Bailey & Sage For Fun Food in the Kings Road, London

We went to Bayley and Sage to buy cheese. London has a good selection of cheese shops. When we are nearer Baker Street station we regularly visit La Fromagerie. Near Piccadilly you have Paxton and Whitfield. Another cheese shop is near The Shard. Now we've found another great place, Bayley and Sage. First, a huge selection of cheeses.

Cheeses galore at Bailey and Sage.

The occasional gift for yourself or another - such as the apron with chickens and eggs, at about £20. That's a lot for an apron. I want it. I'll have to go back and get it.

Then you can have a mini quiche heated up in the microwave to take away. £2.75. We had a choice of three kinds. We chose salmon and asparagus.

When you are tired of green beans, try yellow beans.

Plus vegetables. Yellow beans to make a change from green beans. A huge melon.

You can get a double espresso to take away for £1.95. Nowhere to sit down. You could carry it back to your car.

As we were leaving I saw the giant meringues in the window. Various colours. All sugar, of course. How about something with nuts?

Little coloured macaroons. How much? We asked an assistant. £12.50?

Nice for a present. A bit expensive for our tea. Do you have anything similar, but cheaper? Then we spotted some giant plain coloured almond macaroons at £4.50.

Yummy. Then we inspected the packaging and discovered that the maker was Sally Clarke, whose restaurant we have been to for birthdays, very expensive but a delicious treat. We never tried out the patisserie to take away nearby. Now we have.

Bailey and Sage have a second branch opened in Fulham this week, June 2016.

Bailey and Sage
Parsons Green
34 New Kings Road
Parsons Green
London SW6 4ST
tel: 020 7736 2826

Sally Clarke
www.sallyclarke.co.uk

Boursin, Babybel, Laughing Cow Museum and more

I was sampling cheeses at a wine and dinner party in Hayes, England, when I was particularly taken by the flavour and texture of a soft, crumbly, garlicky cheese which I later discovered was Boursin. Boursin is not a region nor a type of cheese but a brand name. I was intrigued to read about their origin on the website and in Wikipedia.

The cheese making business started with a Mr Bel and family back in the late 1800s in France. Over the next century or two they spread to Belgium and Switzerland, the UK and USA, even as far away as Syria.

The company employed artists and film makers. Their notable verbal and visual success was the Laughing cow brand. Individual portions are a feature. B a b y b e l is one I recognize.

Now I have added Boursin to my favourites. It reminds me of another favourite.

I like Gaperon d'Auvergne, which is another soft garlicky cheese, but an acquired taste and hard to find outside France. You can get it, intermittently, at the speciality cheese shops in London such as Paxton and Whitfield near Piccadilly.

Also try to make a stop for coffee and shopping at the La Fromagerie cheese shop and greengrocer . You perch on the seat in coffee shop, better seats in the small restaurant. It's located near Marylebone Road, a quick walk from Baker Street station (Madame Tussaud's and Sherlock Holmes museums, if you are in London).

So it's a great find to discover Boursin, readily available in UK supermarkets such as Waitrose. You'll  probably also find Boursin in your local supermarket, wherever you live and travel.

• Laughing Cow Museum, France

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lons-le-Saunier

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Buying English Cheeses: Supermarkets, Rippon, Paxton and Whitfield, La Fromagerie

Truffle cheese at La Fromagerie.

England is famous for Stilton and Cheddar; France is famous for Brie and Camembert. You can buy these in most supermarkets in England as well as overseas. But there's lots more to buy in London at speciality cheese shops and from online suppliers.

La Fromagerie

I have already found a great walk-in cheese shop which offers you a teeny taste of any new cheese if you are obviously keep to buy - La Fromagerie.

At La Fromagerie I have tried truffle cheese. (The truffles which are mushrooms, not the chocolate truffles.)
La Fromagerie also stock a solid, dry, full flavoured, crunchy salt French cheese called Comte.

Paxton and Whitfield
Paxton and Whitfield supply lovely wooden cheese boards and expensive cheese knives. Great if you are looking for a gift for a host in London or elsewhere.

The Paxton and Whitfield cheese board with their name on it.

Paxton and Whitfield introduced me to a garlicky soft French cheese, Gaperon d'Avergne. Soft, white, full of flavour. Make sure your friends eat it, too, so that they enjoy it and are breathing the same as you!

Rippon

Now I have discovered yet another shop, Rippon, named after the surname of the two founders. They stock another interesting English cheese, Lord of the Hundreds.

English cheese? What does everybody already know about English cheese? Traditional English cheese from the ubiquitous cows in the green fields of England, which you often see from the motorway driving through England. You also see green fields, and cows, on the train in England, as well as in Wales, and Scotland. Britain also has sheep, and lambs in springtime.

Cheddar

Classic cheddar is the English favourite as you can see from the huge selection of Cheddar crowding out everything else in English supermarkets such as Morrisons which started in the north of England supplying food from farmers in England. No wonder they concentrate on what they were originally famous for, British food. You may associate the name of Cheddar cheese with the place name Cheddar Gorge.

The English supermarkets such as Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Waitrose, now supply mature cheddar, which has a stronger flavour, and mild cheddar.  Grated or shredded cheddar, sold in large, self-sealing plastic bags, is a great topping for baked potatoes in their jackets.

You might also know that Stilton originally came from Stilton, which was not where it was made but the nearest pickup point.

Cheesaholics complain that plastic wrapped cheese is 'sweaty', and take long detours to find a speciality cheese shop. But if you are in London it's not much of a detour to three great cheese shops, La Fromagerie near Baker Street station, Paxton and Whitfeld, or Rippon.

The Rippon cheese shop is in Victoria, London, near Victoria station. They stock Lord of the Hundreds, an unpasteurised cheese.

The name Lord of the Hundreds comes from a Saxon Lord, or tax collector who collected from one hundred parcels of land. So I learned from this website:
http://www.finecheese.co.uk/our-cheeses/lord-of-the-hundreds.html

You can also find this cheese on line at a cheaper price if you shop around to read more about it and compare prices. This site says it's a vegetarian cheese. Hm, vegetarian, not vegan.
http://www.traditionalcheesedairy.co.uk/shop/product.php?xProd=7&xSec=14

R i p p o n Cheese, London SW1V 1SW.
(Sorry - I had to separate the letters. I don't believe it - spellcheck has turned the name into the more poplar word Nipon! That means Japan.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker.