Milk the Cow

Owner Daniel Verheyen, doesn’t want people to be restricted to the standard brie, cheddar and blue you so often find on cheese plates. Milk the Cow offers between 150–180 local and imported cheeses and advice from expert cheesemonger Laura Lown, who has worked at Paxton & Whitfield in London (which supplies cheese to the Queen).

The St Kilda location (next door to Luxembourg Bar & Bistro) has a communal table and outdoor seating. The smart room is designed by Zwei Interiors to create a country feel with lampshades made from milkers (usually fixed to a cow’s udder), an imitation grass wall and touches of recycled dairy equipment. The main attraction, though is the four-metre cheese cabinet along the front counter.

In the more recently opened Carlton store, the cheese cabinet (five metres) is also the focus and the design carries over the electric milking chandeliers. But the north-side store features grass-green banquets more timber, copper and hanging bench swings usually reserved for patios. There is also a second storey. Upstairs seats 40 people, while another 20 can order cheese flights matched with wine, beer, cider, sparkling, whisky or sake outside. It’s a perfect way of finding combinations you like.

But the true appeal of Milk the Cow is the operating hours – it’s open until 1am five nights a week.