Look at the smiles!
The Stinking Bishops in Newtown is my happy place. Not only do they offer more than 40 of the world’s best cheeses, but they are also some of the nicest guys in the business. Kieran Day and Jamie Nimmo who own and run The Stinking Bishops, work together like wine and cheese, a restaurant match made in heaven.
Kieran was a chef with big ideas and his good friend Jamie was looking for a career change from the film industry. Jamie's design ability and Kieran's know how in the kitchen, combined with their solid business minds, saw The Stinking Bishops born. They have been catering for cheese lovers' needs for over two years now.
The Stinking Bishops offer great food at a great price. There are great menu choices for under $20. I couldn't go past their Pork Terrine with sweet apple pickle $18 and a glass of our 2015 La Tunella Pinot Grigio. A classic dish executed perfectly.
'Mr Crispy' is the Stinking Bishops’ famous toasted sandwich for a mere $11. We chose the smoked wagyu beef version with gruyere, house pickles and horseradish mayo, on local Brickfields bakery sourdough. If I lived in Newtown I would be walking through the door daily at 12pm for this.
Their smoked ocean trout on Irish potato bread with alfalfa sprouts $23 is another winner. The Irish flat bread is made like gnocchi, topped with lightly smoked flakes of salmon and a sour cream. The salmon was also a good match with the pinot grigio. The
2015 La Tunella Pinot Grigio is a very versatile food wine. It is a great wine to order with friends when you are sharing many dishes together as it will hold its own against a variety of flavours.
Mac 'n' cheese'n' pumpkin $24 is pure comfort food and much fancier than my childhood memories. This version is much improved with sublime Scamorza, (a mozzarella style cheese) sage, pepitas and dukkah.
How could we not finish with cheese? Kieran made a plate up for us with Camembert Fermier (delicious creamy cheese), Epoisses Coupe Perriere (Smelly washed rind), Gorgonzola Dolce (Stinky blue creamy delight) and my favourite Truffle Pecorino (hard sheep's milk with truffle) served with a walnut and fig roulade and muscatels. Life is good...
We had a glass of the 2013 La Tunella Verduzzo with our cheese. Verduzzo is a varietal native to Friuli, the Verduzzo grapes are allowed to raisin naturally on the vine to concentrate the sugars and aromas. The wine rests in barriques for more than a year resulting in delicate honey and vanilla notes. The palate is sweet and robust with a slight tannin component, typical of the variety. It is the perfect way to finish off a meal.
You can find the Stinking Bishops on Enmore Rd, Newtown, open for lunch from Thursday - Sunday and Dinner Tuesday - Saturday. It’s great for a casual lunch or dinner, or just a bottle of fabulous wine (make it Italian!) with a cheese plate.
Special thanks to my talented lunch companion, Ann Ouchterlony, who casually took all these gorgeous photos on an iPhone. Can you believe it?
A Chent'annos
Rachel x
