Cheese Secrets

One thing that I noticed while vacationing in Niagara-​on-​the-​Lake were the picnicing people. There were picnic people everywhere, sitting at the park, with bottles of wine or beer, enjoying the weather, company of loved ones and of course delicious treats. Of course, all the other picnic people made ME want to me a picnic person too, and while on vacation why NOT be a «ween» picnic person {translation: wine and cheese}. Thus, a stop in at Cheese Secrets was mandatory to pick-​up all the picnic supply needs. I highly recommend taking the time to stop in at Cheese Secrets and the LCBO (liquor/​wine/​beer store) for the perfect picnic.
Cheese Secrets has all your picnic needs: cheese (obvious), meats/​charcuterie, preserves, pickled jams and baguettes/​crackers. Throw in some fresh fruit from one of the local side-​street markets on the way into town and you’re set. Simcoe Park makes for the perfect spot to set up your picnic, or of course the Lake-​front park down the street. I highly recommend the sweet pepper relish and fig jam as well as the caramelized onion cheddar, blue cheese and a brie cheese. Grab some baguettes and you’ll have yourself a party in no time. On top of the delicious treats, the staff at Cheese Secrets are incredibly friendly and helpful. They are true cheese artisans and can truly help you for any ween picnic needs!

love love love cheese! The world needs more cheese stores! I loved the variety of unique Canadian cheeses and the clerks seemed quite knowledgeable and shared their opinions and offered suggestions. I did not know one could taste until I saw others doing it and invited myself into it. (They might do a better job of letting all who enter know – it is what made the sale for me.) I loved the douanier, a soft cheese split by a row of vegetable ash – with morning milk cheese on the top and afternoon milk cheese on the bottom. Anyone who knows cheese knows it’s expensive so am surprised at some comments on Unilocal. They don’t sell smaller than 100 km and I would’ve liked 50 km of several so they did lose money on me by this practice.
I would’ve loved to bring some syrups or marmalades home but there were no tastes in a 3.4 oz jar or smaller for carry-​on. They had many lovely cheese-​related items from containers to serving utensils. Their high quality fresh local artisanal cheeses were the calling card. It was a delightful store and fun learning lesson.

This is a quaint little shop just off of the main street. We were putting together a picnic lunch and wanted to stop in here and pick up some cheeses. I was really impressed with the varieties they offered. The fact that many of them were local cheese was even better.
I practically fainted when I saw that Cheese Secrets had «Red Dragon» cheese. Definitely my favorite.
They staff were friendly and knowledgeable about their product and allowed tasting. My criticism is that all of that cheese added up very quickly. I had a bit of shell shock at the register when I saw my total.
Thanks Cheese Secrets. I’ll return next time I’m in town.

Wow, what a great experience! I enjoyed shopping at this store so much… the owners are not just knowledgeable about their products but just seem genuinely joyful to be in the cheese business. I love shopping at a business like this.
The selection was great and really the only downside was that I couldn’t possibly justify buying all the cheeses that I wanted to take home after sampling.
I will be sending friends and family!

Admittedly, there is a limited selection, but would you rather choose from hundreds of mediocre cheeses or a few really good ones? The owners, Eugene and Colleen Johnson, are cheese enthusiasts and it really shows. I really enoy their focus on Canadian/​locally produced artisanal cheeses and cured meats.
We choose the LeSoeur Angele and the Douanier, both of which were products of Quebec. They were both great with baguette…

There are really no good places to get cheese anywhere around this area in Canada. Cheese Secrets has knowledgeable staff who let you taste anything before you buy. They are not pushy and have some pretty good cheese. Compared to other cheese shops, it’s not the best. Their selection is limited, but then again, they are the only shop in the area so I will take what I can get.

I’ll be honest — I expected more from an artisan cheese shop that Bön Appetit deemed interesting enough to list in their profile of Niagara-​on-​the-​Lake (June 2009 issue). I think I’m also quite spoiled from having access to the cheese counters at Zingerman’s (Ann Arbor, MI), Cheesetique (Alexandria, VA), and Cowgirl Creamery (Washington, DC) over the last few years. So take my review with those grains of salt.
I was excited to try raw milk cheeses, as we have extremely limited access to them in the States. I was also interested in learning more about Canadian cheeses, as we don’t tend to get many of them where we live either. And I guess I expect that purveyors of artisanal products will be knowledgeable about said products and interested in selling hungry customers on their merits.
Unfortunately, the cheesemongers at Cheese Secrets didn’t seem particularly interested in talking to us about their wares, though they did offer samples when requested. When we asked about the cheeses we were sampling, we were told the names of the cheese. We can read the labels, thanks.
This was our first trip to the Niagara region, so I really can’t say how Cheese Secrets compares with other cheese shops in the area. Their prices seemed expensive compared with the other cheese shops I’ve mentioned — and those are in major US metro areas (or are just known for their high prices). We tried a few things we liked, but left without buying anything, and wouldn’t go out of our way to visit again.