Early last month, I visited The Cheese Barge at Paddington with my friends. This has been on my London "to do" list for a few years now. The Cheese Barge is situated near Paddington station in a converted canal boat on the canal. The restaurant serves cheese as samples or small plates that mainly feature cheese, and the idea is that visitors can sample different types of cheese and pair with wines.
We decided to head out for our visit, which was booked in the evening. It was one of the hot (but not sweltering) days that we had, and we decided to come with summer hats.
We were seated by the walkway and not the canal side sadly; it would have been better to have sat on the canal side.
We started off with some white wine and Coombeshead Sourdough with whipped creamy butter.
We then shared the Whitelake Goat Curd, which was paired with sweet potato fritters.
Blue Sky Dairy Halloumi was next up, and this was served with a relish/pesto sauce, and it was beautifully-cooked and full of flavour. It was my favourite.
Baked Graceburn was next, and this cheese was mixed with a tomato salsa with capers and summer squash, and it was also very tasty.
Cropwell Bishop Stilton and Steak Salad was the next item we had, but this one I was not keen on trying. I did try a little bit, but Stilton is a bit too strong for me, and I also dislike salad dressing. Normally, steak would be served with the salad, but a couple of us (including me) are either vegetarian or will not touch beef/cow meat.
I wanted to try the English Pecorino and butternut squash, and this was my second favourite item.
I also shared a grilled cheese and onion sandwich, which was always a go-to item for me, although it can be a little bit greasy.
Lastly, we had the large sharing plate of Baked Baron Bigood Brie, which came with more of the sourdough with chutney and garlic roasted new potatoes.
The brie just melted into a fondue...
I also took a photograph of someone's cheese samplers waiting to be served. I would have liked to have tried some of the samples, but we were all stuffed with the sharing plates.
Afterwards, we had a quick walk around Little Venice and the canal before heading back to the station.
We then stopped at the canal boat Darcie and May Green, next to the Cheese Barge. This is a chain of Australian restaurants, and I had brunch at their restaurant near Marble Arch earlier in the year, but we were not impressed with the cocktails sadly.
They looked nice. They gave me the wrong order too.
Afterwards, we wandered back home. It was a good afternoon/evening. I'd love to return to The Cheese Barge again.
Leave a comment