Two of My Favourite Things – Meat & Wine

Being fashionably late isn’t my normal forte especially when it comes to a meat and wine dinner at The Meat & Wine Co, yes you read the title, they are literally 2 of my favourite kind of things in the world wide word. Sadly I missed out on taking some good shots of their share dishes.

Sharing Plates

3 sharing plates were served and they were all RAW

1. Wagyu Tartare ($16) w smoked yolk, green dressing and lavash – quality steak tartare with a bed of yuzu-like flavoured paste on top. The lavash on the side needed more love because they were crispy as hell and I couldn’t help but kept munching on it although I know it’s gonna be a big dinner
2. Shaved octopus ($16) w chives, peri and lemon – tender and fresh octopus tentacles
3. Whisky cured salmon ($15), roe and cauliflower custard cream – my favourite entrée among all. Shiny salmon slices straight up. Honest and delicious

• Paired with NV Mojo Pink Moscato

Entrée

• Paired with Sensi Pinot Grigio, Alto Adige, Italy

Szechuan Calamari ($15/$22)– freshness is given at this restaurant. The calamari pieces were lightly battered and deep fried until just slightly crispy on the outside. It’s super tender and you can eat it effortlessly, but I was expecting to taste something spicier from the word “Szechuan”.

Pork Belly ($16) – we had to keep feeding our belly with pork belly and this fatty cut was dressed chili lime, adzuki bean, crackling, kimchi crumb and it was almost glazed in a kind of sweet ponzu dressing. It was sweet, sour and savoury at the same time. While the meat itself can be slightly more succulent to my liking, it was a tasteful piece that I would love to have more but I knew I shouldn’t. The puffed cracking was airy and added a crunch to the dish without giving extra fattiness.

Main

• Paired with Tokar Estate Pinot Noir, Yarra Valley, VIC
• or Bleasdale ‘Second Innings’ Malbec, Langhorne Creek, SA

There were 2 cuts of steaks from different region for us to choose. Monte is the premium line of beef exclusively sourced for The Meat & Wine Co. Their steaks are famous for its basting, which gives the steaks that nice coat of red wine glaze.

Monte – Grain Fed 200g fillet (120 days) ($39) – my appetite had almost hit the wall up until this stage so a small piece of 200g steak was just perfect to fill the gap. My steak was cooked perfectly to my liking which is the good old medium rare. It’s sexily pink in the centre but it’s not too bloody. I really liked the sweet red wine glaze on the steak and I couldn’t help but scraping all the juice that was left on the plate!

I also had a bite of the rib-eye that was served on the night 150 Days MB 2+ Rib-eye from Shorthorn. It was less meatier than my fillet and it had given everything you would want from a good piece of meat.

Dessert

Creme Brulee – classic sugar coated cup that everyone loves. Velvety smooth with a nice aroma from the fresh vanilla beans, served with a little piece of double coffee biscuit that was an icing on the cake because the creme brulee itself was already good enough on its own.

Apple Pie – the presentation was surprising, but in a good way. Instead of in buttery crust or puff pastry, their apple pie is deep fried in thin shell and served with a fancy apple toffee cream, sour apple gel, mascarpone ice cream and smoked maple syrup. Inevitably, adding cinnamon to an apple pie would make it maccas’ style. The apple filling was almost jam like which was delicious, and the shell was just fried until perfection. It was indeed a sweet finale to our meal.

I can’t not mention that this restaurant has really good dimmed, but not too dimmed, romantic ambient. I could see myself  enjoying some relaxing moments at The Meat & Wine Co with lots of scrumptious food.

@themeatandwineco #mwcoparra

The Meat & Wine Co Website – https://themeatandwineco.com/