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Alba Cheese
At Alba’s no-nonsense factory outlet, there’s a sparkling front counter and
next to it, steamy windows reminiscent of a Turkish bathhouse, through
which you can see workers gently scooping cheese from an enormous
steel vat. Bring your own pot, knock at the window and you’ll be treated
to the freshest ricotta in Melbourne. White-clad women in hairnets serve
you from behind a counter stacked with Alba’s range of cheeses. There
are knots of haloumi sprinkled with nigella seeds bobbing in brine,
and wedges of pecorino pepato, shot through with black peppercorns.
Provoletta (aged mozzarella) dangles enticingly on the back wall.
Europa Cheese
TULLAMARINE
27–33 Assembly Drive
T 9330 2282
www.albacheese.com.au
Mon–Fri 8am–5pm;
Sat–Sun 8am–noon
Melway 15 E4
Top buy Ovolini, tiny sweet orbs of fresh mozzarella
Shop 17–20 Deli Hall,
Queen Victoria Market,
corner Elizabeth &
Victoria streets
T 9328 2003
Tues & Thurs 6am–2pm;
Fri 6am–5pm; Sat 6am–
3pm; Sun 6am–4pm
Melway 43 F6
CITY
Shop 1–2, Deli Hall,
Queen Victoria Market
T 0419 347 631
Tues, Thurs & Sat
6am–2pm; Fri 6am–5pm
Melway 43 F6
La Latteria
CANTERBURY
141 Maling Road
T 9830 7915
www.corneliusfoods.
com.au
Mon–Sat 8am–5pm;
Sun 8am–4pm
Melway 46 D11
Top buy Delice de Bourgogne, a French triple cream cow’s milk cheese
It’s billed as a ‘mozzarella laboratory’ but equal parts art and science
are at play here. In the bright workshop out back, fresh cheeses are
hand-stretched each morning before joining the wide array of matured
offerings displayed in the shop cabinet out front. Burrata, ricotta and fior
di latte bob in pots; nearby are more unusual offerings such as dense
cheese ‘doughnuts’ of air-dried mozzarella studded with fennel seeds and
peppers. Those not prepared on-site are sourced from co-owner Giorgio
Linguanti’s That’s Amore cheesemakers in Thomastown. You can also buy
additive-free yoghurt, unhomogenised milk and delicious pure cream.
CARLTON
104 Elgin Street
T 9347 9009
www.lalatteria.com.au
Mon–Fri 9am–7pm;
Sat 9am–2pm
Melway 43 J3
Top buy ‘Little basil twists’ are filled, bite-sized bocconcini knots
Curds & Whey
Top buy Salted butter, especially the deep-yellow butter of late spring
If you fell in love with a cheese on a jaunt to Europe, this is the place
to track it down. This Queen Vic Market stall specialises in European
cheeses: mainly French, but with a smattering of Spanish, Swiss, Italian,
English and German examples, too. Evocative label descriptions such
as ‘raw’, ‘cave-ripened’ and ‘rural’ make decisions about what to take
home even harder. They also stock terrines featuring venison, duck and
rabbit, along with tasty pork rillettes. Mustards, jams and other French
comestibles line the walls, allowing you to relive that Brittany sojourn for
a fraction of the cost.
Top buy Gabriel Coulet roquefort is particularly delectable and creamy
Cornelius Cheese
Known as ‘the butter shop’, this homely Queen Vic Market stall might
not have the wow factor of some of its competitors, but that is precisely
what its fans love about it. Salted, lightly salted and unsalted butter is
presented in large blocks, sourced from grass-fed Warrnambool cows.
It has a deliciously clean, creamy taste and puts most supermarket
butters to shame. Hunks of Australian cheddar, such as Drouin mild and
vintage, are on offer, as well as local goat’s cheese La Luna and French
morbier, a semi-soft cow’s milk with a fine seam of ash. Gippsland
cream and creme fraiche are also available.
2 Attenborough Street
T 5941 9025
www.europacheese.com
Tues & Fri 9am–4pm;
Sat 8.30am–1pm
Melway 90 B8
The French Shop
CITY
Top buy Alexandrina is a standout among a high-quality cheddar selection
Fromage fanciers will be in their element at this premium cheese shop,
behind a picket fence in Canterbury’s historic shopping strip. The
ever-changing range of seasonal cheeses is sourced from France, Italy
and Portugal as well as artisan Australian producers. From a selection
that might include sweet and gooey L’edel de Cleron, pungent munster
(both from France) or picnic-perfect Babybert from South Australia,
knowledgeable staff will help you make a good choice. You’ll also find
delicious biscuits (try Fine Cheese Co’s rosemary crackers), fig pastes
and muscatels to make your cheese platter really shine.
DANDENONG
Top buy Tangy, chilli-flecked pecorino, with a pleasantly sharp kick
Bill’s Farm
There’s not much Bill Tzimas doesn’t know about cheese: he’s a Dairy
Australia cheese judge and a qualified cheese grader. At his Queen
Vic Market stall, fine Australian cheeses, often from artisan producers,
sit alongside great Europeans, all ripe for eating, having been perfectly
aged at the off-site warehouse. Helpful staff wrestle whole wheels of
parmesan and inform customers, many regulars, of the merits of the
various soft goat’s cheeses. Bill’s is also the place to find the next ‘it’
ingredient, such as Cornish salt or fresh burrata (creamy mozzarella),
and a large range of prized jamon.
When John and Jacqueline Interlandi opened their first cheese factory
in Hawthorn in 1971, they couldn’t stop enthusiastic Italian locals from
walking in off the street and asking to buy wholesale, so they decided
to set up shop. Three days a week, customers flock to their Dandenong
warehouse to buy seriously good-value fresh ricotta, local parmesan
and aged pecorino, as well as imported gorgonzola, provolone and
graviera. Half a kilo is the minimum order, cut from the wheel, or you
can pick up one of the huge tubs of buffalo mozzarella. Devotees come
on Tuesdays, when the ricotta has just been made.
Mamma Lucia Cheese Shop
CITY
Shop 12–13, Deli Hall,
Queen Victoria Market,
corner Elizabeth &
Victoria streets
T 9326 9009
Tues & Thurs 6am–2pm;
Fri 6am–5pm; Sat
6am–3pm
Melway 43 F6
Mamma Lucia is a little slice of Italy – and not just because of all the
Italian-style cheeses on sale. Staff and customers speaking la lingua
italiana also add brio. It is spotless, speedy (take a number) and fun.
There’s a selection of Italian groceries but the main event is the huge
selection of cheese in a fridge occupying one wall. You’ll find plenty of
the house products, including bocconcini, ricotta, scamorza, mascarpone
and their own parmesan-style cheese, at a fraction of retail prices, along
with imports, including Norwegian jarlsberg and English stilton made with
vegetarian rennet, and local stars Jindi brie and Meredith Dairy chevre.
Top buy Scamorza (smoked mozzarella), delicious grilled
BRUNSWICK
50 Weston Street
T 9381 2256
www.freshcheese.com.au
Mon–Fri 8.30am–
4.30pm; Sat 9am–
1.30pm
Melway 29 H9