Hunter Escape: Hunter Valley Smelly Cheese Shop

What’s in a name?

The Hunter Valley Smelly Cheese Shop, situated on the grounds of the Tempus Two Winery, definitely has a distinct and whimsical name to boast about. It has a vast array of cheeses yet is so much more than a specialist cheese shop. They’re well-stocked with gourmet cooking ingredients and, apart from their cheese and deli meats display, are also in possession of a cheese room, a cured meats room, as well as a gelato bar.

Taste-testing of their cheeses is welcome and we settle on a wedge each of King Island smoked cheddar (which we later discover is available pre-packaged at our local supermarket) and the in-house Smelly Cheese Shop single brie alongside some sopressa salami and crackers for dinner. But before we leave we must, of course, sample their gelato.

Now that, my friends, is not a miniature cone sitting beneath standard scoops of ice-cream. Rather, it is a normal-sized cone being completely dwarfed by two huge/humungous/ginormous/mutant-sized scoops of gelato as large as Monsieur Poisson’s fist for the bargain price of $6.50. For the purposes of research and variety, we decide to try two flavours but never expected quite such generous scoops! Two separate groups of people walking past us said, “Look at the size of that ice-cream!” Yes, looky indeed.

Now, quantity is nothing if there isn’t equivalent quality to back it up. I’m happy to say that the coffee crunch and pistachio flavours were both exceptional. Neither possessed lurid colouring and both were delicately smooth. And, although this may sound stupid, the pistachio gelato had plenty of nutty pistachio flavour instead of that sometimes almond essence/marzipan taste. Needless to say we struggled to get through the gelato but did triumph in the end following a slow and extended battle. Following that a dinner of savoury cheeses and salami was most welcome.

Hunter Valley Smelly Cheese Shop

Tempus Two Winery, Hall 1, 2144 Broke Rd (corner McDonalds Rd), Pokolbin NSW

Tel: (02) 4998 6713

Opening Hours:  Mon-Fri  10am-5pm

Sat & Sun  10am-6pm

happy eating!

Don’t forget to enter the Le Chasseur product giveaway courtesy of Kitchenware Direct!

Leave a comment at the end of the post and remember to send an email to mademoiselledelicieuse@gmail.com as well, with the subject line of “Le Chasseur” and include your full name as well as a copy of your comment in the body of the email. (Some entries so far have yet to send me an email – I need this so I can contact you to let you know you’ve won!) Entries close Friday 15 July 2011.