47 minutes ago, biplanebluey said:

What the hell do you want to bring cheese into Thailand for--------- The best cheese in the world is Mainland cheese from New Zealand and available from Big C, Makro, everywhere and not expensive

Mainland cheese is quite good; however, IMHO the best cheese in the world is King Island Blue Brie. Admittedly I have never seen it in Thailand.

I was busted at HK airport for having Branston pickle - prohibited item apparently

1 hour ago, VBF said:

Apparently, it is (or was at the time) much more expensive in Thailand.

That's FOR SURE!!  Here in Chiang Mai, cheese is 300% more expensive than in Australia.   (so is wine  -  sob)

As others have suggested, cheese which is vacuum packed is the way to go.  I've found that unopened, it keeps in the fridge for months.

Camembert does not travel well, and on a recent trip, it was in the hold, in an insulated box with my baggage, but ended up tasting pretty awful.

Bring about 5 kgs back from the UK, every time I travel. Done it loads of times, never been a problem.

Buy sealed packs at the supermarket on the shelves, not from the deli. About 250-400 grm packs.

On the day of travel, remove from your fridge and wrap eack pack in silver foil (baking, cooking stuff).

Bingo.

Bought this in LOS, think it was Big C , for 190 baht,it was very good admittedly but the only other option was Edam which I find very bland.

In any uk supermarket I can get an equivalent cheese starting at 65 baht with a big selection of different cheeses.
Red Leicester
Gloucester
Wensleydale
Cheddar
Cheshire
Caerphilly
etc. etc

I’m not talking about Brie or Camembert ( although I do like them in moderation ) or about which country produces the best cheese etc .

3 hours ago, faraday said:

Don't forget to bring some Branston Pickle.

 

Make your own Branston here at a fraction of Villa price.

Can't find a recipe for pretend HP sauce though.

Make your own Branston here at a fraction of Villa price.
Can't find a recipe for pretend HP sauce though.

Pickled beetroot also goes well in a cheese sandwich.

Probably not gonna risk bringing a jar though , imagine the mess if it breaks !!

Funny: Back home "processed cheese" (melted, mixed with whatever, very salty) is dirt cheap - for a good reason....

In Thailand that imitation cheese is very expensive.

And another thing: mozarella. Very young white soft cheese, kept in brine. From buffalo mik, or cheap version from cow milk. Except in Thailand, they sell it in blocks or grated - and sad to say, some even imported from NZ.

Wish I found a way to bring real mozarella - or real sheep fetta. Any suggestions?

 

 

 

 

Always bring in decent propa Cheddar from UK, never had any issues with being pulled or cheese deterioration; I buy either vacuum packed in 400g or 500g sizes they all go straight into the freezer then as packing case I use a nice little cooler bag which you can get 4 x 500G blocks of cheese in, or sometimes bring extra and that is wrapped in a towel from freezer and straight into case. I fly Manchester via Abu-Dhabi to Phuket about 18hrs with transfers (Etihad) and me cheese is always in tip top condition. 

 

Cheese here is overpriced and not very good, I have only seen mediocre Imported UK cheddars at daft prices in places like Villa Market, they used to say Thailand is a place where sex is cheaper than cheese.....

5 hours ago, jacko45k said:

I had a soft sided small 'coolbox' and packed it with some of those ice substitute blue plastic blocks you pre-freeze. You have to worry if your bag might be left in the sun on the tarmac in Dubai or other ME transit, but for direct flights it will spend most of the time cool at 35,000 ft.

I do the same from Australia to Udon. Never a problem.

5 hours ago, jacko45k said:

I had a soft sided small 'coolbox' and packed it with some of those ice substitute blue plastic blocks you pre-freeze. You have to worry if your bag might be left in the sun on the tarmac in Dubai or other ME transit, but for direct flights it will spend most of the time cool at 35,000 ft.

This way works every time, you can buy in most UK supermarkets a large ice freezer bag and just put everything in there with the freezer blocks, still very cold on arrival Bangkok, even with a 4 hour Dubai stopover.

 

Works great with pate and sausages and bacon as well.

I always bring in 3 kilos of Norwegian Jarlsberg(best in the world) and brown cheese.  You need to vacuum pack it and as long as you are heading straight to your house/condo from the airport , it will stay cool . 

 

 

3 hours ago, Paul Laycock1 said:

Why bother when there is a perfectly good cheese shop within Central Hall Bangkok.

Anything from fine Cheddar to Stilton etc. 

There's good cheese in all the main  Bangkok shopping plazas but I object to paying the extortionately high prices even for ordinary everyday cheddars

16 minutes ago, balo said:

I always bring in 3 kilos of Norwegian Jarlsberg(best in the world) and brown cheese.  You need to vacuum pack it and as long as you are heading straight to your house/condo from the airport , it will stay cool . 

 

 

Not criticising your Jarlsberg (great nutty taste), but how about Sveitser, normanna ost  and gammal ost?

 

 

Not criticising your Jarlsberg (great nutty taste), but how about Sveitser, normanna ost  and gammal ost?
 
 

Don’t forget Norwegian Blue !! [emoji51]

7 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Don’t forget Norwegian Blue !!

Indeed.

But watch out for the norwegian grated "cheese".

Surprisingly cheap, but..... it is not cheese!!! As a matter of fact, the packet does NOT claim it is cheese, it only says "revet" (norwegian for grated). But it looks like grated cheese, and you find it in the fridge with the real cheeses.

 

3 hours ago, biplanebluey said:

What the hell do you want to bring cheese into Thailand for--------- The best cheese in the world is Mainland cheese from New Zealand and available from Big C, Makro, everywhere and not expensive

On a side note:

I just love the expression "Mainland".

But one has to be a (older) Kiwi or to have lived in Godzone to understand the subtle humour.

 

freezing cheese ruins the texture, makes it grainy and crumbly.

wrap well in towels or some sort of insulating material.

generally speaking it is very cool in the main luggage compartments and it should be fine.

Animals are carried in a separate heated compartment from regular baggage especially on wide body flights.

 

Watch out for the Royal Thai Cheese Customs, particularly at Sawannaphum. Officers are in plain clothes, mingling with arriving passengers at the baggage belts, sniffing out misdemeanours. They are particularly hot on Wensleydale, and have canines specially trained to detect that abortion of cheeses.

For want of something better to do I googled worlds best cheese and according to the World Cheese Awards ( held in London 2017, next one in Bergen Nov 2018 ) the worlds best cheese is English ( coming from Cornwall).
Italy and Croatia coming close behind.

http://www.foodandwine.com/news/worlds-best-cheese-chosen

I get my cheese send over from Holland by mail by my dad. Its vacuum sealed and survives the trip the taste is still good. I get send around 5kg per time and in 80% of the times its not taxed otherwise i pay around 600 bt.

4 hours ago, pest said:

I have a mate bring it up from AUS he freezes it then wraps it in bubble wrap

Once it arrived still hard it thaws out fine just plain old Coles farmhouse cheddar

I froze hard cheese once and never will again. The texture is definitely different -- in a bad way -- after freezing and defrosting.

Dont understand why there isn’t Australian cheese in Thailand , it should be cheap because of a trading agreement .

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

 

18 minutes ago, markaoffy said:

Dont understand why there isn’t Australian cheese in Thailand , it should be cheap because of a trading agreement .

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

 

I've seen some Bega in Rimping and it's cheaper; however, not what I would call a top of the line cheese.

1 hour ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Don’t forget Norwegian Blue !!

And all the posters on here, pining for the cheeses.

 

I'd have thought this was more on topic though:

 

Or this one:

 

 

Holy Cheeses!

 

Always remember: Even if you don't like Cheeses, Cheeses will still love you!

Holy Cheeses!
 
Always remember: Even if you don't like Cheeses, Cheeses will still love you!

Just remember if you are travelling through the Middle East or anywhere where the luggage could sit on the ground for a while it will heat up.  Did this once with a whole plate sized Camembert, when you couldn't buy cheese easily in BKK (1985).  Wrapped in a duvet inside a suitcase but sat on the ground in Doha for two hours.  Took my friend months to get the smell out of the duvet but the cheese was ripe!

Also there is a limit on the amount of cheese you can take in to the LOS.

Keep it in the fridge, wrap it in a cool bag and then make it the last thing you pack.  Should be fine.  Done it many times.

 

You can buy kilo blocks of New Zealand cheddar in Macro, if you are close to one in Thailand.  Almost as good as the real cheese and not so 'plastic' as some.

Aussie has a free trade agreement with Thailand which unfortunately seems to have left out cheese, wine and Vegemite, damm