#354 Matt Forbes Cobb Lane

#354 Matt Forbes Cobb Lane

From Conversation with a chef by Jo Rittey

May 5, 2026 · 31 min

About this episode

Matt Forbes discusses his journey from UK kitchens to establishing Cobb Lane bakery in Melbourne.

I visited Matt Forbes at Cobb Lane’s Yarraville headquarters, where he reflected on the long path from his early years in some of the UK’s most exacting kitchens to building a Melbourne bakery that’s grown from a single 25 kilo bag of flour to seven or eight tonnes a week. He talked about stepping away from restaurant life to create something of his own, and how that hands on, flavour first approach now shapes Cobb Lane’s newest outpost in the CBD, where dough is prepared in Yarraville each morning and baked on site so the smell of fresh bread drifts through the heritage lined space. Alongside shelves of sourdough, five seed baguettes, there are the pastries he loves to make, plus the cult favourites Cobb Lane is known for: peanut butter cookies, carrot cake and all the flaky, buttery things. This was a lovely conversation about instinct, community and the quiet satisfaction of creating something beautiful before the city wakes.

People in this episode

Host: Jo Rittey

Guest: Matt Forbes

Topics covered

  • bakery
  • cooking
  • entrepreneurship
  • community
  • food culture

Keywords

  • Cobb Lane
  • bakery
  • sourdough
  • Melbourne
  • Matt Forbes
  • food
  • entrepreneurship

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Cobb Lane

Places: Yarraville, Melbourne, CBD, UK

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