Hunter Valley Smelly Cheese Shop

I had read about the cheese shop and dreamed of walking to it from my room across the way, to enter this quaint place with exquisite cheeses and accompaniments and i got there… and… boy! was i set straight. :(
The location BLOWS!!! looking for quaint Napa-​style tasting? …um, this ain’t it. think Mallrats. As others have stated and I said with my Tempus Two review — every bus tour stops at this large complex of boutique shops and eateries with tables outside. it’s not very kept. i saw no custodians or staff bussing tables or the like. other visitors were sloppy, so there were napkins flying everywhere and every table was dirty.
As for the cheese shop– it’s the closest door to the parking lot and it was BUSY.
There’s one way in and one way out and it was a disaster trying to get around the place.
They had every cheese under the sun and it smelled divine– but the walkways were riddled with tourist fare (cheese boards, knives, stuff) made in China — found very few «made in Australia» goods. the queuing system was absurd.
the guys who took our order was nice. he was tasked with managing the deli counter AND the register — and kept his cool. i had a turkey and cheese baguette — just two slices of cheese (um, cheese shop?) — which was delivered on the spot. my husband had a baked Camembert plate (cheese and bread only — no fruit?) it took them 20 minutes to get it to him. he didn’t know what to do with the large wooden cheese board when he was through — so we left it on someone else’s messy table — to help whomever came over to clean it up — if they ever did.
Smelly Cheese shop seems to have a large selection, but we couldn’t really experience it properly. Disappointing. Maybe if it wasn’t so busy, it would have been a better. i’ll try again next time i visit.
date of visit: 12÷29÷14
p. s. Pics from Mic i marked not helpful, because they appear to be an old location. the one posted by Amy is the new location. imagine it full of people… there ya go. now you got it. ;)

Ok, so reading through the other reviews I don’t completely agree with what others are saying. Just to sum it up in a few points.
Over priced — Yes!
Crowded — Yes!
Good cheese — Yes!
Would I come here again — Yes!
I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to someone that comes to the hunter and doesn’t visit this store. It’s just one of those places you have to try.
The staff are helpful and I got to taste test all the cheese I wanted to buy (about 5 different kinds) you just need to ask.
They have some great oils that you can try also. Only issue is it’s extremely pricey, but that’s a given with any good gourmet food.
My friend and I just grabbed different types of cheese, fresh baguette, prosciutto and had a lovely lunch picnic.

Cheese you may like but like most «targeted-​at-​tourists» spots along this stretch of the Hunter Valley it is a fairly average offering of cheese, generalised deli items and gelato. Cabinets are stocked with a variety of cheeses from blues, bries and hunter valley cheddars. In case you missed the signs at the door, they also stock the cheese of a couple apparently recently on a Channel 7 reality cooking program. It’s not as special an experience that you might think but where the location of this store does come in handy is if you were acquiring cheeses for your stay in the Hunter or a nearby weekend picnic.
There’s some sampling opportunities but as other reviewers have noted, it does get quite packed in this small space. For a much calmer and spacious cheese shopping experience I’d suggest driving a few hundred metres up the road to their Tempus Two location.

Over crowded… can barely even get to the counter to speak to the staff. No samples left to try when we walked in and I could see that even if there were samples they would have been 3 varieties of blue. How about something different? They don’t even let you sample flavours of gelato when you are planning to buy some. I’ve never been to a place that served gelato that doesn’t offer samples. Didn’t buy anything here. Instead went to the much nicer Hunter Valley Cheese Factory, tried a variety of delicious cheeses, jams, oils and spreads and bought several things.

Event after eating and drinking heaps, there’s always room for cheese. We came here and there was an array of cheeses to choose from. We tried some of the blue cheeses, which were yummy but a bit strong. They were offering a feta tasting and after trying the sun dried tomato feta, I had to buy it! Luckily it’ll last up to three months after opening.