Where To Find The World's First Cheese Conveyor Belt Restaurant

Americans love cheese, and our devotion to the dairy product is only getting stronger. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we ate more than twice as much cheese on an average day in 2019 than in 1979, and the average American ate almost three-quarters of a cup of cheese per day on average by 2019. And, along with our steadfast love of cheese comes a plethora of fun ways to eat it. If you're on the West Coast, you can take a stroll down the California Cheese Trail, and if you're on the East Coast, you can try the award-winning Europa cheese from Arethusa Farm in Connecticut.

But venture beyond the U.S., and you'll find ways to consume your favorite dairy product that are even more thrilling. Gouda, for example, is more than just a semi-hard yellow cheese — it's a city in the Netherlands that has been the proud home of the Gouda Cheese Market since 1395. In Camden, a borough of London, you can try molten-cheese fundido and raclette at The Cheese Bar – and fairly close by, you'll find the world's first-ever cheese conveyer belt.

The people that brought you The Cheese Bar in London have five different cheese-based establishments in the city — including the world's first cheese conveyor belt restaurant. It's called Pick & Cheese, and it's located in the food hall Seven Dials Market in London's West End. Cheese aficionados and indecisive cheese lovers alike will love this novel way to consume their favorite dairy product — different British cheeses, served strategically at room temperature, make their rounds in front of diners on a conveyor belt, accompanied by a pairing like pear and cider brandy jam or lemon and rosemary shortbread.

And the only thing that could make this whole arrangement better? Pick & Cheese features bottomless plates on Wednesdays, meaning for 25 pounds (around $30) per person, you have an hour and 15 minutes to stuff your face with as much cheese as you like. The restaurant also features off-belt dishes like delectable-sounding grilled cheese sandwiches with onion, honey, and walnut, an assortment of baked cheeses, and desserts.

The idea behind the conveyor belt, as founder Mathew Carver told Food & Wine, was to encourage customers to explore new-to-them British cheeses. "The novelty of it entices people, and it gets them to try the cheeses and then actually take an interest in them," Carver explained. So the next time you're craving a innovative way to eat your charcuterie, you may want to consider making a trip across the pond.