As a cheese-ie, one of my missions this year is to enjoy local cheeses in each of the grand slam cities. In Paris, this was incredibly easy.
Cheese is a huge part of Parisienne culture. Throughout the city there are Fromageries that sell cheese of all shapes and sizes, there are cheese platters on French restaurant menus and I could spend hours staring at the cheese section in the supermarket
I started on the cheese eating mission without delay by going to a local cheese market and asking the cheese chick to pick some different bries and goats cheeses for me to try. We ate them at a picnic near Sacre Coeur, looking out over the city on a gorgeous day (that was the first day of Roland Garros, before the rains came.)
A Fromagerie - nothing but cheese!
The Picnic that included four cheeses from the market
Close up of two cheeses, a roll of goats and a brie
The view for the picnic near Sacre Coeur
Those cheeses were very tasty but not quite good enough to win the highly competitive cheese grand slam.
A cheese platter that was the final course in a 3 course set menu meal that cost Euro 17.
The winner of my French cheese grand slam is a cheese that I picked from the supermarket to take with us in the snack pack to Roland Garros.
It’s a soft cheese that is called “La Brique” because of it’s shape. It wins because of its cheesy smell that makes you want more, its creaminess and flavour. And at Euro 2.35 per block it’s a total bargain and worth trying if you see it on a supermarket shelf.
The cheese shelf at the supermarket
Want more cheese? Have a look at The Grand Slam of Cheese: Melbourne.
Stay tuned for the Grand Slam of Cheese Wimbledon in the next few weeks…. am already tipping Stilton to be the winner.
Until next time
Grand Slam Gal
I did like that goats cheese too, but it was too firm to be my favourite. On the topic of Le Brique, probably better for me not to know if it is available in Melbourne – that would be far too tempting!
Will be hunting for Le Brique here at home. How beautiful is that fromagerie – lovely photo.
The roll of goats cheese was my favourite. A strong initial flavour, but with subtleties that came through as the cheese warmed in my mouth.