
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
More episodes of Conversation with a chef
- #363 Shane Reeves | The Gilroy · June 2, 2026 · 42 min
- #362 Jithin Pattiyal | Babaji's Kerala Kitchen · May 27, 2026 · 14 min
- #361 Billy Crombie | Babajis Kerala Kitchen · May 27, 2026 · 1h 13m
- #360 Mauro Callegari The Independent Gembrook · May 22, 2026 · 50 min
- #359 Franck Sammut | Upper Middle · May 18, 2026 · 23 min
- #358 Justin North | The Angel of Malvern · May 14, 2026 · 28 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Conversation with a chef podcast page.