Islington Gourmet Cheese Shop: Saturday Cheddar Before Noon

Essex Road runs north out of Islington with a hardware shop, a pub and a bus lane on it, which is why the green shopfront at 107 Essex Road, London N1 2SL, still feels like a discovery. Neal's Yard Dairy opens this branch at ten from Wednesday to Friday, at nine on Saturday, and at ten on Sunday, and it stays shut on Monday and Tuesday.

The room is narrow and the counter runs most of its length. Behind it sit whole cloth-bound cheddars, a Stilton or two, and a run of soft and blue cheeses that changes with the season. Staff will hand you a sliver on the point of a knife before you commit, and they will tell you which cheese in the case is drinking well this week. Card payment is the only option, and there is a ramp at the entrance.

What separates this shop from a deli counter is the trimming. Cheeses arrive as whole wheels or large pieces and are cut down on site, so a wedge keeps the shape and rind it had inside the wheel. Ask for a cut from a fresh face and you will notice the difference by the time you unwrap it at home. The same applies to the blues: a Stilton cut from the middle of a wheel tastes nuttier than one taken from the outer edge, and the counter will happily take a piece from either.

The company was founded in 1979 by Randolph Hodgson, who joined a cluster of food businesses in a then-derelict corner of Covent Garden and started with Greek-style yoghurt, creme fraiche and a couple of cheeses. Visits to cheesemakers turned into a trade, and the same instinct runs the buying today: from roughly 40 cheesemakers across Britain and Ireland, individual batches are tasted and only the ones that show character make it back to the maturation arches.

That is why the counter can feel opinionated. Some years a dairy makes hundreds of batches of one cheese and only a fraction is bought. Ask why a particular cheddar is not in stock and the answer is usually about that season's make rather than a supply problem.

Montgomery's Cheddar, aged 24 months, costs £9.40 for 250g or £17.70 for 500g, and it is the benchmark against which the other cheddars in the shop get judged. Westcombe Cheddar is the everyday option at £7.65 for 250g. Colston Bassett Stilton starts at £12.45 for the smallest piece, and Gorwydd Caerphilly is £11.05 for a piece of about 215g.

If you only buy one thing, buy the Montgomery's and eat it at room temperature with an apple. Two cheeses make a better board than three, and a blue plus a hard cheddar covers most appetites without a third wedge drying out in the fridge.

Almost everything here is priced by weight, which makes a rough plan useful before you reach the counter. Eight people at a drinks party need about 800g in total, so two cheeses at 400g each will do it. A family lunch for four needs less: 250g of the Montgomery's, a piece of blue half that size, and something soft to spread. Say the weights out loud and let the cheesemonger cut close to them; nobody minds trimming a piece back.

Storage is the other thing worth asking about. Cloth-bound cheddar prefers the salad drawer and a loose wrap, blue cheese should be kept apart from everything else, and a soft cheese is best eaten within a few days of purchase. The staff will write the cut date on the paper if you ask.

Saturday is the only day this branch opens before ten, and that extra hour is the best of the week: the counter is set, the bread delivery from neighbouring shops has landed, and there is room to ask questions without a queue at your back. Come at nine, buy the cheese, then walk south to Camden Passage before the antique stalls fill up.

Sunday is the shortest day of the week here, running from ten until five. Wednesday to Friday afternoons are calmer than Saturday but the selection is the same, and a weekday visit gives you time to talk through a board for a specific number of people.

A workable Saturday route: cheese at nine, coffee on the way to Camden Passage, then the antiques arcades while the market is still quiet. Bring a cotton bag; a 500g wedge plus a piece of Caerphilly is heavier than it looks, and the shop has moved away from plastic bags entirely, which is worth knowing if you arrive empty-handed.

Turn left out of the shop and Islington Green is five minutes away, with Upper Street running south from it and Camden Passage tucked behind. Go the other way and you can reach the Regent's Canal towpath at Angel in about twelve minutes, then follow the water east towards Hackney or west towards King's Cross. Both routes are flat, and the canal one gives you somewhere to sit with a bag of cheese and a loaf.

Neal's Yard Dairy Islington, 107 Essex Road, London N1 2SL. Hours: Monday closed; Tuesday closed; Wednesday 10am to 6pm; Thursday 10am to 6pm; Friday 10am to 6pm; Saturday 9am to 6pm; Sunday 10am to 5pm. Card payment only. The nearest station is Essex Road, with Angel about ten minutes on foot.

Monday and Tuesday are dead days here, so plan around them rather than turning up hopeful. Neal's Yard Dairy's Borough Market shop on Park Street trades Monday to Friday from nine, which covers both closed days. For a sit-down plate instead of a wedge, the pubs along Upper Street are the obvious fallback.