London,

The Meat And Wine Co

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Cuisine: Other
40

Unit 1026A Westfield London Shopping Centre, Ariel Way, W12 7GA


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Description: Leveraged by its African heritage, The Meat & Wine Co's goal is to provide a unique and enjoyable dining experience in a stylish and relaxed environment! Lavish decor combined with rich textures and colours add to the contemporary feel of this exciting restaurant. Here, the steak is a cut above - premium quality meat is carefully selected and monitored through the maturing process, with each steak cared for from the pasture to the plate! The steaks are basted and grilled to perfection on an open flame, sealing in all the flavours to ensure a succulent taste experience! There is also a variety of other options including seafood, poultry and vegetarian. The unique wine tower, spanning over 10 metres from the ground floor to the first floor ceiling, is touted as the tallest display of wine in London and boasts an impressive selection from Europe and the New World producing regions.

Phone: +44 2087495914
Website: http://www.themeatandwineco.com

Open: Open from Monday to Saturday, 11:00 to 12 midnight with last orders at 23:30. Sunday, 11:00 to 22:30 with last orders at 22:00.

 

 

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Meat & Wine Co. is big on bling

 

Sizzling set-up: the orange and amber interior — suggestive of “flames” — of The Meat and Wine Company

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Some of the restaurants in Westfield are now clearly working better than others. While the familiar, big chains — Nando’s, Pizza Express — are doing OK, as ever, a few of the more innovative “culinary counters” in the “Balcony” appear less busy. On a recent visit, for example, one of the most ambitious creations, Croque Gascon (a potty attempt to convert the leisurely cuisine of south-west France into fast food), seemed to be waiting for customers.

Certain new arrivals have pitched themselves more proficiently. The Meat & Wine Co is an international steakhouse chain founded in 2000 by South African restaurateurs ­Costas Tomazos and ­Bradley Michael. It boasts branches in Australia, Israel and the Middle East but Westfield is its first British venture.

The concept is a pretty standard issue steak and burger menu, presented with maximum bling. Gaucho feels a lot more reserved, never mind such havens of decorum as Sophie’s Steakhouse or Goodmans.
At the door you’re effusively greeted by pretty girls, making as if you’re their hero, returning perhaps from the hunt. To your right is a furiously noisy cocktail bar, or “drinking hole”, named Pusa, purportedly designed in the shape of an assegai spear — on our visit, packed.

The restaurant upstairs is vast, all orange and amber in colour, heavily suggestive of flames — although the hundreds of flickering candles in glass holders, which contribute a lot to that impression, prove to be light bulbs.

The tables are so big you can feel too far away, an unusual problem these days, one many couples had opted to resolve by sitting side by side.

Even more out of scale are the steak knives, great blades hafted in wood, with which you could skin a buffalo, if you were feeling particularly outdoorsy. Our waiter said regular customers have their own personal daggers, with their names engraved, displayed in a rack and that one even had his signature cutlery sent over from his usual branch in Australia before visiting. We didn’t ask to see.

Service throughout is incessantly admiring, a big part of the package. On very dimly choosing steak in a steakhouse, we were enthusiastically cheered: “Fantastic choice, guys!”

Shallow-fried calamari (£7) came with a sweet nam jim sauce; the balsamic dressing with a big serving of grilled halloumi cheese with vegetables (£8.50) was a bit too sugary, too. A 300g “New Yorker” fillet steak (£19) was tender enough but not especially flavoursome, as usual with this cut, though it came with pretty good chips and top-notch fried onion rings.

Meat & Wine also offers a small selection of “premium game”, including kangaroo. I tried springbok (£17) — two big chunks of undisguised meat, as advertised, slightly bloody inside, served with a redcurrant sauce, ­surprisingly less gamey than British venison, a little bland even, not a beast I’d hurry to order again.

We somehow racked up a bill north of £100. The wine starts at £15.50 a bottle but accelerates into pricey New World blockbusters, for those who like an assertive glass. Belu water (£3.75 for 75cl) is keenly served. With all that attentiveness and congratulation, you’d feel a bit lame insisting on tap. What’s the waiter going to say? Fantastic choice, guys, probably, given the dedication to effusiveness.

You could come here and just have a burger and chips (£10.50) and a beer, and get away for under £20 a head, service very much included. You’d certainly still know you’d been out (the Meat & Wine Co’s international motto proclaims: “Steaks you’ll leave home for...”).

And that’s what it’s all about here, On a recent Friday night, this huge place was quite buzzy — given its size, not bad going, these days. In its own way, the Meat & Wine Co suits Westfield, and Greater Shepherd’s Bush, perfectly well: lots of ostentation for the money we’ve still got to spend.

Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.

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