A cheese lovers' guide to Sydney
From bocconcini to burrata, here's a guide on where to eat and buy the best cheeses the city has to offer.
Do you know a Wigmore from a Wensleydale? A toma from a tetilla? It's OK if not - the world of cheese is a wonderful, massive and, at times, daunting place.
Sonia Cousins is a Newcastle-based cheese lover, educator, and judge for numerous cheese shows as well as a committee member of the Australian Specialist Cheesemakers' Association (ASCA).
"It fascinates me how you can get hundreds, if not thousands, of different cheeses from the one basic raw ingredient and three additional ingredients," says Cousins. (The ingredients in question are main-guy milk plus rennet, salt and starter cultures.)
"I will never, ever ceased to be amazed by that."
What's the most effective way to increase your cheese knowledge without drowning in a sea of Saint Agur, then?
"The best way to learn about cheese is to eat it," Cousins says. "Nothing more complicated than that."
"You should buy cheese from a specialist, though, whether it be a specialist cheese shop or a producer at a farmers' market. That's where you can ask anything you want and receive good information."
Like wine and coffee, the more you read about cheese, the more you might realise you know nothing at all. "I could go on studying cheese for the rest of my life and still know absolutely bugger all by the end of it," says Adam Humphries, executive chef and co-owner at Restaurant Arras, one of the few places still rocking a cheese trolley in Sydney.
Humphries recommends taking baby steps when venturing into the depths of the fromagerie.
"You need to ask yourself what you like about cheese," he says.
"If you like bries, then try as many bries and surface mould-ripened cheeses as you can and see where it takes you. The folly of the modern-day foodie is wanting to know everything and wanting to know it immediately.
"Take your time, learn about one cheese, and then move on to the next."
Fair call. Let's get started on that cheese eating then.
Where to eat
Restaurant Arras
Eternal respect to Adam Humphries for loading the custom-built Arras cheese trolley with 15 to 22 cheeses every service. It's a sleek and sexy sight to behold.
"The cheese on a trolley has to look good," Humphries says. "Many people select cheese based on visuals alone. However, before that it has to taste good. There's no point trying to sell a cheese that tastes like rubbish just because it looks a million bucks."
Humphries hits the dining room floor to talk guests through each cheese on the trolley himself. "I buy the cheese, I know its story, I cut it down, and I care for it. It's a very labour intensive and cost-consuming exercise!" he laughs.
"If you're going to do something, do it properly," he says. "I just feel that having a cheese trolley is the right thing to do. Whether it makes money or not is irrelevant to me."
204 Clarence Street, Sydney, restaurantarras.com.au
The Bridge Room
Far removed from the "a slab of brie here, a slice blue there" confines of a cheese plate, a "composed cheese course" consists of many non-cheese ingredients that create a pedestal for one particular cheese to shine.
Chef Ross Lusted has always offered composed cheese at The Bridge Room. Think comte custard with cherries, Kurobuta prosciutto, red leaves, miche biscuit and white figs in sherry vinegar.
Purists might argue that cheese should be enjoyed as is (even a touch of quince paste is frowned upon in some circles). Good thing The Bridge Room also has a standard cheese menu featuring cheese such as Holy Goat Brigid's Well and Brillat-Savarin.
44 Bridge Street, Sydney, thebridgeroom.com.au
Vincent
Vincent's baked comte custard wowed the bejezus out of Sydney Morning Herald chief restaurant critic Terry Durack last year. The custard only cameos at special events these days, replaced on the menu by an equally delicious baked cantal souffle (cantal being a hard cow's milk cheese from the south-west of France).
The Woollahra bistro has a purpose-built cheese-ripening room. "It allows us to purchase the young cheese and ripen it to our liking," Vincent co-owner, Todd Garratt, says. "We recently cracked into a cheese which we had been ripening for about nine months and the wait was certainly worthwhile."
"Our philosophy regarding the service of cheese has not waivered since day one," Garratt says. "Ripen cheese to its peak, slice a generous portion of the best single cheese on the day, and serve simply with a selection of house-made crackers and bread."
Garratt was previously travelling to Adelaide to make cheese Vincent could call its own, although the pursuit has been temporarily put on old.
"We are waiting on the restaurant's function space to be renovated so that we can use its small kitchen for cheesemaking when not required for other prep," he says. "I'll be pushing ahead once completed and trying to fit in more visits to Adelaide, which is the perfect environment for making cheese without daily distractions."
Garratt is hoping Vincent's house-made cheese program will back in full swing in November.
14 Queen Street, Woollahra, vincentfrench.com.au
Monopole
The Potts Point wine bar has one of the best wine lists in the country courtesy of Nick Hildebrandt, and chef Brent Savage has backed this up with a top-notch, French-leaning cheese selection.
"Cheese and wine aren't as harmonious as they seem," Savage says. "The cheese can often dull some of the flavour notes in a wine. In saying that, everyone enjoys eating the two together, including myself."
71A Macleay Street, Potts Point, monopolesydney.com.au
Where to buy
Ocello Formaggi
The Surry Hills retail store is the No. 1 place for cheese in Sydney. End of discussion. The best part about Ocello is that with more than 200 cheeses on display there's always something new to discover each visit.
The Italian cheeses are always off the wall and staff are happy to have a chat and give you a taste of whatever takes your fancy. You can eat a selection of formaggi in store with a glass of vino or have it wrapped to take home. The online store isn't too shabby either.
Also keep an eye out for Ocello at The Sydney Morning Herald Growers' Market in Pyrmont on the first Saturday of each month.
Shop 16/425 Bourke Street, Surry Hills, ocello.com.au
Simon Johnson
A walk into the Simon Johnson fromagerie is an experience to be savoured. To be accosted by cheese at every angle is an experience far more immersive than pointing at something behind a bit of glass. A dedicated fromage room also means the cheese is happier because it can breathe better.
"Cheese is a living thing and should not be wrapped in plastic and left to die," says Simon Johnson's sales manager, Sally Gosper. "We control both temperature and humidity in the fromagerie, allowing us to mature the cheese in the right environment."
Simon Johnson focuses on seasonal, artisanal, and farmhouse cheeses from Australia and abroad. "We love a product that honours traditional techniques," Gosper says.
24A Ralph Street, Alexandria (also at Pyrmont and Woollahra), simonjohnson.com
Stinking Bishops
Located on the hip Enmore Road in Newtown, The Stinking Bishops is more classic British cheesemonger than quaint Italian deli. Think white tiles, wooden tables and Australian-made salamis hanging in the display fridge.
That display fridge also houses cheese. Lots of cheese. They have about 30 varieties of domestic and international cheese behind the counter that can be taken home or eaten on site.
There's a neat little selection of whisky and wines, too. A slice of Quickes smoked cheddar with a single malt? Yes please.
5/63-71 Enmore Road, Newtown, thestinkingbishops.com
Paesanella Food Emporium
Paesanella has been pumping out some of the best-and-fresh ricotta at its Marrickville factory for decades. You can find it at many good providores across Sydney, but the best place to purchase it is at the new Paesanella super-deli around the corner from the factory.
The Paesanella Food Emporium also sells creamy burrata, bocconcini, fior di latte and other fresh cheese. There's a fantastic range of imported cheese, too, if you feel like something a little older and stronger.
150-152 Marrickville Road, Marrickville, paesanella.com.au
Local(ish) producers
Small Cow Farm
"I think Small Cow's brie and camembert are consistently the best in the country," says Sonia Cousins (Cousins judges at a national level and doesn't make such statements willy-nilly).
Established in 2005 in Robertson in the southern highlands, Small Cow has won many national and international awards, not just for its camembert and brie but also for its blue, feta and Redella washed rind.
Adam Humphries of Restaurant Arras is a fan of the Redella washed rind cheese. "Texturally a bit like a goat's cheese, but with a really interesting flavour," he says.
Pecora Dairy
Launched in 2011, Pecora is not as well established as fellow southern highlands producer Small Cow Farm but it produces incredibly promising sheep's milk cheeses nonetheless, Cousins says.
"What I really admire about Pecora is that they only focus on a few styles and try to make those really well."
Pecora has a small, mould-ripened cheese that Cousins says is very similar in style to Victoria's famous Holy Goat. There's also a mature, pecorino-like number, a blue cheese and forays into yoghurt and feta.
Willowbrae Chevre Cheese
Nestled in the Hawkesbury Valley, the Borg family dairy produces a wide range of goat's cheese such as the fresh Kurrajong cream cheese, Persian feta, and the mould-ripened St Albans.
"Willowbrae's marinated chevre is outstanding," Cousins says. "Just as good as Meredith Dairy's, which is the one everybody buys."
You can usually find Willowbrae at markets in Sydney including Eveleigh and Northside Produce Markets as well as quality cheese stockists.
Jannei Goats Cheese
Jannei is located close to Lithgow in the central west. Visitors are welcome should you wish to buy some cheese and or make sheep's eyes at the cuter-than-cute goats.
"Jannei's plain chevre and ashed chevre are both up there with the best in the country," Cousins says.
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Callan Boys is editor of SMH Good Food Guide, restaurant critic for Good Weekend and Good Food writer.