[Meat Free January] Grilled Cheese at Melt Room, Noel Street, Soho

Sounding like the title of an American psychological war film – or perhaps a workshop room at Madame Tussauds – this restaurant on Noel Street in Soho (just opposite BRGR.Co) is focused on delivering you melted cheese in a variety of different combinations.

Hot on the heels of my review of the Lundenwic grilled cheese, let's see what the Melt Room has to offer.

There's a pretty broad menu to choose from, but most are out of bounds as it's meat free January (meat free, sigh) so I opted for the classic.

The Classic is a simple blend of three cheeses in two slices of toasted, buttered sourdough. The sourdough slices are quite thin and holey, which makes the opportunity for cheese to seep through onto the griddle and form a marvellous crust - which it does.

The cheese blend is a dark orange, with an excellent gooey, stringy texture. It has a good flavour, but somehow lacks on that long mature umami aftertaste - the flavour disperse quickly on the palate. It's all melted through, but in order to do that, the sourdough has been compressed and is thin and dense. This makes it slightly firmer than I would like on the bite-through.

It's not as inspirational as the Lundenwic toasties, both in flavour and in execution, but it's a decent toastie fix, and you can get this, plus a drink for a fiver. A no-brainer really.

Notably, there’s a breakfast sandwich on the menu, so I’ll be back in February to give you a full-blown review…watch this space.