Behind the counter at Hong Kong's first cheese omakase

South China Morning Post

6 days ago

Almost everyone in Hong Kong knows Laughing Cow: the grinning red cow on a round blue-and-white box, packed with foil-wrapped triangles of soft, tangy cheese with an unmistakably artificial plastic sheen. Surprisingly, it's also beloved in France, the land of strict appellations and strong opinions on dairy.
For
Jeremy Evrard , owner of the much-buzzed-about cheese omakase
Roucou , that was where the obsession started. 'My mother would buy La Vache qui rit at the supermarket. I always kept the label. I've been fascinated by those red cows,' he says. Why? He shrugs: 'When you're a kid, you just do things.' What began as a casual habit became a collection of more than 1,000 cheese labels, the oldest dating back to the 1930s.
Jeremy Evrard has more than 1,000 cheese labels, with the oldest dating back to the 1930s. Photo: Jocelyn Tam
'It's just a thing I started. And then it became, 'No, no! Stop!'' He throws his hands up, laughing. 'They just kept coming and I didn't know what to do.' Being friends with a cheesemaker helps. One such friend named Jean François started saving labels for him once he caught wind of the collection. 'It spiralled from there.'
Evrard is a self-described 'cheese freak'. 'I grew up with this dairy obsession. I don't know why. My parents aren't in the business. My mother is the worst cook ever,' he chuckles. 'She wouldn't mind me saying it – it's true.'
He calls his love of cheese 'self-built'. Instead of visiting vineyards when he was old enough to drink, he would visit dairy farms. Even so, young Jeremy couldn't have guessed where his love of cheese, and its packaging, would eventually lead him.
A sushi roll with organic Camembert at Roucou. Photo: courtesy Roucou