New cheese and wine store opens in St Kilda

Unimpressed by the cheese plates offered in many restaurants, Daniel Verheyen has opened Milk the Cow, in St Kilda, with a selection of 80 cheeses and late-harvest dessert wines to match. ''Everywhere I go, cheese plates are always a blue, brie and cheddar,'' he says. ''I wanted people to be able to choose their own platters.'' The late-night venue, at 157 Fitzroy Street, is Verheyen's first solo venture; he's part-owner of The Apartment, a bar in the city. Zwei Interiors Architecture designed the room, which features chandeliers made from milking equipment and a (faux) grass wall. A four-metre-wide, temperature-controlled cheese cabinet runs down the room's centre, overseen by manager Laura Lown, who worked at London cheesemongers Paxton & Whitfield, where the Queen sources her cheese. ''I want people to treat [the shop] like a cellar door for cheese,'' Verheyen says. It is open six days a week, five of those until 1am.