The Meat and Wine Co is one of the most raved about restaurant among my group of carnivorous friends, be it friends from Adelaide or from Melbourne. Having been to a few restaurants serving steak as part of their core menu, I was secretly wondering if it would be worth the hype.
A good piece of steak requires minimum seasoning or additional flavouring, relying a lot on the grill to work its magic. Our waitress kindly reminded me that cooking times for each steak is different and to extract the full flavour of the steak, this has to be spot on. For example, a wagyu is best cooked medium to well done, allowing the marbled fats to freely flow between each strand of protein.
Portuguese prawns - seared prawns in a creamy Portuguese sauce with brown rice, lime and lemon balm pilaf. I rarely have rice at non-Asian restaurants but found their version to be extremely flavourful and pairs well with the sweet, milder flavour of the prawns.
Beef carpaccio - Wagyu beef slices served with parmesan cream, green dressing, pickled shallots and herb. An interesting play on flavours, combining saltiness from the cheese, acidity from the pickles and earthiness from both the meat and dressing.
Wagyu rib eye - between the two of us, we shared the wagyu rib eye and New Yorker, both equally good but the rib eye gets my vote. Both had the right amount of chargrilled flavour on it and were succulent to taste, with the rib eye being slightly more tender to bite. In my humble opinion, both did not require any sauces although if sauce is a must, I would recommend the Portuguese, a spicy peri peri, cream and garlic mix.
Chips - because what's a meal without chips :)
Apple pie - I was very much looking forward to dessert and found it extremely difficult to pick a favourite. Fried apple cigar with apple liqueur toffee, sour apple gel, mascarpone ice cream and smoked maple syrup. I loved this dish as much as I had enjoyed WL's company. The apple cigar was crisp and stuffed with fragrant pieces of cooked apple, probably simmered in a cinnamon and star anise mix. Could have finished this myself but decided not to be greedy that night hehe.
Having dined here almost two weeks ago, I hesitated with penning my thoughts about the restaurant, not because the restaurant failed to meet my expectations, rather, it was a start of a new life chapter for me. Looking back at my earlier blog posts helped me to recall fond memories and this blog post is one that I will remember in the future. Hence the lengthy time it took to conjure the words best fitted for it. That or I do have writer's block.
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