Looking for a dinner close to home that was untested had few options. Luckily with the thriving food options of Shoreditch and Spitalfields, there is always something available. Androuet is a dedicated specialty cheese shop in Spitalfields market that happens to have a dining menu that makes use of their products.
It might seem excessive to have an entire meal based on cheese, especially when I'm not the biggest fan, but worth trying once.
- Bleu des Cousses (blue), Gratte Palille (soft), St Nectaire (medium hard), Trufflew with white truffle honey with Caramelised Walnuts with Honey & Thyme, Caramelised Onion Chutney - a selection of cheeses from their store. Trufflew was a sweet favourite. Other comments were that the blue wasn't as strong as expected;
- Selection of Nibbles (parmesan & cardamom crisps, croquette with brie & prosciutto, Welsh rarebit with Westcombe cheddar) - Welsh rarebit was my favourite dish with aged cheddar melted on baguette. The croquette was smooth and rich also.
- Selection of Charcuterie (guinea fowl & cepes terrine, speck, rillette, saucisson de Montagne, pickles) - meaty terrine and a spreadable flaky rillette were the choices from this platter;
- Chorizo Iberico - simple, straight forward;
- Androuet Cheese Burger (29 days aged beef, bacon, Fourme d'Ambert blue cheese, hand cut chips) - unexpectedly the chips were some of the best I've had as crispy perfectly shaped rectangles with good salt and crispy outsides. The burger was a good medium rare to order but the cheese wasn't very strong amongst the other elements;
- Camembert baked with Almonds, Honey & Pears - an intense dish of molten cheese, incredibly strong with some honey to balance out the flavour. Not a dish to ever have on your own;
- Androuet Tartiflette (layers of potatoes, bacon, onion, cream topped with rich Reblochon cheese from Monsieur Paccard) - a baking dish of potatoes topped with cheese & bacon sitting in oil and a cheese rind on top. Again a bit too heavy on cheese.
Other than the burger, I enjoyed the starters most. The mains do seem to be suited toward cheese fanatics who can eat large amount of it in one sitting, much like a fondue. For the rest of us, I think stick to the less intense dishes.
Next time I would order Welsh rarebit, Croquettes and Selection of Charcuterie to start, Cheese Burger for main, and an additional order of hand cooked chips. Only if you are in a group that likes fondue would I ever suggest considering any of the heavy cheese mains.
