When In London, Head To The World's First Rotating Cheese Bar
A turophile, derived from the Greek word for cheese — tyros, is a person brimming with love for and knowledge about cheese. Armed with this word, head to the world's first rotating cheese bar in London's West End. Seven Dials Market, where this ode to cheesery is located, is a foodie's paradise. A true turophile, however, will walk past the likes of Nashville fried chicken, Colombian tacos, and Indian naan bread on offer and make it to the 40-meter conveyor belt of locally sourced cheeses that is the beating heart of Pick & Cheese.
Aimed at introducing people to cheeses they wouldn't usually buy or order, this eatery features almost 30 different cheeses on its belt. In addition to combining people with interesting cheeses, it combines its fromage offerings with thoughtfully eclectic pairings stretching from kimchi to cumin praline. Though the idea is inspired by sushi belts that have been around for ages, the idea behind Pick & Cheese runs deeper. All the cheese, the wines, and even much of the cutlery are locally sourced. "British Cheese is undergoing a renaissance!" — announces the restaurant's website.
Pick & Cheese offers something special not just for cheese lovers but anyone with adventurous tastebuds. However, since a ticket to London is more than most folks would like to pay for a meal, even a true turophile, they'll be happy to learn that similar restaurants are opening up on other continents.
Pick & Cheese features local cheeses with eclectic pairings
The conveyor belt features plates in shades of cream, gray, blue, red, and yellow. Like at sushi bars, the color of the plate determines its price, which ranges from £3.95 (about $4.90) cream-colored plates to red ones that cost £5.45 (about $6.80), and the most expensive yellow plates £6.25 (about $7.80) that carry the likes of their Whipped Rosary Goats' Cheese Doughnut or the Yoghurt, Lemon & Honey Cheesecake. You can also go off-belt and order a decadent grilled cheese sandwich or a whole hunk of seasoned baked cheese.
While the pairings and presentation will have you reaching for plate after plate, the soul of this restaurant comes from the cheeses and their sources. Take, for example, the Barkham Blue — a gently-flavored blue cheese originally crafted by award-winning cheesemakers Sandy and Andy Rose of Two Hoots Cheese. The cheese's recipe has since been passed to Sandy's cousin, Anne, of Village Maid Cheese, who currently supplies it to Pick & Cheese. Getting their cheese directly from manufacturers helps keep costs down, and the relatively light pungency compared to other blue cheeses makes the Berkham Blue more accessible to those who get queasy around stinky cheeses. The chocolate and hazelnut brownie it comes paired with doesn't hurt either.
Every cheese on the belt has a story. The all-you-can-eat offer, which gives you 75 minutes by the belt and costs £28 (about $35), is a veritable tour of British artisanal cheese.
Pick & Cheese was inspired by the sushi conveyor belt
Pick & Cheese has been around since 2019, but its founder, Matthew Carver, has been in the cheese game since much earlier. He started with the Cheese Truck, which he used to dish out grilled cheese sandwiches at music festivals. These sandwiches also used locally sourced cheeses; soon, people began asking him for cheese recommendations.
Carver's goal of championing British cheeses while making them accessible to a broader audience found the perfect vehicle in the cheese conveyor belt. As it did with sushi, the conveyor belt allows customers to sample a wide variety of bite-sized dishes, and the low prices encourage experimentation. The cheeses you'd sample at Pick & Cheese are not cheap, but the conveyor belt system helps the restaurant keep staffing costs low, and while most people wouldn't pay $100 for a hunk of cheese, they'd readily pay $5 for a taste of some.
With how well Pick & Cheese connects food enthusiasts and artisanal cheese crafters, it's only natural that the idea will gain popularity. There's a cheese conveyor belt restaurant stateside as well! Culture + Co. in Nashville, Tennessee, is a family-run affair that offers artisanal American cheese with seasonal pairings and natural wines — plates on the charcuterie conveyor belt range from $4 to $10. And for the land down under, Splatters Cheese Bar in Geelong, Victoria, is the self-proclaimed "artisan cheese train" offering Australia's first cheese conveyor belt.