I’m currently based out in Surrey for work, so any trip into central London is very welcome. Today I had my annual appraisal meeting with the senior consultant responsible for overseeing my training.

Fortuitously, she works near Marylebone High Street, so I took the opportunity to pop into La Fromagerie on Moxon Street before our meeting. With hindsight, this was probably a bad idea on one of the hottest days of the year, but thankfully said Consultant turned out to be a fan of the shop, and didn’t seem to mind the aroma emanating from the bag in the corner!

La Fromagerie, Moxon Street

I’ve been wanting to visit La Fromagerie for a while, having received owner Patricia Michelson’s excellent encyclopedia – simply entitled ‘Cheese‘ – as a birthday present.

The Marylebone store has a simply awesome walk-in cheese ‘cave’, which mostly focusses on French cheeses. I was completely spoilt for choice, but came away with half an Ami du Chambertin, a cow’s milk cheese from Burgundy, similar to Epoisses; a couple of Cabécou de Rocamadour, a small ripe goat’s cheese; and a slab of Beaufort d’Alpage – always a favourite.

Alongside the cheese, La Fromagerie stocks a range of other fresh produce, but there’s no denying that some of the prices are eye watering – £8 for a bundle of asparagus? That said, I was very tempted by the homemade rillettes, the fresh duck confit, the cornichons from the deli counter… Thankfully for my wallet, our store cupboard is still full from our recent trip to France.

We’re very lucky to have an excellent cheese shop very close to home (charging similar prices for cheese) but the cheese room at La Fromagerie was something else – and not just because it was cool on a warm day!

Hopefully the smell of the Ami du Chambertin didn’t affect my appraisal too badly…