Somehow or other we always seem to be on a “quest” to find wonderful things that are made in the country where we are visiting. At times it can be crazy making and means doing “homework” before we leave on a trip. Because I enjoy this kind of research, it’s kind of fun for me.
Not too long ago we made our first trip to England, renting an apartment in London for a week.
Being long time fans/customers of Les Amis du Fromage and Benton Bros. here in Vancouver, we knew about and had tasted some of the cheeses they bring in from Neal’s Yard in London.
Sooo….the mission; to find Neal’s Yard. There are two locations, one in Covent Garden and the other at Borough Market. So…off to Covent Garden we go. As usual we have no map, just a general address. These quests often turn out to be more challenging than you can imagine. Finally, after marching uphill for some time past God knows what other shops, because when on a quest you only have one thing in mind, to find the Holy Grail of cheeses in this case.
There is nothing like this in Vancouver! Our “food police” wouldn’t allow it. It’s wonderful inside. Cheeses stacked up almost to the ceiling, samples being provided off the end of a knife which seems a lot more fun than those little pieces of paper we get samples on here. They had a person stationed outside on the street giving out samples. Being able to taste and buy artisanal English cheeses, made by local farmers is a wonderful treat! Cheeses with names like “Lancashire Poacher” and “Isle of Mull”. Click here to read about Neal’s Yard website.
We discovered that some of the cheeses were available at Waitrose market not far from where we were staying. I can’t remember eating that much cheese within a week in my lifetime! There were cheese omelets, cheese and salad for a quick dinner, cheese and toast for breakfast. At the end of the week, sadly there were some uneaten cheeses that we had to abandon, because we could not take them with us. Hopefully the owner of the apartment enjoyed them. No doubt, they would have been confiscated by security at Heathrow anyway!
