Looking for a glass of wine paired with fine cheese to enjoy the rains? Why not have some artisanal cheeses with coffee instead? Not many know that cheese and coffee are actually a match made in heaven. The flavours that we usually associate with coffee — nuts, caramel, flowers and fruit — are often present in cheese and the combination of both can be truly wonderful. That’s exactly what Craft Coffee Experience Centre at Ballygunge and Salt Lake is offering — a gourmet experience with their Affinage (that loosely translates to refinement) menu, in collaboration with Arpita Nag’s homegrown artisanal brand, Meraki Cheese.
“Just like our handcrafted coffee and chocolate, we want to showcase locally-made fresh cheese. Affinage is a cheese-centric cafe and merchandise concept where the menu revolves around the cheese we make on the premises. You can take a peek into the dairy set-up and see how the cheese is made and enjoy recipes curated using affinage cheese,” says Dipraj Das, co-founder of Craft Coffee. “What started off as a quest for the perfect cheese to pair with Craft’s specialty coffee ended up as a concept on its own. Way forward we will be having guided tasting and pairing sessions, platter arranging workshops and innovative merchandise like coffee-infused cheese to spread awareness about healthy handcrafted artisanal cheese,” adds Arpita.
Equally excited, we couldn’t wait to try what the pairing tastes like. While munching on a summery Watermelon and cucumber feta salad to cool ourselves down, the Ricotta spinach egg toast arrived at our table. Tasting best with a cascara or a sweeter, Coffee cherry tea, the toast is the perfect combination of spinach, ricotta cheese and eggs. Loaded with protein, this is a perfect choice for weight watchers. If you are looking for something light, and are a fan of single estate mellow and smooth Cold brew, opt for the Grilled halloumi with sauteed veggies. Fresh chunks of squeaky, chewy halloumi cheese grilled to perfection and served with mildly spiced pieces of exotic veggies like mushrooms, zucchinis and such, are served in a crispy, wafer-thin edible bowl.
For the mains, we couldn’t help but try the Burrata pizza. One can dig into decadence with this crispy, thin-crust pizza that has a tangy, no-fuss tomato base and fresh basil leaves, with the star of the show, a creamy, gooey Burrata cheese. When the pizza is so simple, boasting of subtle flavours, it should be paired with something simple too, like a Cascara or Americano. We washed everything down with their summer special mocktails — fruity and refreshing Cucumber mint mojito and Mango mint mojito.
Price for 2: Rs 1500+
Pictures By Anindya Saha