1. GPO Cheese & Wine Room || 1 Martin Pl, Sydney. Ph: (02) 9229 7701. gposydney.com.

If there is only room in your life for one cheese supplier, let this be it. Fromager Sonia Cousins stocks the shelves with the very best boutique Australian and world cheeses available as tasty take home purchases or as part of the cheese and wine flights in the dine-in part of the store.

2. Formaggi Ocello ||16/425-429 Bourke St, Surry Hills Ph: (02) 9357 7878. ocello.com.au

With a selection of more than 200 cheeses from Australia, Italy and France, this store is heaven for cheese lovers. There’s coffee served during the day and wine at night and even bits and pieces like salami and crispbread, but really, it’s all about the long glass cabinet of cow, goat, buffalo, blue, white mold, hard and soft cheeses.

3. Paesanella Haberfield || 88 Ramsay St, Haberfield. (02) 9799 8483. paesanella.com.au

The specialty here is the full range of fresh, locally-made cheeses that arrive from the Marrickville factory each day, like bocconcini, baked ricotta, caciotta and burrata, but the range extends to delightfully stinky selections from France, Italy and Spain too.

4. The Cheese Shop || 797 Military Rd, Mosman. Ph: (02) 9969 4469.

We love a shop that is exactly what the name says it is. Serving the North Shore for close to 40 years, these cheese experts stock a range of around 180 local and international varieties, with a particular fondness for the oft-overlooked English cheeses.

5. Simon Johnson ||181 Harris St, Pyrmont. Ph: (02) 8244 8240. simonjohnson.com.au

Forget any misgivings you might have about Simon Johnson as a brand, what you need to do is focus on one thing: a walk-in cheese room. His Pyrmont store features what in 1992 was the first of its kind in Australia, and it’s still exciting enough to warrant a visit.