Review: Champagne + Fromage

This place is seriously underrated, barely any of my favourite food bloggers (who I’m always trying to catch up with!) have been here yet. But ladies and gents I’m here to tell you that you have to go now!

Having featured in the press recently due to the controversy around opening up their second shop in Brixton. I was pretty shocked to hear that more than 300 people had signed up to a party called Yuppies Out, which claims to stand against gentrification in South London. The stated aim of the event “is to try and disturb the yuppie infidels so much that they choke on their rancid fizz and vintage death cheese”.

So ridiculous if you ask me and having visited their Covent Garden branch I’m super pleased to hear they’ll soon be opening up in Brixton especially considering I’m moving to Camberwell next week!

Enough of this drama let’s get down to the CHEESE.

“Shop and bistro, Champagne + Fromage is a combination of our two favourite French imports bringing rustic fare and fizz to London, served the French way. Secreted away in Covent Garden, the shop is Gallic at its most gorgeous with displays of our Champagnes, cheese and charcuterie, whilst mismatched furniture and reclaimed materials add a stamp of authentic French flair.”

I went on a Thursday evening with two friends, we met there for around 7 which was a good time, any later and we may have struggled to get a place. More interested in sampling the cheese than the champagne it was a bit of a shame that no other alcohol apart from champagne is available (clue is in the name I suppose). With the cheapest glass setting you back £9 we opted for a glass of Elderflower Presse instead of a Kir Royal!

Looking at the menu, I immediately knew I needed to try the baked Camembert with figs and thyme. We ordered that first as it takes 20-25 mins to be prepared. To go alongside the Camembert we asked for our waitresses help in selecting one meat and one other cheese board.

We chose the Corsican Cured Meat selection as we were told it was the smokiest and more flavoursome of the two meat boards available. When the meat sharing board arrived we politely helped ourselves to the Jambon corse, lonzo and coppa. To be honest I don’t know which ham was which, but they were all delicious. Salty and rich it went well with the crusty brown bread and unsalted butter.

Swiftly after devouring our first platter (sorry, did I say that we politely helped ourselves?) the Camembert arrived. Oven baked in its own original box and spiced with herbs, I give you the Camembert with figs and thyme.

Presented with a fresh green leaf salad and brown crusty bread we tucked in! If you’ve had baked Camembert before, you’ll already know how delicious it is. But at this quality and with figs and herbs hidden beneath the corrugated rind it was creamy, sweet and DIVINE.

I honestly thought nothing could get better. Other than the fact that the salty meats and cheeses were making me super thirsty and we kept having to request more tap water from the waitress, I didn’t think I could be happier. Until, our cheese board arrived. Admittedly it was late because the waiter had prepared ours and accidentally given it to another table. Because of this he gave us four cheeses instead of three, including his favourite.

Now you’re going to have to excuse me because I didn’t note down the names of the specific cheeses he gave us. So I’ll have to do my best to describe them to you. One (my favourite) was a blue goats cheese, another was a light and creamy brie, the third was a hard cheese and the fourth… a smoky creamy cheese…? I’m sure that wasn’t a very helpful description for you was it? Nonetheless, please enjoy the following snaps.

When our bill arrived, we all felt it was very reasonable. Not only were we full we were also very satisfied. Our evening cost us less than £12 each, admittedly it had a lot to do with the fact that we chose a soft drink over champagne (just wait till I’m earning more!). But it was delightful and I will most surely be going again.