This popular South Melbourne Market deli has been lovingly watched over for 33 years by owner and head cheese expert Maria Totos.
The impressive walk-in cellar has rustic wooden shelves stacked high with some 200 cheese varieties. Totos is particularly proud of her flavoured collection: the Wisconsin-based Sartori BellaVitano, for instance, soak or rub their rinds with ingredients like coffee or merlot, which create surprisingly complementary flavours.
But Maria's greatest dairy achievement is one of her own creation: a sweet, pungent chocolate blue that she prepares from her own secret dry-rub cocoa recipe. The flavour is bold and savoury with a hint of sweetness from the chocolate. The deli also sells a slew of store-made products and antipasto. Expect queues.