Cheese in a cocktail? Give it a try, then have some fondue
Monday, 1 June 2026
Growing up in Savoie region of France, cheese was an important part of chef Pierre-Alain Fenoux’s day-to-day life.
The award-winning owner of Wellington’s Jano Bistro will bring his decades of knowledge to winter festival Lōemis, hosting a Fromage Feast at Zealandia on June 14.
There will be snacks and cocktails, fondue, desserts ‒ and of course, cheese, cheese, and more cheese. Fenoux said he was excited to introduce the guests to the world of European cheeses.
“My job was like to put cheese literally everywhere, so we've got cheese in cocktails, we got cheese in snacks, we’ve got fondue,” he said.
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Fromage Feast is a multi-space food experience that moves through the wildlife reserve’s main building.
Festival director Andrew Laking said guests would start the night in Zealandia’s ground floor exhibition centre, where they could enjoy a cocktail and snacks while listening to live music performed by Firefly Trio.
The guests will then move upstairs to the fondue station, and then to the Rātā Cafe, where the seated portion of the meal is served.
The menu includes a fondue made from a blend of comté, swiss emmental, and gruyère cheeses; and, for the main, confit lamb shoulder with a sheep milk crust.
For dessert, there is goat cheese mousse with lemon curd, basil jelly, alongside an olive oil friand and salted goat milk ice cream.
Zealandia was a great place to host events, Laking said, as the space had a large kitchen and plenty of room. With Lōemis being a mid-winter festival, a menu filled with warm and delicious food was sure to be a hit.
While he was excited for all the food, Fenoux said he was particularly excited by his cheese cocktails.
The event will have a cacio o pepe infused cognac and orange cocktail; a blue cheese and honey martini; and a smoked cheddar and whisky hard shake cocktail on the menu.
Each drink has been paired with a cheesy snack: including a quiche lorraine with gruyère cheese foam, and a tartiflette spring roll.
“Those ones are going to be be super cool,” Fenoux said.
Cheese was incredible in how versatile it was, he said. The fermentation process somehow transformed regular milk into something magical.
His favourite French cheese was reblochon - a creamy cow milk cheese often used in tartiflette.
In New Zealand, cheeses are made from pasteurised milk. In France, raw milk was used which changed the flavour profile completely, Fenoux said, and the cheesemonger culture there went back centuries.
“It's very much a part of the culture, it’s a big thing,” he said.
Visit, www.loemis.nz for more information.