Wednesday, February 24, 2010

A model way to serve cheese

We weren't planning to have cheese at what was already an over-indulgent lunch at Texture today but when we spotted their cheese course we had to give it a try. It consisted of just three cheeses - Valençay, Pecorino Sardo and Stichelton, cut and served on a square slate, each with a complementary relish.

In the case of the Valençay it was a honey and muscat jelly, the Pecorino was paired with a little peeled celery salad and the Stichelton with a delicately spiced pear and apple compote. There was also two kinds of toast, one made from thick slices of wholegrain bread and one (at the back of the picture) from some very fine slices of apricot bread.

The sommelier Erica came up with the perfect pairing, a spectacular glass of 1988 Cossart Gordon Sercial Madeira (see the website under Colheita) - all cream and caramelised nuts yet amazingly dry.

A model modern way to serve cheese.

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4 comments:

Kavey said...

Hmmm, looks like they've put proper thought into designing their cheese course... and it's worked well.

Fiona Beckett said...

I think because they have this 'texture' thing running through everything they do they've applied it to cheese too with really good effect. I wish more restaurants were this imaginative

Robert Giorgione said...

Great post Fiona. I went there recently see my FoodWineTravel blog article. The Sercial Madeira is a great combo with cheeses. I used to serve that a few years ago at Orrery in Marylebone. At Texture, I think they get their cheese selection from La Fromagerie on Marylebone High Street.
Best wishes
Robert

Fiona Beckett said...

Sounds as if you had a great meal too. It is a good restaurant - and consistently good which is hard to pull off.