Port Perry Cheese Shop: The Port Cheese Co Spotlight

If you are looking for a Port Perry cheese shop that turns a simple errand into a small experience, start at The Port Cheese Co at 203 Queen St. This family-run specialty cheese shop, wine bar and café carries more than 100 local and international cheeses, and pairs them with charcuterie boards, gourmet grilled cheese, soups and a curated wine list. It is the second feature in our weekly Community Spotlight series, and it sits just a few doors down Queen Street from our first feature, Hank's Pastries.

Port Perry cheese shop: what makes The Port Cheese Co special

Queen Street is Port Perry's historic shopping main street, a run of brick storefronts and independent shops that sits a short walk from Lake Scugog. The Port Cheese Co is one of its best-loved stops, and the reason is simple: it does one thing very well. The shop carries more than 100 local and international cheeses, which means you can walk in for a wedge of something familiar and leave with three cheeses you have never tried, plus the story of where each one comes from.

Beyond the cheese wall, it builds generous charcuterie boards, makes gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches and soups, and pours fine wines chosen to pair with what is on the counter. It describes itself as a charcuterie specialist and a wine and cheese pairing expert, and it backs that up with a cozy indoor seating area plus a Queen Street patio when the weather cooperates. For a small town, the depth of selection is genuinely unusual, and it is why the shop keeps showing up on lists of where to eat and shop in Port Perry.

A Queen Street story with a pandemic-era start

The shop's origin story is a local one. Erin Foley opened The Port Cheese Co in downtown Port Perry during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, launching a specialty food business at a moment when most storefronts were trying to hold on. The Downtowns of Durham profile of the shop tells that story well, and it is exactly the kind of independent, self-starting business that keeps a main street alive.

Today the shop is run by the family behind Two Blokes Cider and Old Flame Brewery, and it carries that same local, craft-first energy. Buying a cheese plate here is a small vote for the businesses that make Port Perry feel like Port Perry, rather than another strip of chain storefronts.

Cheese, charcuterie, and a proper grilled cheese

What should you order on a first visit? Start with the grilled cheese, which is the item reviewers talk about most, made with good bread and a careful cheese selection so it is crisp, gooey and worth every bite. Pair it with a soup and you have the perfect cool-day lunch after a walk along the waterfront. If you are shopping rather than eating, the charcuterie boards are the gift that keeps giving, assembled with meats, cheeses, crackers and little extras, ready to carry to a cottage or a kitchen table.

The wine list is chosen to match the cheese counter, and the staff are happy to let you taste before you commit. For anyone who has ever stood at a cheese counter feeling out of their depth, this is a friendly place to get a quick education. The shop's official website lists the full range of cheeses, boards and pairing events, and the Sideroads of Scugog member page is a handy local directory listing for the shop.

Wine and cheese nights, workshops and events

What makes The Port Cheese Co more than a shop is its event calendar. It runs a monthly wine and cheese tasting series led by a head sommelier, along with seasonal nights like Fall Wine and Cheese Nights and Books, Bites and Bubbles. In mid-October it hosted a Chocolate and Cheese Pairing with Centre & Main Chocolates, and the holidays bring a Port Perry BIA listed Holiday Cheese Board Workshop on November 29 and a Holiday Wine and Cheese Pairing Night on December 10.

These events are worth knowing about if you are house hunting in the area, because they are the kind of thing that turns a weekend viewing trip into a reason to stay for dinner. Tickets for the tasting events tend to be small by design, so it pays to watch the shop's website and book ahead. The Port Perry area calendar is busy all fall, and our What To Do This Weekend in Port Perry guide rounds up the rest of what is on around town.

A natural stop on a house-hunting tour of Port Perry

Port Perry is roughly 20 to 30 minutes west of 170 Hwy 7A along Highway 7A, which makes Queen Street a natural mid-tour stop for anyone viewing country properties around Janetville. If you are coming in from the property, plan the drive so the cheese shop lands between showings: coffee and baking at Hank's a few doors over, a grilled cheese and a bottle of something at The Port Cheese Co, then the waterfront trail before you head home. Our neighborhood guide to the area around 170 Hwy 7A has the full drive times, and the Port Perry community guide keeps every main street stop in one place.

For buyers who are weighing a move to the Scugog area, a stop like this says more about the town than any listing page can. It shows a main street that is lived in, with owners who have bet on it. That is the same reason our founding Community Spotlight on Hank's Pastries featured a bakery a few doors away, and why the series keeps returning to Queen Street.

Why it fits this community

Port Perry has built its identity on a well-preserved heritage main street and a working lakefront, and independent shops like The Port Cheese Co are the reason that character survives. The town sits on the shore of Lake Scugog, and its businesses serve a steady mix of year-round residents and cottage-country visitors, which is exactly the balance that makes the local economy feel healthy. Scugog Township's population stood at 21,581 at the 2021 Census, per Statistics Canada , and a town that keeps its main street full of independent businesses is the kind of community people plan a move around. That is the same reason Keith and Lisa, the local curators behind this series, keep sending clients and friends its way.

Questions about The Port Cheese Co and Port Perry