in search of halloumi cheese

food

I like nearly all cheese, and grilled halloumi is one of my favourites. Berlin has a large Turkish community, and when we were staying in the middle of it in Kreutzberg the other month, we bought three packs of halloumi for five euros from one of the local Turkish food shops. It's a little more expensive in Texas.

This place could not be more different than the little Turkish shop in Kreutzberg. It is so vast it even has its own classroom. The website explains their ethos thus:

Remember what it was like to visit Grandma's and walk into her kitchen?

Um, yes, but to be honest, my grandma's kitchen was more of a tiny overflowing place than an aircraft-hangar-sized showroom for All The Poshest Food In The World. While in search of halloumi, possibly for making this Nigella Lawson recipe, we helped ourselves to of the free cheese sample of the day. I only had a tiny crumb because it was solid old cheese that looked like dark Parmesan, so I thought it would be very strong.

Ten minutes later, I couldn't stop thinking about the cheese. It was five-year-old aged Gouda, which doesn't sound very impressive, but it was so deep and mysterious I think it was made in the Brothers' Grimm fairytale woods, around the time of Cinderella. Bought some of that, and some other exotic foreign fare as well: a baguette, some Italian cheese, an empty cigar box for putting things in, and a curly-wurly. Which is a bit like an American going to Fortnum and Mason and buying a Twinkie bar. Although I bet you can actually do that, at least in Selfridges or Harvey Nicks.

Some time ago, an American beer company decided to call itself by the same name as a Czeck beer company which had the name first. When the Czeck company tried to reclaim their name, they failed. Ever since then they have been called Budvar- the original Budweiser in Europe. But in America, as I know since seeing it yesterday in the fancy shop, they go by the dreadful name Czeckvar. Bought some of that too.

Which concludes my shopping journal. There is no food better than absolutely brilliant bread with absolutely brilliant cheese and maybe an apple. I can't believe how easy it is in life these days to eat like a king. Best supper I've had since the last one. Amazing.