The Meat & Wine Co

Location: 3 Freshwater Place, Queensbridge Square, Queensbridge Street, Southbank
Link: www.themeatandwineco.com
Cuisine: Grill, Modern Australia

I've been meaning to try out this place for over a year now, and we finally decided to give it a go!

The table settings

Pasta of the day - linguine with asparagus, spinach, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes

This dish actually tasted really good. Fresh, light and simple. At times the linguine lacked a little flavour, but the lightness of the vegies helped balance this dish out with the rest of the dishes to follow.

Pork tasting platter - tender pieces of pork belly, served with a burnt apple puree and flame-grilled pork chops on a bed of crushed kipfler potatoes, topped with a peach and apple chutney

By far the best dish of the night. The pork belly was extremely tender and juicy, the pork chops equally well-marinated and grilled. Some of it was slightly charred, but added a very nice smokey effect to the smell and taste. The accompanying chutney and apple puree worked harmoniously with the meats and the bed (or tower) of potatoes was soft and crumbly, mixing well with the chutney and puree. We could have gone for seconds of this dish had we not had two other steaks awaiting us.

New Yorker Sirloin - (Angus 120 day grain-fed) 300g with mushroom sauce

Rib-eye - (Angus 120 day grain-fed) 350g with mushroom sauce

The steaks were both quite good, I couldn't tell a whole heap of difference between them, but then again I do not claim to be a steak expert. We ordered both to be cooked medium, and they came out slightly pink in the middle, but soft and juicy on the outside. The mushroom sauce was incredible - creamy, and loaded with chopped mushrooms!

Garden salad

We actually ordered one steak with a garden salad and the other with chips - however, as you can see in the pictures above, they brought out both with chips. So they brought us a separate garden salad...leaving us with twice the chips for the same price!

The service was pleasant and classy, which matched the table settings and the general decor of the place. It was hard at time to get service though, as the night was quite busy - and we went on a Monday night too. Tip is to book if you don't want to be left waiting for a table.

Overall Impression: 9/10