Anthony Femia is one of the biggest names in Melbourne’s fromage entourage. (We actually can’t take credit for that label – that was him.) He’s the man behind Prahran Market’s Maker and Monger, a market staple that started life as a food cart and opened as a permanent stall in 2019, and has now become one of the city’s most influential and exciting cheesemongers.
Femia’s shop – or, as he calls it, “the Chapel of Cheese” – is known for an array of epic cheese toasties (think Swiss raclette and mozzarella with roast potatoes and dehydrated mushrooms, and pimento grilled cheese), the best in local fromage, and cheese and other dairy he airfreights in from France and Italy.
It’s getting cold outside, so we asked the turophile to answer some of our cheesiest questions. A gouda (and extremely informative) chat ensued.
You’re about to host an epic toastie series with guest chef collaborators. Can you tell us how these collaborations came about and what people can expect?
This is going to be a lot of fun! We are lucky to have some of Melbourne’s incredibly talented chefs as friends who love our cheese and toasties, and I wanted their help to give our guests something special. Each weekend through August and into September we will have a different toastie. To give you a little sneak peek, Diana Chan is rolling out a delicious little number inspired by her famous Singapore chilli mud crab recipe.
Since I love collecting knick-knacks as much as the next person, I thought why not create a selection of trading cards of each chef for everyone to collect. Think Upper Deck Basketball card style with epic portraits from Kristoffer Paulsen, faded to look like the retro cards of yesteryear with something quirky on the back about each person you may not know. Sports stars get cards, why not these chefs?
If you could do a toastie collaboration with anyone, who would it be and what would the toastie be?
Stanley Tucci! We’d reimagine the Timpano from…
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