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Raclette flows Mookata
Raclette cheese, a semi-hard cow's milk cheese, which is commonly used melted in fondue as well as poured over food, is undergoing a revival of sorts here.
Produced in the Alpine regions in France and Switzerland, this cheese is known for its nutty flavour and creamy texture.
It usually comes in wheel-shaped blocks with a thin orange-brown rind. When heated, the soft centre melts and is scraped off onto food.
For years, eateries such as Wine Connection Cheese Bar in Robertson Quay and Cafe Gavroche in Tras Street have been offering it with cold cuts and potatoes.
Now, the cheese has found its way to a coffee shop stall, The Western Co, which is serving dishes such as Hawaiian Raclette Chicken ($13.90) and Crazy Hawaiian Raclette Burger ($13.90).
The Western Co is in Fusion Food Dynasty coffeeshop in Foch Road.
Both dishes feature melted raclette cheese atop a slab of grilled chicken thigh covered with tomato puree and pineapple chunks.
An alternative Swiss cheese, Appenzeller, which is spicier and more pungent, is also used.
The cheesy offerings have been attracting hour-long queues.
Stall owner Larissa Yang, 23, says she sells about 300 servings of raclette-topped dishes daily. When The Sunday Times visited the stall last Thursday, it had run out of raclette cheese and was serving smoked applewood cheese (above) instead.
Ms Yang, a former cafe owner, got the idea of serving raclette cheese from the fondue she ate while studying for a hospitality degree in Montreux, Switzerland, a few years ago.
She also plans to serve raclette cheese with cold cuts and baked potatoes in the next two months.
"By selling dishes with raclette cheese in a coffee shop, I can give diners a sample of expensive cheeses that restaurants charge a premium for."
She adds that customers have been asking to shoot photos and videos of her scraping the cheese.
She spends more than $200 a month buying these cheeses directly from Swiss cheese farms as well as through a Singapore distributor.
Unable to get your hands on a raclette cheese-covered dish at The Western Co? Do not fret.
Supermarket chain Cold Storage will be selling melted raclette cheese over ham or pasta at the cheese counter at its Great World City outlet from Sept 23 to 25. Each serving will cost $9.
It first sold these dishes at the Great World City outlet in July and at its gourmet event Flavours of the World, which was held at Plaza Singapura from July 26 to Aug 7.
More than 20kg of raclette cheese was sold during the event.
Other melted cheeses that will be showcased at the Great World City outlet are gruyere from Switzerland, gouda from the Netherlands, cheddar from the United States and comte from France.