The Cheese Room | A vegan guide to Medway

The Cheese Room in Rochester

It may seem a bit strange for a location called “The Cheese Room” to have vegan options, but Medway is full of surprises!

The Cheese Room is a café and cheese shop in Rochester. They sell a variety of cheeses from the local area and around the UK, but thankfully this does include vegan cheese.

Vegan cheese toastie

The café does dairy-free eating surprisingly well. Any of their vegetarian items can be made vegan if the dairy is swapped for non-dairy alternatives. This includes a cheese board, a toastie, and a selection of hot drinks. I opted for a “cheese”, basil and tomato toastie, which was done really well – they used Violife, but it had actually been melted properly and the basil and sundried tomatoes complimented it well. The coffee was great too! My order of one toastie and one latte came to just under £8.

If you’re solely interested in plant-based food, this might be a nice place to eat with an omnivore friend or family member. However, you might have noticed from the first photograph that there are some slightly vegan unfriendly decorations in the basement – specifically, sheepskin and cow hide. To be honest, this did make me feel a bit uncomfortable, as I didn’t know they were there until we ventured downstairs for extra seating. The suitability of this place may depend on what you find acceptable.

Not so vegan friendly?

Overall, I’d give The Cheese Room a 7/10 for food; it’s great if you find yourself in Rochester with nowhere else to go. But the vegan unfriendly décor means that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend seeking it out.