Chiswick Cheese Market – Sunday August 16

New traders, raclette’s return and the ultimate picky-bits platter

Guest blog by Lucy Cufflin, Chiswick Cheese Market

I don’t like the phrase ‘picky bits’, but it has been introduced into our vocabulary by the marketing gurus of the supermarkets. We all know what it means, and it is most definitely here to stay. In the same way as I feel V8, the canned vegetable juice made of 8 vegetables in the 70s, was the first real savoury smoothie without calling itself that, cheese is the original ‘picky bit’.

In this heat we often don’t feel like cooking, and we certainly don’t want to spend too much time inside in our kitchens, so might I suggest a trip to Chiswick Cheese Market to stock up on some of the best cheese on the planet, matched with some superb accompaniments, and create your own personalised ‘picky-bit’ platter.

A few of our traders are on their holidays, but the market is full of summer vibes this month and we welcome regular traders and a few new faces.

‘Good and Strained’ are a new Hounslow-based company creating slow fermented yoghurt and dairy products. We love to support local, and we are excited to welcome Jas and team to the market.

Chiswick locals will know that the Roebuck pub on the High Road was sold some time ago now, and Josh the manager has moved on to pastures new in the Home Counties.

We lost his fabulous raclette stall at the market, but he is still living in Chiswick and has started his own gig called ‘A Taste of the Alps’. He’s bringing his raclette back to the market with his original team, so let’s cheer for melted cheese!

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The Savoury Misu Co’s 5 layers of truffle, pistachio and almond dip

Talking picky-bits and dips, we are thrilled that @thesavourymisuco is joining the market this month. Inspired by the layered Italian dessert, tiramisu, the guys at The Savoury Misu have created some wonderful, layered dip combinations around artisan cheeses.

Try their 5 layers of truffle: a layer of focaccia, then a black olive tapenade, an olive and pistachio crumb, topped with truffle cream Brie and finally a dusting of their own ‘truffle finish’. Don’t panic, there are plenty of other flavour themes if you’re not a truffle fan!

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Chloe of Marlow Cheese Co, Young Cheesemaker of the Year at the 2025 Artisan Cheese Awards and Father Thames by Marlow cheese 

For a couple of years, Marlow Cheese was a regular at the market and, as the name suggests, is a dairy based west of London in the beautiful Thameside town of Marlow.

Many changes have happened at the dairy over the last couple of years, not least that Chloe, James’ daughter, has taken over production and will be bringing the Marlow Cheese Co. favourites back to the market this month. Chloe won ‘Young Cheesemaker of the Year’ at the Artisan Cheese Awards in 2025, so we are very excited to sample her version of her father’s cheeses!

After a cycling accident, we are thrilled that Paul from @love-fermented is now well and back with us, so bring on the Kimchee!

Lucy’s cheese of the month: Robiola ‘tre latti’

Robiola ‘tre latti’, Lucy’s cheese of the month

Medhi, on the Gastronomica Market stall, brings this cheese every month to Cheesewick. It’s not seasonal in the sense that it’s only made at certain times of year, it’s made all year round, but what makes it exceptional at this time of year is the beautifully fragrant summer milk (this cheese is only 15 days old when we see it at the market).

Eligio Castagna started making cheeses from ancient recipes in the Piedmont region of Italy over 60 years ago, and now the dairy, run by his son, Giuseppe, continues to make cheeses using only the best local milk from animals reared in unspoilt valleys and mountains in the Piedmont, using methods that take time and old-fashioned, hands-on skills.

Robiola is a style that has many variants, depending on the milk used (it can be cow, sheep, goat, or a combination of any of those three), and is very different depending on its age.

A small round cheese with a delicate wriggly rind.

It has a dense, buttery texture when it is fresh, with a citrus, milky flavour, but as it ages it becomes oozy and unctuous, with more robust, mushroomy, nutty, farmyard flavours.

I adore goat and sheep cheeses, but I know this is not everyone’s cup of tea. This unique cheese, made from a combination of cow, goat and sheep milks, seems to me to answer my desire for the distinct flavours I love, whilst blending them with the full-fat, rich cows’ milk, making it a much easier cheese for those who don’t think they like the taste of goat’s milk.

You simply must have a go, even if you are not a goats’ cheese lover!

At this time of year, the cheeses start to get richer as the milking season progresses (milk can be richer towards the end of the milking season, as babies start to eat the grass and come to Mum for extra nourishment rather than an entire meal, meaning less volume but more intense goodness). It is this richness, combined with the outdoor pastures, that makes this cheese so special right now.

The second reason is that I think these soft, lactic-set cheeses are a joy in this hot weather. Soft and spreadable on crackers, or even with raw vegetables, they can be part of the ultimate ‘picky-bits’ platter.

I always buy two of these and start one almost as soon as we’ve packed the market away, but I keep one carefully stored in my wine fridge (about 9°C) for a couple of weeks, until it starts to ripen and I can feel it oozing inside its wrapper.

Then I open a bottle of fizz. I simply adore the combination of this indulgent, creamy, rich cheese mixed with the bubbles on my tongue. Sometimes pairing is not just about the flavour, sometimes it’s about the satisfaction of the texture combination, and this is one I thoroughly recommend.

Medhi will let you try this wonderful cheese (get yourself a glass of fizz from @vinagogo), and I hope you love it as much as I do!

Event alert

We’re teaming up with our local Gin Distillery, @sipsmith to offer an extraordinary evening pairing the very best British Artisan Gin by Sipsmith, with the very best of British Artisan Cheese from @chiswickcheesemarket.  Kick off with a welcome G&T paired with handmade warm cheese straws, followed by 5 gins and 6 cheeses all carefully paired by the Three Cheesewick ladies and the Sipsmith team. I’m there as Member of the Academy of Cheese, International Cheese judge with co-founders of the market will lead us through tasting truly amazing cheeses with cheese nerds Donna Freed and Lucy Lee-Tirrel. Hamish, Sipsmith’s wonderful gin ambassador will guide us through different gins and the two teams will offer pairings that will blow your mind!

This is an evening not to be missed!

16 September 6.30pm at Sipsmith Distillery, and tickets are available here: sipsmith.com/distillery-tours

Steve Parker’s Tour of the Market, free every market day

Steve Parker is back with us for a double round of his now famous ‘Tour of the Market’. A free 30-minute stroll with Steve along the market, with lots of tasters and some insider cheesy knowledge thrown in. Come along to HQ at 9.45am and 10.45am and join in the tour.

I am away this month, high up in the French Alps eating my body weight in Beaufort, walking it off by hiking steep trails and sleeping in the cool with the window open, letting in the gorgeous alpine air. J’adore les fromages Français, but I am slightly jealous of you all with the enormous choice at Cheesewick: where else in the whole world is there such an array of exceptional cheeses?

I will think of you next Sunday, wandering along the stalls, tasting, trying and buying seriously good cheeses from all over the world.

See you in September,
Lucy

Chiswick Cheese Market is a volunteer-run market on Chiswick High Road, raising money for charity through its stallholders, events and its partnership with the Academy of Cheese.