From The Straits Times    |

marks and spencer cheese and dessert platter for christmas parties

Photography Jasper  Yu Art Direction & Styling Nikki Ho 
Ribbon Cake Plate & Cutlery Robinsons The Heeren

1. PAVE D’AFFINOIS, $10.90 (150g)
Creamier and oozier than brie, this soft-ripened cheese with both sweet and salty nuances was pure ecstasy. Drizzle on some honey and scoop it up with a spoon. 

2. RESERVE GOUDA, $10.90 (180g)
This classic Dutch cheese, with a nine-month maturity period, surprised with its lingering, sweet red wine-esque flavour.

3. RED LEICESTER, $7.50 (150g)
The carrot-hued relative of the cheddar family is sure to appeal to those who like a mature, salty heft in their cheese. It’s rough-hewn and nutty, with an oddly appealing, brackish aroma.

4. WENSLEYDALE, $10.90 (300g)
A quintessentially crumbly Wensleydale. We enjoyed the way the opening milky character slowly trailed off to reveal a subtle, yogurt-like tang.

5. MEDIUM ENGLISH CHEDDAR, $11.90 (300g)
This medium-maturity option, with a lovely earthy depth and smooth mouth-feel, was just the right compromise for the seasoned cheese lovers and newbies among us.

6. WHITE STILTON & CRANBERRY, $9.90 (200g)
The milder white stilton is like blue cheese for beginners, and this one, with pockets of sweet, dried cranberries, was more akin to a raspberry cheesecake than a conventional stinky cheese.

7. MIXED BERRY FROZEN YOGURT, $8.90 (500ml)
This treat, with its invigorating melange of strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, was a definite palate refresher. 

8. 12 MINI MACAROONS, $14.90
The best supermarket macarons – vanilla, raspberry, and Belgian chocolate – we’ve tried! They’re not sticky-sweet, and the crust had a good bite – even after all that refrigeration. 

9. LEMON & RICOTTA CHEESECAKE SLICES, $8.90 for two
The proportion of sweet versus tart was right on cue. This light cheesecake gets its citrusy chords from Sicilian lemon in the form of a glaze and slivers of candied peel. 

10. RASPBERRY & TAHITIAN VANILLA PANNA COTTA, $10.90 (2 x 130g) 
Panna cotta is an Italian dessert of sweetened cream thickened with gelatin. But the vanilla cream here wasn’t set. Instead, it was a milky, mousse-like cream that tasted excellent when mixed with the poached raspberries. 

11. STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE, $14.50 (550g)
The biscuit base suffered a little in the freezing and thawing process, but the cheesecake scored for its smoothness and the sweetness of ripe strawberries.

All items are available in the chilled and frozen food sections of the Food Hall at Marks & Spencer, #01-K2 Wheelock Place, tel: 6733-8122.