Cheese Gourmet in
Cheese Gourmet in
Cheese Gourmet
This little shop of delights stocks over 140 boutique farm cheeses, including goat cheeses. And you can sample everything before purchasing, which means you can take home exactly what appeals to your palate.
Here you will also find complementary produce such as handmade jams, pickles and preserves and an array of olives, oils and tapenades. To go with these are good quality breads, crackers and biscuits to turn your cheeses platter into an epicurean offering.
Goat Peter
Cheese Gourmet was one of the only shops to stock Goat Peter, a three-month matured Pecorino-style cheese, before it became the first goat’s milk cheese to be named 2010 Dairy Product of the Year at the South African Dairy Championships. It is made by Goat Peter Cheesery at Hekpoort in
Alongside this are plain and flavoured cheeses – mild and mature – including
But, for me, there is one that stands head-and-shoulders above the rest. And I’m not a
Jo Dick
‘I knew nothing about cheese, but when I tasted it I knew it was special,’ recalls Jo. ‘I agreed to sell it and couldn’t keep up with demand. That was the first problem, because when I tried to source other local specialty cheeses it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. But in the last ten years there’s been phenomenal growth in local farms making a huge range of cheeses. The truly wonderful thing about this art form is that no two cheeses are ever the same, even from one farm, which means you are always experiencing something new.’
Cheese Cafe
When her husband’s business folded a few years ago Jo converted his storeroom in
‘By this time I was running six market stalls, but people had not yet bought into the idea of hand-crafted cheeses and buying local,’ she says. ‘To make ends meet I added in a few tables and began serving coffee and light meals. In the evenings I would promote cheese at corporate functions and wine tastings and slowly I began building a following.’
2010 Eat-in Outstanding Shop & Deli
Two years ago the motorbike shop moved and Jo grabbed the opportunity to expand into this space, which also had a better corner location. In the front is Cheese Gourmet and at the back Cheese Café, one of the better coffee shops in
Cheese Gourmet this year was awarded the Eat-in Outstanding Shop & Deli, which it richly deserves. Though we do not offer such accolades, we at SenseOnline would give Jo the Entrepreneur of the Decade Award.
Not only has she taken the opportunities that have been presented or forced on her, but she has grown a business from nothing. But, more than anything, is her absolute passion for what she does. She deserves her success and she deserves your support. I promise you’ll be hooked the moment you step in.
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Jo’s Cheese Tips *Baked camembert. For a simple starter or unusual dessert why not try the Dalewood 65g camembert, which is made and packaged as a single serving. Heat the oven to 160 degrees centigrade, sprinkle the cheese with fresh rosemary and bake for eight minutes until slightly ballooned. Serve immediately as a starter with a chilli salsa and fresh French bread or as a dessert with brandied fig preserve. *Cheese fondue. Use local emmenthaler, gruyere and witzenberger for the cheese sauce, budgeting about 200g per person. Do not bother with imported kirschwasser, which costs nearly R400 a bottle, but try a local variant at less than R100 that is available from the nearby Linden Bottle Store. *For snacks arrange baby tomatoes, olives and Lubneh yoghurt cheese on cocktail sticks. *And for something completely different, use stacked cheese heads in place of a wedding cake. Not only does it look great, but after the pics it becomes an interesting cheese board. |
