A Somewhat Meaty Affair at The Meat Co, Westfield:
I can resist everything except temptation
Oscar Wilde
It isn’t even the end of February, yet all my best intentions about cutting down on the amount of red meat I eat seem to have gone astray. An invitation to review The Meat Co at Westfield Shepherds Bush was hardly likely to help matters, but when I mentioned it to a friend I got such an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response I could hardly say no.
So, one damp February night I turned up to meet him at The Meat Co in Westfield. He was already in the bar enjoying a gin and tonic, a bustling place with an excellent selection of cocktails and wines that was packed to the brim.
Now, Des is something of a traveller and it turned out that he’d worked for a few years in South Africa and knew both of the original restaurants there well. After some comments about the price of good quality South African wine over there against the price we pay here, he skipped through the wine list, eventually settling on Meerlust 2009 Rubicon. One of the best things about dining somewhere like Meat Co is that choosing wine is made a lot easier by virtue of the fact that you are probably going to be ordering red meat of some sort. And so, a spicy, plumy red wine packed with berries is the order of the day.
Carefully decanted for us, we probably indulged just a little too quickly – but it was really very good. Both the wine list and the downstairs cocktail bar offer some great choices.
Meanwhile, we ordered our starters. For Des, the rib meat scallop trio, which looked divine and disappeared in a flash.
I’d ordered what I thought would be a lighter option of piri piri prawns
They were delicious, but I would have been happy with a half size portion – or perhaps some flat bread instead of rice.
The main event was, of course, the steak. My fillet steak arrived beautifully presented and cooked to perfection. A side order of Bearnaise sauce made for a great accompaniment to both the steak and the crunchy fries. We’d been asked if we were happy to have the Meat Co Barbecue glaze and I have to admit, I prefer my steak naked. But, it is all a matter of personal taste.
My companion had tried his best to order the steak platter. But it turned out that is a board of four full sized steaks which the table then shares. And, even if you were a competitor on Man vs Food, I doubt that would work.
Instead he picked the rib eye and then regretted not asking for the larger one. Which I suspect is a recommendation in itself.
There are a great choice of sauces and dressings for your steak. Des chose the mushroom sauce and garlic butter. But for those looking to really indulge, you can pick from lobster, foie gras, giant prawns and roasted bone marrow with bordelaise.
If steak isn’t your thing, there are hanging skewers (which I’d love to try) and a range of other dishes, including a fish, lobster and a halloumi and portabello mushroom burger. But, I’m not entirely sure why you’d come somewhere called Meat Co if you didn’t intend a bit of a carnivorous indulgence.
For dessert we picked the chef’s tasting platter to share. So far as I could see it included a little bit of almost everything I would have picked from the menu, including a really very good creme brulee, a Meat Co brownie and a chocolate fondant pudding. Perfect.
We thoroughly enjoyed our meal at Meat Co, though it would have been hard not to do so with such a great choice of steaks and wine. The restaurant has an extensive Halal menu which is clearly very popular – on the night we were dining, the private room was occupied by a party of women wearing hijabs and the table next to us were dining from a mixture of the Halal and regular menu. We learnt that the restaurant had originally offered just one Halal steak but that it had proved so popular they’d added a full menu.
Whether you are looking for a Halal menu or not, though this is a great place to enjoy a good steak. Perfect if you’ve been shopping in Westfield, it is just a few minutes from Shepherd’s Bush tube at the entrance to the shopping centre.
Meat Co
Ground Floor,
Westfield Shopping Centre,
Ariel Way,
White City,
London W12 7GA
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