L'Art du Fromage

My friends and I love cheese and when we heard that a cheese restaurant had opened in London we couldn’t get there quick enough. It did not disappoint, it was amazing, we couldn’t get enough of it!

I had the munster cheese coated in breadcrumbs served with bayonne ham, walnuts and baby salad leaves. It was deeee-lish.

My friends had the assortment of meats like duck breast and ham etc served with goats cheese on toast – yum, another had a goat cheese roulade with beetroot carpaccio and someone else had snails in garlic.

Then as there were 4 of is 2 of us we shared a fondue and the other 2 had raclette. WOW. It was like we had died and gone to heaven! And it was all you can eat fondue and raclette – ohhh how greedy we were! The fondue was flambéed in cognac. Seriously, seriously scrummy!

And although we were full to bursting we couldn’t resist, and between us we ordered the cheese ice-cream – you HAVE to try it, and we obviously couldn’t resist the chocolate fondue and it would have been rude not to have had the cheese tasting option.

For cheese lovers this is absolute heaven.

However, even if you don’t love cheese as much as we do there’s something for you on the menu.

The service was also really good which added to a really great night.

Can’t wait to go back. Apparently they change the menu every couple of months – oh what joy!
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Sarah Moir
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Very dissapointing. After reading so many positive reviews on the site i decided to start my easter weekend with a fancy fondue evening. In the week leading up to the meal i spied the critic reviews that painted a less rosey picture. not one to be put off, the evening went ahead as planned. i ordered: snails, onion soup, fondue savoyarde. (no dessert as we were rushed out of the place, although we knew ahead of time that the table was needed by another party who had booked ahead of us so no probs there)

the snails were average, very earthy as snails often are. The onion soup was lovely.

The fondue... well this was absolutely awful. i'm not sure what effect the flambe'd cheese had but i couldn't taste it. The fondue tasted horrible, not only had it seperated but was covered in a thin film of liquid. After 2 minutes it was like eating rubbery melted cheddar (not actually cheddar, its a mix of 3 cheeses but after a few minutes it'll taste like microwaved supermarket cheese), you were lucky to remove your bread on the fork as it was usually lost to the extremely viscous cheddar gloop. i also couldn't taste the rubbed garlic i guess they took the critics review to heart. Completely overpriced, if you go in a group no reason for more than 2 to order the fondue if you must go for it at all, i'd recommend sticking to the other mains which ranged from average (sole) to good (pizza)

having just returned from france and having eaten delicious fondues this did not live up to expectations. Will not be returning, will not advise others to go. Overcharged by £10 to boot...
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The Hungriest Hippo - View all reviews by this user
2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Saturday, April 03, 2010

Not really being the biggest fan of cheese or French food, I was slightly apprehensive when my boss told me that we would be having a work outing at a new French eaterie for a cheese filled feast!

However, after sampling their gorgeous foi gras and sumptuous tartiflette, I can safely say I am now a convert. I was especially impressed with the lemon tarte du jour served with a tongue-tingling homemade blueberry sorbet.

This was truly a delightful evening, with exceptional personal service by both of the owners, Jean-Charles and Julien.
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Amer Lakhani, Fortune Law
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The last saturday, we went to eat to a new and great restaurant "L'art du fromage".

We order a "goat cheese fondue" and a cheeseplater with a very good white wine and it was delicious!

The place is lovely, we ate on the mezzanine while listening to french music.

The owners are kind, passionate and deserve a lot of sucess.

We love it and we return to eat in this restaurant tonight.

All cheese and french food lovers, you will not be disappointed!
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Alex and Marion
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, March 08, 2010

We returned to this restaurant for dinner on Saturday night. I had been looking forward to trying the Raclette since our last visit and it didn't disappoint. The huge portion of cheese was slowly melted at our table under a grill. The baby potatoes and Charcuterie board that accompanied it were also delicious (so much so we had to have second helpings)! Somehow we still found room for dessert - a sumptuous chocolate fondue with fresh fruit. The meal was fantastic and the service impeccable. The complimentary digestif at the end was also most welcome!

It is hard to believe that this restaurant has only been open for 2 weeks. It already feels like a well established local restaurant - long may it continue!
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9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Sunday, February 28, 2010

I would have loved to give this restaurant a 10/10 but it has some ironing to do.

I am pretty sure that it has a huge potential. Its owner as a passion for good cheese (traditional cheese from small dairy farm in France). He has a good understanding of the customer experience, but the food itself is not quite up to scratch.

I had the Salade Gastronimique to start with: very nice baby leaves generously presented with smoked magret de canard, bacon, freshly pan fried foie gras (which unfortunately was over cooked - so no longer melting in your mouth) and topped with a goat cheese on a toast. Surprisingly they also added a large piece of smoked salmon. I do not think that the fish added any thing to this dish which with better seasoning and a properly cooked Foie Gras would have been a GREAT starter.

I also had their Small selection of cheese (7), very carefully dressed with love and attention by Julien the owner. I was proposed to taste the Banon Cheese with a touch of Piment d'Espelette paste, (also it is quite delicious as a match - it also kill you palate for the other cheese on the plate.)

The dessert was a selection of 3 cheesy home-made ice cream: Fromage Frais, Chevre (Goat) and Blue Cheese. The first two were more of a granite as the cheese has separated and was grainy, but the Blue cheese ice cream was divine, so smooth, creamy and tasty. I would have preferred to see this as part of a Trio of desserts.

I am afraid the bread was not at all to my liking, with artisan cheese you should have great artisan bread (they went for a French company which say are artisan bread but produced in loo large quantity to be really be nice)...

All in all, it is (or will be) a gem, when those things are iron out. A very friendly service, a good atmosphere, and for cheese lovers a great place to go to.

I have been too rough on them. I don't think so... .I do like the place. My bill came to £22.00 and that is REASONABLE.
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Nicolas Dreyfus
8 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Thursday, February 25, 2010

Went to visit this new gem on Friday and had a wonderful time! The food was delicious and we didn't want to stop eating!

Started with Escargot ( fantastic traditional recipe) and Foie Gras ( which was melt in your mouth). We followed with a traditional Cheese Fondue, which I was very excited about and it did not disappoint! Couldn't resist and had the Chocolate Fondue for dessert which came with a wonderful selection of fruits, my partner had the Ile Flottante, to try something new, and he can't wait to order another one.

Service was excellent. The two main servers are actually the owners and are incredibly knowledgeable about all things cheese. I didn't get to try any of the cheese boards but I definitely will next time as they told me they are all sourced from France and quite rare to the UK.

For wine we had the Sancerre, which was a great compliment to our meal.

It is small ( seating about 30) but might look smaller from the outside as there are two floors with the bottom floor only seating 10. Great French music playing you truly feel you are somewhere else.

The walls could use a little more decoration but they have only been open a week so maybe it's still work in progress.

Definitely give this one a go. I think I'll head there for a light lunch next time and grab a cheese board mmmmm
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Naomi E
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Sunday, February 21, 2010

We visited this restaurant for lunch on Saturday. It had only opened the day before and we were pleasantly surprised by how smoothly the restaurant was run. We both had snails to start then I had the L'Epicurien cheese tasting platter for main course and my boyfriend had the tarte with German sausage and sauerkraut. The food was delicious, especially the cheese board which consisted of 13 cheeses from 7 different 'families', these were laid out in the order in which they should be eaten accompanied by various fruits and jams. The service was excellent and the waiter had a very extensive knowledge of cheese. If I had one complaint it would be that the wine is quite expensive. However, there isn't another restaurant like this in Chelsea and if you like your cheese it is well worth a visit.
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9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Fabulous and French. A really relaxed bistro with space for around 30 people.

Starters we had snails and the cheese on toast (of course!)

Mains: Traditional cheese fondue but the waiter introduced some kirch which was lit at the table and then put into the fondue. This aids digestion and was very good fun. Fondue was also unlimited so if you want more, theyre more than happy to give you more. They had a choice of 4 fondues including a goats cheese one. Fondues are made from scratch (im used to buying the packs from waitrose which are lovely) and you can really taste the difference.

Puds: A really clever take on the tarte tatin which had a very delicate piece of goats cheese on the top and pistachio nuts. Worked well. Also had the cheese board which included 5 cheeses that we worked across the plate with. Cheeses were all sourced from small French producers so not widely available. My favourite was a cheese which was garlic infused. Heavenly.

Wine - Excellent wines which are matched with the cheese by the waiters. Tried a very smooth Sancerre.

Service - Friendly, efficient, knowledgable, charming. Everyone was so passionate about the food/wine

Next time I want to try the raclette and tartifette. Really would recommend this place. Its not very big so I would book in advance before they get really busy.
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Mark C
10 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Friday, February 12, 2010