Review: The Cheese Bar

I’ve visited The Cheese Bar in Camden Market on two occasions now with fellow cheese lovers. The second visit was an improvement on the first, not due to the company (I must add!) but because they’d started to allow reservations.

The first time I went we had to go through the whole palaver of getting there early, putting our names on a wait list and hanging around for a table to become available. What made things more annoying was that only I’d arrived early in order to put our names down but they wouldn’t allow me to do that until my guest was there too so I had to wait half an hour for them to get here before we could even get on the list. It wasn’t even that busy so it seemed like the list was more about creating a hype rather than practical purposes.

My first dining experience was enjoyable nonetheless and when I spotted they were now taking advanced bookings it was the perfect excuse to go again.

Here’s a round up of the dishes sampled so far.

Marmite Malakoff, Romesco – a Malakoff, typically served as an hors d’oeuvre where it originates from in Western Switzerland, is a ball of fried cheese. As the title suggests this one was flavoured with marmite and accompanied by romesco, a nutty red pepper sauce. As a marmite lover I couldn’t complain, oozing Romesco cheese infused with yeast extract hid under the golden brown breadcrumbed shell. A must order.

Mozzarella Sticks are an all time classic. Served with a traditional Italian Marinara Sauce the sticks were crispy, hot and stringy.

My new favourite cheese! Which I have since purchased from Neal’s Yard Dairy (although it was without the truffle). This plate of Suffolk Truffled Baron Bigod came with tangy Pickled Walnut and Oatcakes. Brilliant combo, gimme more.

Burrata is a real favourite of mine at the moment. This ball of fresh buffalo milk cheese made from mozzarella and cream was light, smooth and tasted fantastic partnered with cherry tomatoes and basil oil.

Like Mac & Cheese but made with wagon wheel pasta shapes. There’s probably a lot more to it than that but this Four Cheese Rotelle Pasta hit the spot.

The Cheese Bar descents from The Cheese Truck, a big yellow van which tours festival circuits and street food markets serving tasty cheese toasties. The menu at their first permanent restaurant includes some of the original toasties that helped them make a name for themselves. We went for the Rosary Goats’ Cheese, Honey Walnut, Rosemary Butter as we thought the flavours would compliment the other dishes we’d ordered. As I’m writing this in January, the most boring month of the year when it comes to my eating habits #healthy, it’s literally making my mouth water thinking of the crunchy sourdough grilled cheese deliciousness.

Finally this silky-smooth, melted triple-cheese served with rustic flatbread and tart chutney was everything the baked Bix promised to be.

The servers at The Cheese Bar recommended four or five dishes to share. Four is enough for two, especially if you order a toasty. The only challenge now is to choose wisely and enjoy.