By Amy Looker
The transformation of Sydney’s Enmore Road into a leading drinking and dining destination continues with the opening of The Stinking Bishops.
Named after the UK’s smelliest cheese, the newly opened cheese and wine bar meets deli has seen inner-westies flocking to it in search of a wide range of cheeses, cured meats, and artisan breads along with a carefully selected range of wines and whiskies.
Co-owners Kieran Day and Jamie Nimmo have created a unique venue that also has a strong retail focus, where visitors can choose to dine in with a bottle of wine or consult with staff to select a goodie bag of cheeses to take away.
Day, who used to chef at Redfern’s Eathouse Diner, says that the duo chose the booming Enmore Road precinct as they saw an opening for a venue that kept its focus on cheese and wine.
“Cheese and wine are king and queen at The Stinking Bishops… they rule our menu. Our aim is to serve good, simple food with a focus on cheese and top quality service. We believe in creating an experience and educating people about our products,” Day told TheShout.
“There was nothing like this on offer on Enmore Road. We feel like we have filled a void in the food scene in the local area and our guests can expect a cracking good time, friendly faces, and great products.”
Nimmo said that considerable time and effort was put into striking the right balance across The Stinking Bishops’ drinks list.
“We worked with our wine distributor to put together a list of flexible, smooth, easy-drinking wines – wines that aren’t hard work – that go well with a wide variety of cheeses,” he told TheShout.
“The whisky is also really interesting for us. We’ve got some Scottish unpasteurised cheese that goes really well with whiskies because the cheese itself is quite peaty and is a good match to a Highland whisky. For example, our smoked cheddar is a great match for the Dalmore, with the cheese itself adding peat to the whisky.”
Nimmo said the team plans to introduce tasting paddles and flights for beer, wine and whisky down the track.
“We’ve got lots more taste testing coming up. We’re focusing on bringing the cultural integration between alcohol and food together, trying to have them play with each other,” he said.
“We plan our menu so that we can offer a wide range of cheeses and a wide range of wines and not be too locked into ‘well, this goes with this, and this goes with that’. It’s about having an open menu where guests can choose particular types of cheeses, wines, beers and whiskies that will pair with well and also allows them to explore different options.”
Enmore Road has seen a major boom to its bar and dining scene in recent years thanks to the likes of Hartsyard, The Midnight Special and nearby Young Henry’s brewery.