Best of Toronto
The Best Cheese Shops in Toronto
The Best Cheese Shops in Toronto typically look like some sort of coagulated wonderland. There are cheeses of all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours, stacked on shelves, resting in buckets, or hanging gingerly from the ceiling. Mouth watering yet? Well the staff at some of these shops can help you find exactly what you're looking for, even if you give them little beyond the vague description of, "that kind of piece-y crumbly mild kind."
Yes, if you're in the right place (and look desperate enough) you'll get it--trust me. Many of these shops also offer olive oils, crackers, deli meats and other prepared foods, and they'll help you put together the perfect combination to best experience that fine truffle brie. So whether you're looking for goat, sheep, or regular cow's milk cheese, here are some of the best cheese shops in Toronto.
Note: A previous version of this list was published on July 30, 2008. Comments below made up until June 6, 2011 are in reference to the old list. We've purposely kept the archived comments here because we believe they (mostly) add value to this topic. If you don't want to have to wade through all of them, simply hit the "sort by newest first" link at the top of the thread.
Global Cheese
Global Cheese in Kensington Market simply has one of the best selections around for very reasonable prices. The key is to get one of its friendly staff members to help you carefully craft a cheese platter, after which you can impress your friends with your impeccable, uh, borrowed cheese knowledge. More »
Cheese Boutique
Cheese Boutique has hefty rounds of every cheese imaginable, as well as lots of prepared foods to make a perfect pairing. The people here are so into cheese that they'll actually make you a multi-tiered cheese wedding cake, designed on Ripley Avenue amid hanging prosciutto and trays of olives. Check out their cheese cave. More »
International Cheese
International Cheese stocks restaurants, deli counters, and grocery stores around the city, and as anyone who has tasted its cheese can confirm, it's for very good reason. But ground zero for International Cheese is its factory store near Keele and St. Clair, where a tub of its fresh, warm ricotta is a practical must. More »
Olympic Cheese Mart
The real serious cheese-lover is devoted to the recently renovated Olympic Cheese for its collection of 400 cheeses from around the world, which includes a healthy variety of goat and sheep cheeses. In the St. Lawrence Market, Olympic Cheese Mart also offers farm fresh eggs and butter, as well as homemade dips and organic olive oils. More »
Grande Cheese Factory Outlet
Grande Cheese Factory Outlet on Orfus Road offers more than just cheese, but of course, its cheese is its specialty. Balls of fette, provolone, friulano and more hang from racks scattered throughout the store, interrupted by buckets of bocconcini and $100 bricks of parmesan. Factory outlet, indeed. More »
Alex Farm Products
Look for the blue cow. There you'll find Alex Farm, on Queen East in the Beaches, St. Lawrence Market, the Danforth, Bayview plus other locations. Alex Farm boasts over 500 varieties of cheeses including sheep, goat, and cow cheeses. The staff is quite knowledge about the merits of, say, a four-year-old gouda, and will help you to pick out perfect pairings. More »
Cheese Emporium
It's common knowledge that anything with the word "emporium" must be good. The Cheese Emporium is, of course, no exception, with two locations in Toronto; one on Eglinton East, and one on Avenue Road. Stocked with cheeses from all different regions, the fresh olive bar adds another hard-to-resist element. More »
Leslieville Cheese Market
My favourite thing about the Leslieville Cheese Market is that its second location on Queen West is still called the "Leslieville Cheese Market." Well, that and its famous grilled sandwiches. Besides picking up some fresh cheeses to work with for supper, you can also take beer and cheese classes at any of its (now three) locations. More »
Pasquale Bros
This one could definitely be considered "well-aged." Pasquale Bros has been around since 1917, originally created to give Italian immigrants a little taste of home. Now on Goodrich Avenue in Etobicoke, Pasquale offers French, Dutch, Spanish, Danish cheeses and more--but you can certainly still get your provolone piccante and ricotta salate here too. The biggest drag? The shop is closed on weekends. More »
Discussion
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I love the raw milk/washed rind cheeses as much as anyone but once made the mistake of traveling with cooler containing among other things a small wheel of L'ami du Chambertin and it's resulting pong. We ate a little of it but after three days in close quarters with the stuff we just couldn't take it anymore and had to toss it.
Cheese Magic, on the other hand, always has my "extra vecchio Piave" whereas Global doesn't carry it. They're a bit friendly and less "trying to get you through the line and to the checkout" - but seem like they smoke too much weed.
Cheese Emporium staff are like the waiters at Splendido and aren't as friendly with samples or patient when you're trying to figure out what you want.
Cheese Boutique & Olympic are working their way up to being my favourites because they actually do a lot of aging themselves. They're friendly, have a good selection and have lots of other specialty foods which is a huge plus.
Alex Farms is okay but I find they have "safe" cheeses.
I go to the Alex Farm cheese shop in the Humbertown Shopping Centre around the Kingsway area. The stuff there is always fresh, never had an issue and the service has always been great...plus they have these frozen pies and gourmet pizzas i really like.
You can always ask at your favourite cheese place. But you could try Leslieville Cheese Market and their <a href="http://leslievillecheese.com/school.php";>Night School for Cheese Fans</a>.
- I co-wrote the blogTO piece on Kensington in 2006.
http://www.blogto.com/city/2007/02/neighbourhood_watch_kensington_market_1_of_2/
- My former roommate works at a very high-end restaurant, has excellent food knowledge and buys his cheese at Global.
I also know Global tends to bait & switch, but not as described above (I've never known them to give me another kind of cheese than the one sampled). But what they will do (far-too often) is cut your sample from the tasty solid side, then load up your order with the mushy/dried/crusty/or just plain "off" side. Nothing worse than getting home and finding the snack you've anticipated the entire way is wet and blobby. So know going in that it's buyer beware.
Why do I keep going, then? Well, because Global has good cheeses at reasonable prices. I tend to buy a lot of cheese and, unfortunately, Cheese Magic's cheese tends to be a bit pricey (of course, you get what you pay for --Cheese Magic sells GREAT cheese!). Also, I go to Global because they do so much volume that they usually have a good selection, which is nice when you're in the mood for something new and tasty. So not is all lost by going to Global, you just have to hold them to account.
If you go, don't let them rush you. If the person serving you is getting impatient, let someone else serve you. When you find someone you like, always try to have them serve you. Building up a relationship with 'your cheese guy/gal' at any cheese shop will help ensure your transactions go more smoothly.
More importantly at Global, always make a point to say "400g (for example)or LESS, please". That way, if they say after cutting and weighing they say to you: "how about 450g instead of 400g?" (which they inevitably will), then you tell them "no, I only need 400g, thanks".
Also, by ordering in round numbers (100s of grams instead of fractions), you can much more easily figure out how much it costs. Unfortunately, I've also had several visits where their math was as "off" as the cheese.
Lastly, after you pay, take your cheese off to the side out of the way and review your purchases. If any of it is off, take it back immediately. Don't be a dick about it, because they'll just treat you badly later. But it only takes a few times of returning cheese before they realize you're not someone that's going to take getting scammed with sub-par cheese.
Cheers!
Cheese Boutique is the only cheese store that has an affinage (cheese aging) program... which means that you will not be offered wedges of hardened ammonia-milk (my last experience at Global), but rather cheeses in their prime...
And chefs agree... as can be seen in the Cheese Boutique's cheese cave where wheels of parm tagged by their owners (Canoe, etc) rest until taste, texture, etc are at their peak...
I've been going to Cheese Magic for 10 years now and I've never had a problem. The reason why they had a Health violation is because they weren't refrigerating certain types of cheeses. This was because you really didn't need to, but the rules now say you have to....so they had to buy all new fridges and are still amazing.
The guys at Cheese Magic are always polite, happy, and never rush you in and out. They always give you what you want and never hesitate to give you samples of cheeses you haven't tried yet.
In my opinion, Cheese Magic is #1....
Grande Cheese MUST be seen, especially if you love Mozzarella.
Alex Farms can be a bit overpriced, but you have to try their Alex Farms' Goat Cheese. It's possibly the creamiest, most delicious chevre I've ever tasted, and it's used in some of the top restaurants in the city. And it's not very expensive at all. Makes for fantastic scrambled eggs!
Leslieville's employees are the most friendly and the most knowledgeable of the stores that I've been to, and they're great at making recommendations, and keeping within your price range. And they have some of the lowest-priced Burrata I've seen in the city!
Global always overcut. They have been doing it for decades. Cheese Magic is a pretty store, but they got in trouble three years ago because they didn't refrigerate as required AND Toronto Health also cited them for selling cheese with listeria.
http://wx.toronto.ca/inter/it/newsrel.nsf/0/d5f2f1b501814167852574bf006c5ea9?OpenDocument
Global Cheese also has a shop on Norseman (by Kipling) in Etobicoke.
Limited but free parking too!
By far, best cheese shop in the city with the most superior service I've ever had in a cheese shop.
Global Cheese??? Not great.
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1. customers do call your store seeking information. It is helpful if you answer your phone some time, if for even every 5th caller,
2. Why not make it easier for your customers by posting the times of opening and closing on your website?