The Meat and Wine Co, Perth

Perth is the latest location for the South African chain restaurant – The Meat & Wine Company which opened in mid-September. Having enjoyed several meals at the Meat & Wine Co over east I was keen to try this latest incarnation.

The restaurant has a good location at the corner of Williams Street and St Georges Terrace. On the site of the old Palace Hotel, the new restaurant has kept the hotel ceilings intact and retained the original fireplace in the old Palace Ballroom at the back of the building.

Inside the restaurant there is a variety of seating which seems to be the popular trend – high stools, long rows and normal seating. The interior design is contemporary with wood, leather and stone dominating the muted colours. There are also two private dining rooms although I am not sure how private the dining can be when the walls are glass.

The menu is not huge and has an obvious emphasis on meat but fish is also available. Although the ribs were popular with other diners, my husband ordered a skewer of Portuguese peri peri chicken ($32) and I opted for a medium rare Shorthorn rib eye steak ($49) with black garlic butter sauce. Both meals come with either delicious, very crunchy fries or a garden salad. We also ordered a wedge salad with blue cheese dressing ($13) to share.

The garlic sauce was not available so I chose a mushroom sauce ($4) instead.

Unfortunately my steak came rare rather than medium-rare but as we were in a bit of a hurry and the steak was extremely tender, I did not send it back and enjoyed the experience although not the lukewarm temperature or the very wet mushroom sauce. My husband loved the spicy chicken skewer and said he would order it again and the salad was very good.

There is a nice atmosphere and the staff customer ratio seems to be heavily weighted on the staff side. We were there at noon and the restaurant had filled up by around 12:30 however beforehand many of the staff seemed to be looking for things to do so chairs were being polished and napkins refolded several times!

My verdict is that the Meat & Wine Co in Perth is not quite up to the standard of the Meat & Wine Co in Sydney. We will go back in a couple of months and hope that the restaurant has found its mojo but just now it is too pricey to overlook missteps.

Monday to Saturday the restaurant offers a two-course lunch (including a glass of wine, beer or soft drink) for $42 and three courses for $49. There is a children’s menu with chicken tenders or cheeseburger for $12 and mac and cheese for $10.

Access is by a few steps at the front door. There is wheelchair access through another door – a member of staff will open this door on request.

Parking in the CBD is not easy however there is a Wilson parking area not far away on St Georges Terrace. The Sunday special rates cost us $15 for just over two hours instead of the normal outrageous price of $22 an hour.

Address: 108 St Georges Terrace, Perth

Phone: 08 6163 8880

Reservations: Yes

Opening hours: Seven days 12 noon -10, later closing on Friday and Saturdays

Gluten-free options: An allergy menu is available

Vegetarian options: One pasta dish, salads and a few starters

Entertainment Book: No

Website: themeatandwineco.com/locations/perth/

About the Author
Latest Posts

About Hazel Broomhead

My name is Hazel and I am a Perth senior!

Originally from Edinburgh in Scotland, my husband and I moved to New Zealand with our children in 1974. As my husband is in the oil business, we moved to several other countries including the Sultanate of Oman, the Netherlands, Singapore, the Philippines, the USA, Russia and Kazakhstan during the next 36 years before retiring to Perth.

We have six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren who live in different parts of the globe – New Zealand, Scotland and Colombia - which makes a great excuse for us to travel and visit.

My career background is in radio and print journalism in Scotland and New Zealand as well as public relations in various other countries.

We love to eat out, walk, travel and enjoy the wonderful lifestyle here in Western Australia.