October 25, 2013

La Maison Du Fromage - La Casa del Queso, Quito

Last Saturday Mr. J and I went to "La Maison du Fromage" to a cheese and artisan beer tasting. We weren't sure what to expect. Beer (and not wine) with cheese? We were pleasantly surprised. We tried 6 different kinds of beers, each one with a different plate containing 3 different cheeses, a salty side, and a small dessert. 


Here's the first beer: a Pale Ale. 



This plate had (from left to right) mozzarella, "Cabri"a type of goat cheese, and camembert. The sides were brochettes of mozzarella and cherry tomatoes in a basil sauce & a ricotta cheesecake. 


My favorite was the brochette. It was so fresh and tasty!


The second beer was a Tripel. Im no beer expert so I really don't know if that name is in spanish, english or in some other language. 


It came with what seemed to be a type of cheddar cheese seasoned with parsley and basil (hence its green color), cream goat cheese with 3 different types of pepper, and a goat "tomme". The sides were ravioli in blue cheese sauce and an apple pie and cream cheese strudel. The ravioli were just heavenly! 

Here's a close up:


The third beer was an Abbey Ale. 



The plate they combined it with had a herb cream cheese (rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme), parmesan cheese, and camembert seasoned with sesame. The sides were a salmon and cream cheese pie (fantastic!) and a coffee cake. 


By this point we were getting pretty full, but two plates were yet to come so we made space. 
They gave us no name for the fourth beer, just explained its style comes from English origins. 


The names of these cheeses are hard to translate. One is called "pardo", the second one "andino" and the third is smoked provolone. The salty side was a baguette bread brochette with gouda cheese, dried tomato and artisan mustard. So delicious! The sweet side was a cheesecake with a caramel sauce dripped on top. The cheesecake was J's favorite, because it "tastes like Argentina". 



The fifth beer! Goodness. This one was of belgian origins. 


I was only able to eat bits and pieces of this plate. This one had 'Cabri', a "pardo", and blue cheese. The sides were a quiche and a traditional ecuadorian dessert, figs and cheese. 



The whole time we were there, a piano and violin duet played some of my favorites: 'Fly me to the Moon', and 'Volare'. It was such a lovely afternoon. 

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