Try Ipswich's new cheese and wine experience
It's incredible value, fun, and absolutely delicious.
Cheese plays a starring role in my life (hashtag blessed). When I’m not writing about cheese, interviewing cheesemakers and mongers, judging cheese, or hosting the little monthly cheese club I’ve set up with friends at my home, I’m still (somehow) thinking about all things fromage.
So when I heard about a new cheese and wine restaurant in Ipswich, naturally my interest was piqued.
We’re rather behind on the whole cheese and grazing trend in Suffolk, I’m afraid. While bars and cafes across the country tap into the huge desire from diners for ‘picky bits’, cheese tends to remain a dessert option here. I can only think of a sparse handful of places offering non-pud cheeseboards, such as Bury St Edmunds’ fabulous Wine Cellar or The Grazing Kitchen in Newmarket.
READ MORE: Graze and enjoy incredible wine at The Wine Cellar
The prize (which I’ve completely made up on the spot) for best cheeseboard in Suffolk (after lunch/dinner) has to go to Maison Bleue, where the cheese trolley display is so dizzyingly vast it’s practically overwhelming. I could easily spend an afternoon working my way through the wrinkly-rinded, oozing, bloomy collection while Karine keeps the wine flowing!
Anyway, back to Ipswich. Cafe Myra is a much-loved lunch spot on the town’s coolest parade of shops (Saint Nicholas Street into St Peter’s Street), garnering a sizeable fan base since Lianne Willis and her partner Russell Hill opened the doors in 2019.
There was a gap, Lianne and friend Sarah Hills noticed, in the town’s night trade - and the duo of cheese fanatics just knew they had to take a leap to try something new.
What they’ve created in Cheese and Wine at Myra (open Thursday to Saturday evenings), is just simply lovely. Not only are the ladies brimming with passion for what they do, but they’ve put so many thoughtful touches into every part of this new offering. Cosy seating arrangements. Tables laid with proper cheese forks, cheese and butter knives. Curvaceous, beautiful glassware for wines. And crafty finishing details by Lianne, including handmade tealight holders and menu stands fashioned from used wine corks.
You can just tell the ladies are ‘all in’, and this is as much of a passion project as a business.
Their concept is to make excellent artisan cheeses (sourced from pro local wholesaler Hamish Johnston) as accessible as possible. The regularly changing menu features 12 cheeses, available individually (all come with crackers, plump focaccia bread made up the street, and a dollop of chutney) priced from £2.95 to £4.50, while wines are available by the glass or bottle.
Other accompaniments, such as mixed nuts, olives, sun dried tomatoes and truffle honey, can be added on for an extra cost, allowing you to, effectively, build your own dream cheeseboard.
A platter of three cheeses with three accompaniments of your choice, plus bread and crackers, is £19.25, up to nine cheeses for £35.75. Or go the whole hog and buy all 12, plus a bottle of wine, and all the accompaniments, for only £70 - perfect for cheese fanatics to share.
We tucked into the Cheese and Wine Experience, where the hard work of choosing is taken care of for you, delivering seven cheeses and seven 100ml glasses of pairing wines to the table, on a specially designed paper placemat for £40 per person.
The presentation is superb - each glass of wine sitting neatly in its place on the mat, with the cheeses (pinned with wooden labels in case you forget what they are) taking centre stage - all of them brought to room temperature so their full potential can be tasted. Note: If you’re eating cold cheese, stop immediately - it needs at least 30 minutes at room temperature to unleash its flavours.
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What’s on the board? It’ll change frequently, but for now, you’ll get the following:
Rosary Ash - a tangy, smooth goats’ cheese, paired with rose wine brimming with notes of strawberry and raspberry.
Bleu D’Auvergne - one of the most exquisite French blue cheeses, with a punch of salt, and a deep, spicy finish. Matched nicely with a Pinot Gris giving over sherbet, creamy lemon and a hint of melon.
Brie de Meaux - supple, luscious and melting, with earthiness, a mushroomy twang, and little hints of freshly shelled nuts. Arrives with an unoaked, vanillary Chardonnay which picks up on the sweetness of the milk.
Wild Garlic Yarg - did you know ‘yarg’ is the cheese creator’s name spelled backwards? Now you do! This is such a simple cheese - quite milky, soft towards the middle and chalkier at the edges - made amazing by wrapping in wild garlic leaf. Wonderful with the ladies’ match of sherbetty Sauvignon Blanc.
Red Wine Farmer - you might not have seen this before. The silky Alpine style is washed in (you guessed it) red wine, and has a strong bite and long finish. It could be a new favourite if you’re into tongue-tingling Cheddars. It’s matched here with a soft, plummy, vanilla-forward organic Primitivo.
Taleggio - a dazzlingly good Italian washed-rind cheese with layer upon layer of complexity. We loved the blackcurrant filled Valpolicella matched with it.
Truffle Gouda - this is not a shy cheese. It tickles all the right taste buds with its deeply savoury flavour, enhanced by the boskiness and woodland notes of real truffle. Served with a tannic Bordeaux.
Portions were absolutely ample (enough for the greedy) and every cheese served at the peak of perfection.
Also on the current menu are an exceptional Cropwell Bishop Stilton, Keen’s unbeatable Extra Mature Cheddar (do go seek this out if you’re a Cheddar fan, it is remarkable), herbaceous Sage Derby, Petit Reblochon, and bolshy British Alpine style cheese, Smoked Lincolnshire Poacher.
Lianne and Sarah are really onto something here. It’s casual and calm. They are a marvellous double act. And no stone has been left unturned in conjuring an experience that leaves an impression.
If beer is more your thing, you’re welcome to buy from Hopsters next door and bring a few bottles with you, or you can even buy a cheeseboard to take into Hopsters if you like - a nice bit of neighbourly collaboration there.
Takeaways are available, including a picnic option with a blanket, wine and glasses. And orders can be taken for hampers.
Look out as well for themed events coming up. Portuguese wine is the next one, on July 24, followed by British cheese and Port, and probably even a vegan cheese night.
Cheese and Wine at Myra is open from 5pm to 10pm on Thursdays and until 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Drop them a line on socials to book a table.
