours such as Thai chicken, scallop, a breakfast pie and even a lasagne pie.
You can also pick up delicious sub-style sandwiches, bagels, pasties, sausage rolls and more at their shops.
While they previously had stores across Melbourne, Wonder Pies is now found in the northern suburbs, with their headquarters shop in Coburg and factory outlet in Brunswick.
Their Coburg store is open seven days a week from 7am to 4pm.
Island Pies, Bass Coast
1 Forrest Ave, Newhaven
Island Pies in Newhaven makes a famous scallop pie which sells out everyday.
With locally sourced scallops these pies are made fresh each day ready for customers to enjoy.
The pies are the shops best selling item and you have to be quick if you want one, as people rush in to get one for lunch every day of the week.
A satisfied customer enjoying a scallop pie for outside the bakery said they were the “best pies in town”.
A mix of the fresh seafood with veggies like carrots and potatoes, create a creamy, hearty filling encased in crisp warm pastry.
One Stop Bakery
1304 High Street Road, Wantirna South
This family-owned bakery in Wantirna South is now the longest serving business at the High St road shopping strip, after it was opened in 1983 by a family of Vietnamese immigrants.
It has become a much-loved community favourite for its tasty pies which come in more than 10 flavours and single and family sizes.
Owner Phu Trinh, who has been working in the shop since he was 15, said its most popular flavours were its Steak and Cheese, Steak and Mushroom and Steak, Bacon and Cheese.
The team source their meat from butchers in Springvale and Bayswater and make a weekly batch of hundreds of pies, which they heat up from 6am every morning.
Mr Trinh also revealed the bakery’s delicious sausage rolls, which are also a huge hit, are made from lamb mince but customers “can’t taste it”.
Along with selling about 400 pies and pastries a week, the bakery has been noted for their generous support to sport clubs, churches and community groups, and supply some of their products to the nearby State Basketball Centre.
Mr Trinh said the bakery was “not going anywhere” as it notched up its 40th year of trading this year.
“Wantirna South is a nice place with lots of nice people, and the whole community is like family to us,” he said.
“Everything keeps on going up but we try to keep our products affordable, and the product and service is all there.”
Willaura Bakery
76 Main St, Willaura
People come from all corners of Victoria to get a taste of Peter Sporton’s pies.
If the name sounds familiar, it should be.
Mr Sporton’s father – also named Peter – was a Ballarat icon, delivering the town’s best pies out of his Sturt Street bakery.
Some 113km west of Ballarat Mr Sporton runs his own bakery, which has gained a cult following and turned this son of a gun into one of western Victoria’s most loved bakers.
Mr Sporton said he gets customers who remember his father’s shop who are “brought to tears” when they bite into a pie which reminds them of the old days.
“A lot of people grew up on those recipes,” Mr Sporton said.
“One guy came in who was battling cancer and he had two pies and we later found out that was first thing he had eaten in ten days.
“A lot of people come to reminisce and take lots home to family and friends.”
In addition to the old favourites, Mr Sporton has also invented several new pies – including a beef pie with siracha sauce and tasty cheese.
The Loaf and Lounge
223 Manifold St, Camperdown
Bakery manager Sharon Johnson said making the best meat pie all starts with the butter and flour for the pastry.
Ms Johnson said sauces needed to be your “own secret recipe made from scratch”.
She gets people from across the state travel down to Camperdown for her pies, especially the scallop pies.
“We have trouble keeping up with the demand,” Ms Johnson said.
“We are a family owned and operated business and all the staff here put 100 per cent into what they do — so it’s more than just the great Australian product — it’s also the commitment that goes into it,” she said.
“It’s so wonderful when people appreciate the products we make and obviously hospitality has taken a hit as an industry — we operate with what we can when we can.
“It’s really, really good when we can have people come and consume it and enjoy it knowing there’s a lot of effort and time that goes into it,” she said.
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