This weekend, Mathew Carver, founder of London’s cult cheese restaurants and champion of British Cheese, will open Funk, his first cheese and wine shop on Columbia Road in E2.
From tomorrow, Funk’s doors will be thrown open and shoppers invited to browse a selection of over 30 of Mathew’s hand selected cheeses from small producers across the country. Household favourites such as Tunworth, Quickes Mature Cheddar and Baron Bigod will make up a core range of cheeses with a number of seasonal specials and one-off collaborator cheeses available week on week.
Opening weekend will see Funk debut a number of exclusive cheeses including a Cream Sherry Washed Waterloo from Village Maid and Holbrook; a new raw goat’s milk cheese from the producers of St James. Produced during lockdown and born out of necessity to avoid gallons of milk going to waste, the cheese has transformed into a truly delicious product similar to Manchego.
To accompany the above selection of cheeses, Funk will also stock a number of cheeseboard essentials including Crown & Queue charcuterie, Rosebud Preserves and Miller’s Damsel Crackers. The shop will also feature a seasonally rotating line-up of over 30 low intervention wines, ciders and beers from The Kernel Brewery in Bermondsey, each of which have been selected to compliment customers cheeses of choice.
For those looking for a ready-made cheeseboard, Funk will be curating a number of mixed cheese boxes available for collection or delivery. The ‘Home Boy’, enough cheese for a social bubble to indulge in, includes a range of significantly different cheeses to ensure there is something for everyone.
A festive edition, the ‘Santa Baby’, will be available from 1 November and pulls together a selection of real Christmas classics including Westcombe Cheddar and Cropwell Bishop Stilton alongside jars of Rosebud Piccalilli and pickled onions.
Carver said, ‘After the incredible success of our lockdown cheese deliveries and the amazing support our customers showed for British Cheese, we knew we wanted to find a way to keep our retail cheese sales alive and a cheese shop felt like the perfect next step.
'It has always been our mission to show people just how great British cheese can be and make it as accessible and fun as possible, Funk isn’t going to be just another cheese shop, it’s a chance for people to ask questions, try something new and discover what British cheese is all about.”
