Haymarket Cheese Shop ~ Paddy's Markets, Haymarket

Excuse me sir, is this a cheese shop? In Paddy's Market? Now you can stick a wedge of emmental in with your shopping next time you are at the markets buying kang kong and cheap mangoes.


After months of renovation, the food choices at Paddy's Market in Haymarket now include a small touch of Europe. Different to the shops that used to fill this space is a Western European focused cheese shop and delicatessen.

The cheese selection is large for a store this size. While it isn't Laurent Dubois, it sure is a sight for cheese loving eyes. Some of the cheese is pre sliced while others can be cut to order. I'm going back for the comte which often sells out, but will be working my way through a few types not so familiar and hopefully good and stinky.

They can put together cheese cakes for occasions (yes, cakes made up of savoury cheese, not sweet cheesecakes) and help you select what you need for a function.

Most of the items are influenced by or sourced from Western Europe. The rillette is from Strasbourg, while fresh sausages and terrine come from the Barossa in South Australia. Brasserie Bread is available on Thursdays so you can add a crusty loaf to that jar of duck or goose rillette.

There's also selections of olives by weight, Michael's Fine Foods Salad Dressings, crackers and snail shells ready to be filled and grilled.

George runs the show here, selecting produce that he hopes sets him apart from the usual supermarket options. We chatted for a while about where his stock comes from, and how shopping habits in Australia are so different to those in Asia or Europe. 

"We're a young country, we don't have the tradition of hundreds, maybe thousands of years of going out to markets and buying fresh produce." I agree, after our experience in France we are even more hooked on markets and finding new flavours. We talk more about the influx of migrants after World War II and how this is still changing our shopping habits, as well as how we are starting to see more interest in French and German products as well as the most popular Italian ones, it's the cyclical turn around of food trends.

In the meat section there's also packets of bastourma, a spiced and air dried beef as well as ready to slice rounds of salamis, coppa, ham and other smallgoods. The regular suspects of brands like Don and Primo are supplemented with a few smaller makers, look beyond the familiar for something hidden or stock up on some basics for quick lunch fillings (we don't mind a sneaky bit of devon every now and then.)

We scoffed this jar of goose rillette in no time. The thick layer of fat along the top was worth it alone. Our pre dinner drink snacks also benefited from some salty pepper laced pecorino, too good to shred over pasta.

Haymarket Cheese Shop is open Wednesday to Sunday (market hours) with Brasserie Bread available Thursdays.