Been meaning to write this piece for a while now, in order to pay tribute to one of the key elements of the parties that *Shinta and I throw. We picked up the idea of serving cheese and crackers as a starter / nibbles from *Shinta's colleagues, and I've noticed that some of our other friends have started following suit too.
Ever since we discovered the cheese room at Jones the Grocer, we haven't been able to get our cheese fix anywhere else. When you enter the restaurant, make your way through the throngs of wooden tables filled with people eating breakfast and try to resist the alluring smell of the coffee, and at the back you'll find a dark-tinted chiller room filled with different types of cheeses ready for choosing.
The staff there are knowledgeable and ever ready to help recommend something to suit your tastes. Tasting some of the cheeses before purchasing is one of the delights of visiting the place. Here's a short review of some of the cheeses we have tried so far.
Caprinelle (Hard, Goat's milk, France)
Am not a big fan of goat's cheese, but we decided to get this because we had lactose intolerant friends visiting (its supposed to be even more friendly). Like all goat's cheese, its quite strong tasting, and takes some getting used to. Cos of that, it works better eating on a cracker to offset the strong flavour, rather than eating it "neat".
Jindi Triple Cream (Soft, Cow's milk, Australia)
This triple cream cheese was one of the mildest cheeses sold, and I only got it because they were running low on stock and there wasn't any other mild cheese than I hadn't already tried. Would recommend this for beginner cheese eaters, because very simply put, it tasted like butter. Normally I cut away the rind which tastes waxy, hard and with a weird flavour, but for this cheese, the rind tasts more like cheese than the cheese itself. Weird huh.
Delice D Argental (Soft, Cow's milk, France)
Also considered a mild cheese, the taste was more mature than the Jindi, and more to my liking. I thought this cheese was a pretty good cheese, and being so light, it was easy to eat. This was further confirmed when I noticed one of *Shinta's friends spreading copious amounts on a piece of hot toast. It's definately a cheese I would buy again.
Brillat Savarin Truffle (Soft, Cow's milk, France)
This cheese was so good, I wanted to cry the minute I put it in my mouth. Not only was it so soft and creamy, the flavour of the truffle shavings in the middle had spread throughout the cheese. I was immediately addicted to it! Some might find the middle part with the truffles a little too strong for their liking, but its easy to avoid that part. There's absolutely no need for a knife, just use the cracker to directly cream off the cheese and pop it into your mouth. I really regret not buying the entire cheese when I had the chance, given that it was totally sold out by the time I went back a week later.
The staff at Jones can also help you to pick out matching wines and crackers. For crackers, don't bother with the in-house Jones brand; it's light and tasteless which I suppose means that it can go with anything. To me though, it just tasted "cheap" (which is worse than being tasteless) and spoils the cheese eating experience. Better to go for the charcoal crackers, or choose another one from the wide range of types they have there.
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