La Fromagerie Général — Specialty Store in Les Épinettes, Paris

This is an independent cheese shop in Les Épinettes, the Clichy neighbourhood served by Brochant station, and what you notice first is that the counter is a conversation. Two women run it, and the advice comes with the purchase: which blue to take, how to serve a fondue, why the raclette you have been buying elsewhere tastes like nothing.

The raclette is the thing to carry home, sold as a quarter wheel and nothing like the mass-produced blocks. Ask about the pistachio-fig goat cheese, a fresh cheese with a fig centre and a pistachio coating, small enough to finish in one sitting and fine enough in texture that people who avoid cheese eat it happily. The charcuterie is worth adding to the same bag, and the eggs cost less here than in a supermarket.

The range runs from the classics sourced from good producers to surprises such as Shropshire, an English-style blue with a yellow-orange paste. Platters are put together for you, and the shop will advise on quantities for a fondue or a raclette at home rather than letting you guess.

Spend is modest for what it is: a few items land between €5 and €20, and the quarter wheel of raclette is priced reasonably against its quality. Meal vouchers are accepted, which makes a cheese-and-charcuterie lunch an easy purchase.

Come on a weekday morning between 9:30 am and 1:30 pm, or after 3:30 pm, when the counter has room for questions; Saturday closes for lunch and reopens at 3 pm, and Sunday is a short 10 am to 1 pm window. Monday opens only at 3:30 pm. It suits anyone building a picnic or a dinner rather than a weekly shop.