In the fine dining area there are three basic ways of making cheese part of a menu. The classic approach is the cheese trolley, which is rolled up to your table after the main course. It generally bears a selection of cheeses made from cow's, sheep's and goat's milk. You select a few of them and eat them with some bread, and perhaps honey or fruity chutneys, nuts and grapes. And with a suitable glass of wine. We'll come back to these extras later. The best cheese trolleys are those that bring you a thoughtful selection. The cheese trolley at Philippe Chevrier's "Domaine de Châteauvieux" restaurant at Satigny near Geneva (2 Michelin stars, 18 Gault-Millau points), for example, has about a hundred cheeses – all of them "Made in Switzerland".
Andreas Caminada, one of the best and most world-famous Swiss chefs, presides over the kitchen of the "Schloss Schauenstein" restaurant in Domleschg (3 Michelin stars, 19 Gault-Millau points). Its selection is deliberately small, but exquisite – with cheeses by Maria Meyer and Martin Bienerth from Andeer, and Willi Schmid from Toggenburg. Just as Caminada's dishes bear their creator's signature, these cheeses are – in a way – the creations of their authors, who craft a product exactly as they imagine it.