One of life’s basic pleasures is cheese. Forget long walks on the beach, the smell of freshly cut grass and all those other cliches, just give me a plate of cheese and I’m a happy lady. It can come in any form but when it’s melted down for my convenience and I can dunk stuff in it, well, there isn’t much better than that.
Androuet is a tiny little place (and cheese shop) facing in towards Spitalfields market, on the side where the independent eateries are all set up to looking disapprovingly at the chain restaurants across the square. We sat at a little table outside underneath some perfectly placed heaters and got cozy with the blankets that were draped over our seats. To make sure that we were definitely warmed up though, we ordered a bottle of red (French, of course, to fit the theme).
The main restaurant was closed so we had the bar menu which is simple and exactly what we wanted. You have a choice of: two fondues, a raclette, a cheese board and a range of charcuterie. We ordered the standard fondue (the one without blue cheese) which comes with bread, ready for dipping, and the saussicon and speck from the charcuterie selection. Presented in a cast iron fondue pot and kept bubbling away by the gas beneath it, it was a no holds barred sort of situation. They gave us cutlery but I’m not entirely sure why; I just needed the fondue fork and knew that when there wasn’t meat or bread on it, there was a problem.
You may think that this much cheese in one sitting is too much. You’d be wrong. Surprisingly it wasn’t sickly, I think mainly because the texture wasn’t too thick and gloopy, it was perfectly stringy like eating a long bit of spaghetti. It was the perfect winter warmer and excellent comfort food to share over a proper catch-up with the wonderful AJ.
Fondue is one of those rare treats for me and when it’s done so well and in such a comfortable setting I really am in my element.
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