Love is always in the air in the capital and if you like cheese as much as we do, you’re in for a treat. Here are eight date ideas for cheese lovers in London, from food tours to fromage-obsessed restaurants.
If you like sushi conveyor belts, you’ll love this cheesy version at Seven Dials Market. Choose from over 25 different cheeses, all sourced from around the UK and paired with individual condiments. Why not try Red Leicester with kimchi sauerkraut or Beauvale, a creamy blue cheese, with pear and cider brandy jam? For something even more indulgent, visit their Camden sister site – The Cheese Bar – for fondue, poutine, and some of the best cheese toasties in town.
A Borough Market cheese crawl
Borough Market is the place to be for food lovers, so why not take your date on a self-guided cheese tour? Find new favourites at popular stalls like the Bath Soft Cheese Co and The French Comté or try Kappacasein’s famous toasted cheese sandwiches and molten London raclette (made in nearby Bermondsey) over new potatoes.
Lady of the Grapes is a Covent Garden wine bar shining a light on female winemakers who really know their Sauvignons. The friendly sommeliers will help you find the perfect bottle to compliment your cheeseboard. If you need warming up after a stroll through Seven Dials, there’s also fondue, tartiflette and baked Camembert for lovebirds who like to share.
The London Cheese Crawl
Starting in Mayfair each Friday and Saturday, this walking tour lets you taste some of the best cheese in the city, from the finest blue to the creamiest stilton. Experts can get involved in the tour’s very own cheese quiz in between sampling foodie delights around Soho and Covent Garden. The tour lasts around two hours so you’ll have walked off the culinary delights in no time.
Sometimes simple dishes truly are the best. For a relaxed date night, consider Obica – an Italian restaurant group specialising in the finest buffalo mozzarella. We recommend trying it with some prosciutto or drizzled with truffle oil, but you can also enjoy it in a salad or on pizza and pasta. Find their restaurants in Soho, Canary Wharf, and St Paul’s.
Champagne + Fromage
Cheese and Champagne – what could be better? If you’re looking to treat someone special, then book a table at this Covent Garden bistro for an evening of Gallic delights. Take your pick from 25 award-winning Champagnes and tuck into raclette, baked Camembert, and a stunning selection of cheese and charcuterie.
Head to this elegant French restaurant in Marylebone to show your date how cheesy you can really be. After dishes like rump of lamb and seafood raviolo with lobster bisque, you can take your pick from over 30 cheeses on their impressive tableside cheese trolley.
Vivat Bacchus
Fancy curating your very own cheeseboard of dreams? Vivat Bacchus (located in Farringdon and London Bridge) offers walk-in cheese rooms where their experts will help you assemble your perfect cheeseboard. It’s the ideal place to get to know your date, or relax with your long-term love, whilst sampling artisan cheeses and sipping a glass of wine.
This is a guest post from freelance journalist Beatrice Clark. She has written for Vogue, Glamour and Vanity Fair, among others, and has spent the past 15 years living in France, England and Scotland. She is currently based in Berlin and is always on the hunt for the perfect Eggs Benedict.
Updated October 2021.
