Best Bakeries in Melbourne (2026) — A Local's Guide

The World Loves Melbourne has been visiting bakeries across this city for over a decade. This guide is the result — substantially updated for 2026, with personal visits, honest assessments, and the best new arrivals added alongside the institutions that still deserve every bit of their reputation. Truth be told, I will travel for a decent sausage roll or pie, and have a weakness for a vanilla slice or exceptional sourdough bread from the best bakeries in Melbourne.

Whether you're after the world's best croissant, a beef cheek pie with benchmark pastry, a Japanese-Australian lamington unlike anything you've tried before, or a bespoke celebration cake that stops a wedding reception in its tracks - there is something on this list worth making a special trip for.

Article updated June 2026. 

 

 

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1. Lune Croissanterie

Fitzroy · Russell Street CBD · Armadale · Lonsdale Street CBD (Maxi Lune)  |  Mon–Fri 7:30am–3pm, Sat–Sun 8am–3pm

Lune is Melbourne's most celebrated bakery and one of the most talked-about pastry destinations on earth. Founded by Kate Reid — a former aeronautical engineer who applied the precision of her first career to the making of croissants — the Rose Street Fitzroy original opened with a glass-walled temperature-controlled Cube at its centre, where pastry dough is prepared in conditions as exacting as a laboratory. The result is a croissant that the New York Times named the world's best, and which Melbourne has been quietly proud of ever since.

The classic croissant here is the benchmark against which all others should be measured — a precise lamination of butter and dough that produces a shattering, golden exterior and a honeycomb interior that dissolves into pure richness. The almond croissant is equally extraordinary, and the monthly limited-edition pastries attract their own following of devoted regulars. The kouign amann, cruffins and various seasonal creations rotate through with the kind of imagination you'd expect from a team that treats pastry as an ongoing research project.

Lune has expanded significantly in 2026. The newest and largest addition is Maxi Lune on Lonsdale Street — a 418-square-metre flagship beneath the Ritz-Carlton, designed with bluestone floors, black mirrored glass and long concrete benches in a space that feels unmistakably Melbourne. It's Lune's second production site and eighth location nationally, and includes kitchen bar seating with a direct view into the Cube — croissant theatre at its finest. The Russell Street CBD and Armadale locations round out the Melbourne footprint, meaning there's now a Lune accessible from most parts of the inner city.

There are those who feel the queue and the price point ($8–$10 per pastry) place Lune in the category of hype over substance. The World Loves Melbourne respectfully disagrees. When the technique is this precise and the ingredients this carefully selected, the price reflects what you're actually eating. Go to the Fitzroy original at least once for the full experience — the Cube, the atmosphere, the croissant eaten fresh off the shelf. It is genuinely worth it.

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2. Tivoli Road Bakery

South Yarra  |  3 Tivoli Road  |  7 days 7:30am–3pm

Tivoli Road Bakery is Melbourne's gold standard for artisan bread, and has been since head baker Michael James took the reins from the original MoVida Bakery operation and built something entirely his own. The philosophy is uncompromising: certified organic flour, stone-hearth baked, nothing in the loaves but flour, water and salt. No additives, no stabilisers, no shortcuts. Visit once and supermarket bread becomes essentially impossible to go back to.

The dark-baked stoneground sourdough is the hero — a deeply caramelised crust and an open, chewy crumb that has texture and flavour in equal measure. The soy and linseed, spelt and honey, multigrain, olive, and fruit loaves are all available daily. On weekends the baker's special loaves appear: heritage wholewheat, oat porridge sourdough, or macadamia and wattleseed. They go fast and they're worth arriving early for.

The viennoiserie is exceptional — croissants, pain au chocolat, almond croissant, escargot, fruit Danish, macadamia and wattleseed praline. Friday to Sunday the morning buns appear: croissant pastry baked in a tin, dusted in cinnamon and orange sugar, filled with custard. They are extraordinary and reliably gone by mid-morning. The doughnuts — round, generous, with rotating flavours including salted caramel, crème brûlée and lemon custard — have genuine cult status. The gourmet sandwiches on house-baked sourdough at lunch are as good as anywhere in Melbourne at that price. Arrive early, particularly on weekends.

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3. Falco Bakery

Collingwood  |  288 Smith Street & 156 Langridge Street

Falco opened in 2019 in the former Rockwell and Sons space on Smith Street Collingwood, created by co-owners Christine Tran and Casey Wall alongside Michael Bascetta and Manu Potoi of Bar Liberty and Capitano. Christine trained at San Francisco's legendary Tartine Bakery before returning to Melbourne, and the level of technique she brought back with her is immediately evident in everything that comes out of the ovens here.

The Rockwell Pie is the signature — Casey Wall's tribute to the double smash cheeseburger from his old Rockwell and Sons diner, rebuilt entirely as a hand-made pie. It is one of the cleverest things happening in any Melbourne bakery right now. The pastry is made from scratch, the filling tastes precisely like a great cheeseburger, and the whole thing is enormously satisfying without being heavy. The pork and fennel sausage roll and the chicken and leek pie round out a savoury cabinet that would be the centrepiece of a lesser bakery's whole identity.

On the sweet side, the Swedish-style cardamom buns — made with organic flour, local St David cultured butter and freshly ground cardamom — have become the item people travel to Collingwood specifically for. The peanut butter and house-fermented miso cookie sounds unusual and tastes extraordinary. Sourdough muffins stuffed with egg and cheese are the morning staple for the neighbourhood. A second location on Langridge Street operates as a warehouse-style takeaway with the same menu. A third venue was announced recently. The line down Smith Street on a Saturday morning tells you everything you need to know.

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4. Baker Bleu

Caulfield North · Cremorne · South Yarra  |  7 days, open early

Baker Bleu began in 2016 when Mike and Mia Russell made the decision to leave their corporate careers and build a bakery around the simple conviction that genuinely good bread — slowly fermented, dark-crusted, made by hand every single day — was worth doing properly. That conviction has proven commercially spectacular. Baker Bleu now supplies some of Melbourne's finest restaurants including Attica and Cutler and Co, and has expanded to multiple Melbourne locations plus Sydney, with Neil Perry among its most public supporters.

The bread is defined by its 48-hour fermentation process. The sourdough loaves develop bold, complex flavour over three days before emerging with a dark, chewy crust and a soft, airy interior. Country wheel rolls, ficelles, chewy New York-style bagels, pillowy challah — including a vegan version born from an early low-grade food licence that didn't permit eggs — and seasonal fougasse are all consistently excellent. The croissants are taken to the crisp edge of golden brown and are among Melbourne's best.

The custard tarts have developed their own following. The kouign amanns with salted caramel are so crunchy they border on dangerous (in the best possible way). The almond and yuzu croissant has become a permanent menu item due to relentless demand. The Cremorne flagship — the largest location, designed by IF Architecture with recycled aluminium panels and a spatial narrative built around the alveoli of sourdough — is the definitive Baker Bleu experience. The South Yarra Domain Road store adds the novelty of backyard honey soft serve, topped with olive oil, caramelised croissant crumbs and sea salt: a summer Melbourne treat that's as good as it sounds. Coffee is by Market Lane throughout.

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5. Tarts Anon

Cremorne & Collingwood  |  Check @tarts_anon for current hours

Tarts Anon is one of the best origin stories in Melbourne food. Gareth Whitton — formerly head pastry chef at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal — found himself at home during Melbourne's lockdown with time, skill, and nothing to do with either. He and his partner Cat started making tarts. They couldn't eat them all. They started selling them. The response was immediate and overwhelming, and what began as a COVID side project has become one of Melbourne's most eagerly anticipated monthly food events.

The philosophy is simple: tarts belong in Michelin-starred restaurants and local bakeries alike, and the difference is purely execution. The tart shell here is extraordinarily thin and crisp — biscuity without being brittle, with a snap that signals serious pastry work underneath. The fillings rotate monthly and span a range that reflects Gareth's technique and genuine creativity: caramel and chocolate custard with dulce de leche base, macadamia and mango custard, "Plain Old Lemon" (which is anything but plain — a lemon gel over pristine custard that regulars insist is the best lemon tart they've ever had), coconut and pandan, tiramisu, and the Dessert Masters chocolate, pistachio and wattleseed tart that made Gareth Australia's first MasterChef Dessert Master.

Savoury tarts are equally well executed — mushroom and parmesan, corn and jalapeño and parmesan among the options. The Briefcase — a box of five tart slices from the current monthly rotation — is the perfect introduction and the item to order if you're visiting for the first time. Tarts Anon now has two permanent locations in Cremorne and Collingwood (the latter inside the Pedla bicycle shop, which is exactly the kind of Melbourne detail that shouldn't work but absolutely does). The monthly menu drops on Instagram and sells quickly — follow @tarts_anon to stay across what's coming.

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6. Wonder Pies

Coburg North  |  113 Newlands Road  |  7 days 7am–4pm

Wonder Pies is the project of Raymond Capaldi — one of Melbourne's most accomplished fine dining chefs — who at some point decided the most worthwhile thing he could do with his skills was make a genuinely exceptional pie at an affordable price. Not a gimmicky, over-engineered restaurant-style pie. A pie that could be eaten one-handed without falling apart. A pie that respected its form. He has succeeded thoroughly, and Wonder Pies has grown from a Bulleen wholesale operation started in 2018 to a dedicated Coburg North bakery producing up to 25,000 hand-crafted pies a day.

The pastry is where Ray's fine dining background announces itself. The lid carries a sheen and a uniformly golden bake that is immediately recognisable as the work of someone who has cooked at the highest levels. The case is structurally sound — you can eat it standing, one-handed — which sounds basic but is rarer in Melbourne pies than it should be. The bake is even all the way around, the pastry at a consistent thickness, slightly crisp with a satisfying crunch that gives way to a generously filled interior.

The Beef Cheek Pie is the headline act. Beef cheek is an underused cut in pies — richly flavoured, deeply tender when handled right — and the filling here is packed, beautifully seasoned, with no wateriness or starchiness. The menu runs around 15 fresh options at any time: classic braised beef mince and gravy, a lasagne pie with Wagyu mince and bechamel, shepherd's pie, beef cheese and pepper, and vegan options including a lentil shepherd's pie. A Brunswick factory outlet at 75 Nicholson Street, Brunswick East also carries the range. The Coburg North shop with its coffee window and wraparound seating is a genuine destination worth the drive from the inner north.

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7. Tokyo Lamington

Carlton  |  258 Elgin Street  |  Check website for hours

Tokyo Lamington arrived in Melbourne as a pop-up and sold out immediately. The concept is the work of Eddie Stewart — founder of N2 Extreme Gelato and formerly of Black Star Pastry — and it takes Australia's most nostalgic baked good and rebuilds it through a Japanese lens. The Carlton store on Elgin Street has been packed since the day it opened, which tells you everything about how well this particular idea has landed with the Melbourne food public.

The foundation is Japanese chiffon cake — impossibly light, with a texture the traditional Australian sponge can't approach. From there, each lamington is a considered exercise in flavour and visual precision. Three options are permanent: the OG (classic chocolate and coconut, executed perfectly), the Yuzu Meringue (bright and citrus-forward with an airy meringue finish that draws audible reactions), and the Fairy Bread (a genuinely clever homage to Australian childhood that works better than it has any right to). The rotating menu adds further flavours each month — tiramisu, crème caramel, matcha rockmelon, strawberry mochi — with each change drawing fresh queues.

The savoury cabinet deserves equal attention. A pork katsu sausage roll, a beef rendang pie and a bacon and edamame quiche are all made entirely in-house and are as carefully considered as the lamingtons themselves. Drinks include a lavender matcha latte and a yuzu espresso tonic alongside standard coffee. At around $7.50 per lamington, the pricing is accessible for the quality on offer. Online ordering is available. This is the most distinctive bakery addition to Melbourne in recent years.

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8. Mali Bakes

Thornbury  |  627 High Street  |  Saturdays 9am–4pm walk-in  |  Bespoke cakes by appointment  |  malibakes.com

Mali Bakes is something genuinely apart from anything else on this list — a bespoke celebration cake studio in Thornbury run by pastry chef Patchanida (Patti) Chimkire, whose cakes are so visually arresting and so precisely flavoured that they have become the most talked-about item at weddings and events across Melbourne. This is not a walk-in bakery in the conventional sense: the studio operates on Saturdays for walk-ins selling cake by the slice, and by appointment for bespoke orders. The appointment model has not slowed demand in the slightest.

The aesthetic is immediately distinctive — towering multi-tiered cakes in dreamy pastel palettes inspired by Wes Anderson films (The Grand Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom are cited influences), vintage cookbooks from the 1950s and 60s, and a general sensibility that is simultaneously nostalgic and entirely contemporary. The cakes are almost too beautiful to cut. Then you taste them and realise the flavour is as extraordinary as the appearance.

The flavour combinations are anything but conventional. Sour cream chocolate cake with peanut butter cheesecake and white chocolate buttercream. Olive oil ricotta with blackberry, fennel, sea salt and honey. Vanilla cake with brown butter custard. Choc chip with passionfruit curd. Spiced ginger with apple jam and lemon curd cream. Thai Tea Custard Tart. Six vegan cake options sit alongside the full range. The menu now runs to 14-plus options and changes seasonally. Every cake is made fresh to order, and delivery within 20km of Thornbury is available.

On Saturdays the studio opens for walk-ins from 9am — cakes sold by the slice, coffee available, the chance to see the space in person. This is the way to experience Mali Bakes without the lead time of a full order. Wedding cake clients consistently describe the process with Patti as one of the most enjoyable parts of their wedding planning, which is a genuinely unusual thing to say about a supplier and speaks to how she runs the operation.

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9. Phillippa's

Armadale & Brighton  |  1030 High St, Armadale / 608 Hampton St, Brighton  |  7 days 7am–5pm

Phillippa's has been part of Melbourne's food culture since 1994. Founder Phillippa Grogan trained in prestigious bakeries across France and London before building her own bakery around a philosophy of real food, curiosity, and traditional methods. Three decades later the bakery she built remains one of this city's most loved, and the queues at both the Armadale and Brighton locations confirm that the loyalty runs across generations.

The bread range is the foundation — artisan sourdoughs, English bloomer, flatbreads, cardamom cinnamon buns that have their own devoted following, and a canelé that deserves wider recognition. Seasonal specials are a genuine event: the hot cross buns have won Broadsheet's best Melbourne hot cross bun, and the endorsement from Lune's Kate Reid speaks to how seriously the broader Melbourne baking community rates Phillippa's work. Christmas stollen draws its own crowd. The buttery sausage rolls are expertly made, and the chicken sandwich on house sourdough is one of the most consistently praised items in any Melbourne bakery.

The pantry section is worth noting — biscuits, slices, muesli, granola, preserves, and the cultured butter at 86% butterfat with lake-harvested dried salt from Western Victoria, which is genuinely one of the best things you can put on a piece of toast. Click and collect available online from both stores. This is the bakery you bring visitors to when you want to show them what Melbourne food culture looks like at its most enduring.

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10. Rustica

Fitzroy, Hawthorn & multiple locations

Rustica has been one of Melbourne's important artisan bakeries for years and continues to deliver across multiple locations without losing the quality that made the Brunswick Street Fitzroy original so compelling. Founded by Brenton Lang — a baker with over a decade of wild yeast culture experience — it operates as both a serious working bakery and a full café-restaurant that does both well.

The bread range is extraordinary in its depth. The Seedy Wholewheat Sourdough — honey balancing the wholegrain character, sesame, linseed, sunflower and pumpkin seeds throughout — is a loaf you can eat without topping and find completely satisfying. The Fig and Fennel — caramelised Turkish figs with aromatic fennel — is The World Loves Melbourne's personal pick and one of the finest breads this city produces. Mount Zero olives, Japanese pumpkin, freshly picked basil: Rustica sources with the care of a restaurant rather than a bakery, and it shows in everything on the shelf.

The café menu runs from house-cured salmon and black rice pudding at breakfast through to open steak sandwiches, wild rice salad with lamb backstrap and warm roast chicken salad at lunch. Gourmet pies, salads, cakes and a marinated Mount Zero olive and sourdough sharing plate complete an operation with no obvious weaknesses. Coffee from Roastcraft roasters. The bread alone is worth the visit — take a loaf home every time you go.

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11. Bossy Boots

Brighton

Bossy Boots is a revelation, and this is not a word The World Loves Melbourne uses lightly. Brighton locals have known about it for years but it deserves a far wider audience. Created by chefs Ben Forehan and Rachael Browne — between them bringing experience from Stokehouse, Circa, Dench Bakers, and a decade cooking for the wealthy aboard superyachts — Bossy Boots channels serious technique into a neighbourhood bakery that produces some of the most technically impressive pastry in Melbourne.

The sausage roll is the item to order first, and it is a serious contender for the best in Melbourne. The pastry is whole butter puff, made by a dedicated pastry chef — the swirl and the puff announce their quality before you take a bite. In The World Loves Melbourne's extensive sausage roll sampling across this city, this pastry is the clear standout. The balance of filling to pastry, the seasoning, the size — all first class. The pies, cakes, vanilla slices and quiches carry the same level of care and attention. Nothing here feels like an afterthought.

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12. A1 Bakery

Dandenong

A1 Bakery is Melbourne's finest Lebanese and Middle Eastern bakery, and a genuine reason to make the trip to Dandenong — one of the city's great underappreciated food destinations. Run by the Abdallah family, Sam, Eddie and Leo, with a pride in authentic traditional methods and an infectiously warm hospitality, A1 represents something Melbourne's inner suburbs rarely produce: food that connects directly to a culinary tradition without compromise or dilution for a broader audience.

The za'atar pizzas, meat pies, kibbeh and dips are all made with freshest ingredients and genuine technique. But the sweets are the revelation. The Znoud el Sit — crispy pastry filled with clotted cream, topped with orange blossom jam and accompanied by cardamom — is one of the great desserts available anywhere in Melbourne, full stop. The grocery section stocks a large range direct from the Middle East and Lebanon, making A1 as much an essential providore as a bakery. The World Loves Melbourne visited as part of a Dandenong food tour and it was a highlight of the entire day. The prices are considerably more reasonable than the inner suburbs, and the welcome from Sam, Eddie and Leo is worth the drive on its own.

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Best Bakeries Melbourne 2026 — Quick Comparison

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best bakery in Melbourne in 2026?

Lune Croissanterie is Melbourne's most celebrated bakery, recognised internationally for producing what the New York Times called the world's best croissant. For bread, Tivoli Road Bakery in South Yarra and Baker Bleu in Cremorne are both benchmark. For pastry and tarts, Tarts Anon in Cremorne sets the standard. For pies, Wonder Pies in Coburg North is the clear leader.

Where is Lune Croissanterie in Melbourne?

Lune has four Melbourne locations: the original at 119 Rose Street Fitzroy, Russell Street CBD, Armadale, and the new Maxi Lune flagship at 670 Lonsdale Street CBD (beneath the Ritz-Carlton), which opened in early 2026 as Lune's largest venue and second production site. All locations open 7:30am weekdays and 8am weekends until 3pm.

What is Tarts Anon Melbourne?

Tarts Anon is a Melbourne pastry destination founded during lockdown by Gareth Whitton, formerly head pastry chef at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. It operates two permanent venues in Cremorne and Collingwood, releasing a new rotating monthly menu of exceptional tarts. Follow @tarts_anon on Instagram to see each month's flavours and for purchasing information.

How do I order from Mali Bakes Thornbury?

Mali Bakes at 627 High Street Thornbury operates two ways: walk-in on Saturdays from 9am–4pm for cakes sold by the slice, and bespoke celebration cake orders via malibakes.com. Delivery within 20km of Thornbury is available. For wedding cakes or large custom orders, book well in advance as demand is high.

Where can I find the best sourdough bread in Melbourne?

For the best sourdough in Melbourne, Tivoli Road Bakery in South Yarra (organic, stone-hearth baked, no additives), Baker Bleu across Cremorne, Caulfield North and South Yarra (48-hour fermented loaves), and Rustica in Fitzroy (extraordinary range including Fig and Fennel) are the three leading options. Falco Bakery in Collingwood, trained at San Francisco's Tartine, is equally excellent.

Also explore these related guides:

• Best Cafes in Melbourne

• Best Breakfasts in Melbourne

• Best Sandwiches in Melbourne

• Best Hot Dogs in Melbourne

• Best Burgers in Melbourne

• Best Cheap Eats in Melbourne

• Best Cheap Eats Melbourne CBD

• 50 Things to Do in Melbourne