I’m going Keto again and in search of great cheese. Love French, Italian, and American varieties. What shops have you found that have a good selection of foreign cheeses at a “reasonable” price?
**Places I’ve looked:**
* Kichijoji: Found a foreign foods shop, but small sizes and high prices (10x California for cheddar).
* Suginami-ku: Local places had limited selections and low-quality options (bag cheeses).
**Recommendations from housemates:**
* https://shop.fermier.co.jp/ (mentioned by a French resident)
* [https://thecheeseguyinokinawa.com/](https://thecheeseguyinokinawa.com/) (someone who bought from the shop in Okinawa)
Open to online shopping, but prefer buying from physical shops.
**No Costco membership.**
Help appreciated!
9 comments
fromages.com does international delivery I believe.
Last time I checked the prices weren’t too different to what you find in France, but I’ve ordered so no clue about the delivery fees.
I was actually suggested this website by a colleague who mentioned that she gets a few people together, do a bulk order and split the delivery fees.
Do not overlook this woman creating original cheeses out on the Izu Peninsula, [Fromage Sen](https://fromage-sen.com/). Check out the video on her site.
Reasonably priced foreign cheeses can be found at one of the many branches of either the Kaldi or Seijo Ishi chains.
For superb cheese at high prices go to Cheese Okoku at Isetan Shinjuku, Marui Ginza, etc. They really know a lot about cheese.
Check out the food stores in the basements of nearby department stores. Not sure how they go price wise these days but Daimaru Sapporo has a really good cheese store in their basement. I’d be surprised if this wasn’t common in their stores throughout the country..
And while you said you don’t like internet shopping – these guys make good cheese – https://www.niseko-cheese.co.jp/
I remember one while strolling around with an ex somewhere between 学芸大学 and 祐天寺.
Good luck huntin’
Make a friend at one of the US bases (probably Yokota, not too terribly far from the parts of Tokyo you’ve mentioned, maybe another 1/2 hour further out the Chuo/Ome line) and have them do some shopping for you. Might not be a full gourmet range or anything, but there’s much more variety than most Japanese grocery stores and you can get brick 5x the size of that available off base for 1/3 the price.
Don’t quote me exactly on those price estimations, by holy balls is cheese expensive in Japan. Tiny little sliver of cheddar for the price of a full brick of the stuff back in the US.
I think I saw a nice looking cheese counter in the Ginza Matsuya depachika if my memory serves. It seems to have a lot of options, but I’m 1) just passing by and 2) not knowledgeable about cheese. As for the price, since it’s in a dept store it’s probably more premium side but it might be worth checking out.
I usually break up the block and freeze it, but I like hanamasa cheeses, price isn’t bad if you can deal with the amount
They don’t have anything too exotic, but for ‘basic’ foreign cheeses Seijo Ishii is a pretty good price point by Japan standards and the stores are also all over Tokyo.