Cheese, please
With backgrounds in music and media, a career off-ramp to cheese-mongering was not immediately obvious to the owners of Paddington’s new Oxford St fromagerie, The Artisan Cheese Room.
For Michael Bramley and Ken Milton, the idea of quitting their day jobs for a cheese-focused foray slowly matured when their lifelong interest in food and wine took a sharper focus.
While studying wine at the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, Bramley encountered a transformative pairing of Sancerre wine and Holy Goat La Luna cheese from Victoria and was instantly hooked by the palate-enlightening flavour possibilities cheese offered.
A deep fascination with the intricacies of lactic fermentation followed and the couple decided to progress their passion with further studies online at the Academy of Cheese in the UK and the Cheese State University in the US.
When the opportunity arose to take the reins of Manly’s popular The Artisan Cheese Room in September 2024, it felt as if the couple’s way toward whey was destined. It didn’t take long to decide to relocate the store across the bridge to a shopfront in Paddington, where it opened on November 20.
“There’s a great community in Paddington and we’ve had a hugely positive response from locals before we even opened the door,” says Bramley.
Having begun their discovery of cheese as novices, the couple's revived premise of The Artisan Cheese Room is, in part, to demystify cheese and make purchasing beautifully made products approachable to the curd-curious of the eastern suburbs.
“We’ve designed the new shop to feel like you’re popping into a friend’s place for a chat about amazing cheese,” says Bramley. “Specialty shops can be daunting, so we want to make a welcoming space where we can build a community of cheese lovers and connect them with the food we all love.”
In addition to cheese hand-selected by the couple from around Australia and the world, the store will also sell a curation of cheese-adjacent products, such as charcuterie, accompaniments, hampers, giftware and even towering celebration ‘cakes’. Hosting events and workshops, such as ‘meet the cheesemaker’ and tasting and education sessions, The Artisan Cheese Room is set to become a true food-lovers destination.
Bramley and Milton also hope to collaborate with cheesemakers and suppliers to create new and innovative ways to enjoy cheese.
“We think it’s a really exciting time to get into the industry — it feels like there’s great energy from both cheesemakers and appreciators keen to explore new and interesting things,” says Bramley.
The Artisan Cheese Room
370 Oxford St