Canberra has a new cheese store? You cheddar believe it

Or at least, as the beneficiary of this interview addition, that's what I like to think.

Like many people, I've been around cheeseboards my whole life. Every family barbecue had one. Mum would make sure to get the "fancy" cheese from the supermarket - namely the cream cheese with the dried apricots in it.

But this cheeseboard is not like your mum's cheeseboard.

Kaitlyn Towner and Alex Royds, the owners of Le Cheeserie, the new cheese opening at Belconnen's Capital Food Markets this week, have come bearing produce from across the country.

The one that catches my eye, however, is a delight from a recent cheese-finding mission Towner took to Tasmania - Grandvewe's Gin Herbalist cheese. Modelled on the famous Fleur De Maquis sheep milk cheese, it's flavoured using spent native Australian botanicals from Hartshorn Distillery's gin.

"They make gin and vodka out of the whey from the cheese," Towner says.

"This one is brushed with the eight botanicals that they put in their gin and whether you have the rind on the cheese or not, you can still taste those flavours coming through.

"And then the whey is then taken to make the gin at the distillery, which we'd look at stocking in the future if we can."

The duo have worked together throughout their careers. First at Pod Food, in Pialligo, before it closed in 2018, as well as at The Boat House. But it was Royds' other business, Melted Toasted Sandwich Emporium in Fyshwick, that kickstarted Le Cheeserie.

When renowned food critic and writer Anthony Huckstep was first curating the offerings at Capital Food Market (formally known as Belconnen Markets) he approached Royds wanting to know if Melted was interested in opening another location at the renovated food destination.

"At first we were pretty excited to try and use as many things from the markets as we could, just locally sourced things," Royds says.

"So the first thing I asked was where the cheese shop was. And my friend [Anthony Huckstep] said, there isn't a cheese shop yet. Do you want to open a cheese shop? And I said hell yeah I would."

And it was a venture that would prove to be the perfect next step for Towner as well.

From there, it was a learning curve from cheese enthusiasts to cheese scholars. Almost becoming a cheese sommelier in many ways.

It was important that as well as having a selection that is unique in Canberra - offering cheeses that you wouldn't even know about, let alone find elsewhere - that they could guide people in the right direction when creating their next cheeseboard.

"There's cheese knowledge, and then there's helping people know what they want to eat," Towner says.

"It's usually just wanting to know, 'What should I have on a cheeseboard?' So that's when we step in and guide them and I guess, learn about them a little bit, have a chat, and then be like, I think you'd like this."

As well as having a range of "normal" cheeses, Le Cheeserie also has a section for vegan and lactose-free cheeses.

And pulling on Royds' experience making toasties, Le Cheeserie also has a gourmet toastie menu, featuring some of the cheeses that are sold in-store.

For those wondering what to pair with their beautifully selected cheeseboard, Le Cheeserie will also be able to help you out there. Royds says they have plans to have a small selection of wine in store that can be paired with the cheese in their cabinets.

"At the moment, our plan is to do half from overseas and half really local wine," he says.

"As much as I like Australian wine as a whole, I just want to focus on Canberra because I think that's cool. And we've got some really good wineries here. So like just focusing on the really local and then the really far abroad."