The Meat & Wine Co

Similar to another review, this one is specifically just for the one kangaroo dish. We had found this restaurant through researching where to go for kangaroo meat and boy did that intense 30-​minute session of research paid off. This kangaroo skewer was grilled to perfection — a tender and juicy medium rare. Served with crispy onions and a sea of potatoes in tomato sauce that compliments the meat perfectly. Just divine! Oh and not to mention it went very well with that complimentary glass of Shiraz with the Unilocal offer hahah.

We dined here last night after a recommendation from our concierge. They brought me the wrong cut of meat and my wife’s risotto was incredibly salty. When we sent back out dishes, our corrected dishes were brought to us 20 minutes apart from each other, my new steak was essentially cold by the time my wife’s dish came out. The food was good, but the horribly slow and inaccurate service completely ruined our dining experience. I made sure to also tell the concierge at our hotel on this experience as we flew all the way from the US to honeymoon here.

I’ll admit I didn’t expect a salad at a place called meat and wine co to be great. But after I tried it — I couldn’t stop until it was gone. It was the side that comes with a main. The dressing was similar to a vinegrette version of cucumber dressing but slightly more tart.
I had a rib eye steak done rare. A strange note; the steak knives were awesomely hefty. They made very short work of cutting the steak. Which was done perfectly to my liking. The bites with a bit of fat in them from the edge were the best (steak heathen) but the rest went the best with the south African spice sauce.
I also tried the garlic and mushroom sauces with it and wouldn’t recommend either unless you plan on mixing the garlic with the south African. It was a tasty combination.
For those who usually don’t order crème brule — it was a fluffy dream of eggy sweetness. I could have eaten it like a gallon of ice cream accompanying a bad movie. Voraciously and with a very big spoon.
Overall I’d say it’s hard to go wrong here unless you don’t get steak. Or if you’re a steak connoisseur. Or you’re a vegetarian. The salad was good but I’m not sure about that as a meal, the risotto was meh, not great not bad as risotto often is.
Note about kangaroo: I wasn’t a fan of the flavor on its own. I might simply not like kangaroo meat. But I’m sure its more tolerable doused in sauce, and with crispy onions inbetween bites. Kind of wish I got a steak skewer, those onions looked good. Next time!

I’m not normally one to write a review without having at least completed a meal at the establishment. However Meat & Wine Co is an exception. They appear to have a great location and decent menu, even if they are a bit proud of their menu. We thought we were in luck when we saw many available tables outside. On approaching the hostess and asking for an outside table, we were informed there was a $ 5/​person surcharge to sit outside. In Darling Harbor? I don’t think so. We walked off and had a great Thai meal at NokNok around the corner.
With so many good restaurants within a 5-​minute walk and each with decent views, there’s no need to be fleeced by these guys to sit on their empty patio. Least now I know why there were so many empty tables while everywhere else was busy. Doesn’t seem the best business model to me.

Meat and Wine Co, Darling Harbour is definitely set for a special event: spacious, dim lights and of course the view onto Darling Harbour (and Saturday night fireworks). The menu is classic steakhouse with classics like steak, ribs, so I judged them very harshly on service.
TASTING PLATE $ 59
The best thing was the calamari, probably once of the best preparations I have tasted. The texture was perfect tender and seemed that the only thing preventing it to melt was the light crumbed case. The slight hint of chili did compliment it. The bruchetta was good as well, crisp bread and fresh toppings. The pork belly was very good, the ratio of fat to meat was on point. I doubt this will serve 4.
RIBS PLATTER $ 55
The trio of ribs, we all know pork ribs are the best. For me pork has the best texture and the smokiness of the grill really compliments the meat in terms of flavour.
The beef although it had great flavour had a tough texture compared to the pork. The connective tissue became overly chewy and very unpleasant.
The lamb had classic lemon and herb marinade. The meat was cooked meat rare and my second favorite after the pork.
Please serve more chips for $ 55.
THE GRAND FINALE $ 35
This trio of desserts was made of two french classics and the English crumble outsider. It was an outsider in terms of taste as well. The first impression was that it was dry even with the anglaise sauce and ice-​cream. The apple was a little undercooked for me. The crème brûlée was perfect and faultless. The fondant was decadent although the extra hazelnut didn’t do much, I would have preferred chocolate only.
Conclusion
Meat and Wine Co is just barely not a complete tourist trap. The starters and desserts are well overpriced although, most of them were enjoyable but not beyond criticism. I still prefer Hurricane’s ribs and the menu is just classic steakhouse. The service felt understaffed as the wait between courses was too slow. The view is alright but only worth it for Saturday fireworks.
@thesydneynoob

Tonight I enjoyed dinner here. When I arrived, early admittedly, at 5.45pm I walked in and got a table, but by the time I left there was a queue waiting. Service is quick and it’s so nice to eat somewhere that actually has fabric napkins! I ordered the Bruschetta, Greek Village Salad and a Garden Salad. It all came quickly. The bruschetta was possibly the strangest version I’d ever seen — toasted bread spread with avocado, topped with tomato salsa then sprinkled with Parmesan, hmmm … It was served with a giant, sharp and dangerous looking knife. Most of their dishes seem to be accompanied by such a huge blade, which I found a little disconcerting. The Greek Village featured green olives, cos lettuce and tomatoes galore, but the feta was scarce. It had good flavours though, so I still enjoyed it. The Garden Salad was good too, nicely presented and dressed. The location is lovely, right on Cockle Bay — it’s really great to see the bay as you dine. Tables are quite close together though, so it would be very noisy and cramped when it’s busy.

I came here STRICTLY for kangaroo meat and it was a great decision, hence my 5-​star rating! I ordered a salad that came with a yogurt-​based dressing (cannot remember the name) as an appetizer and the «kangaroo,» which was in skewers with a side of boiled potatoes, fried onion rings, and a tomato chutney (it taste similar to ketchup with a nice flavor). Every bit of this dish tasted superb! I ordered medium (suggested by the waiter) instead of medium rare. It was still tender and not tough. I could eat that over and over again. It was my first time visiting Sydney and the best meal I had while in Australia. The salad was also fresh and tasted great. If you like beef, you’ll more than likely like kangaroo. To me, it taste similar to beef (not exactly but close).
Customer service was good. Nice greeting at the door. Busy night and crowded atmosphere. Waiting time for my orders did not take too long.

Meh food and really really awful service from the waiter. He was so rude and his recommendation as to the steak cooking time was just silly («We do not recommend blue — we say it has to be medium rare» wait what? You really suggest medium rare??)! My husband ended up with a well-​done steak despite going with the recommendation for medium-​rare, however ridiculous. My calamari was OK — not great, just OK.
We never managed to get our water refilled, or a menu to order more drinks. We had a couple of people join us so we moved to a larger table, because the hostess kindly helped us — the waiter acted like we asked for a better VIP spot in a crowded nightclub! I mean, it’s a mediocre restaurant that was not even close to full!
The waiter just wandered around sulking with very pink cheeks. The hostess was lovely, hence the two stars, but really — the food was very average and the service so bad that I went to the front desk to explain why I didn’t leave a tip — and I have NEVER not tipped before in any country (I know it’s not the norm to tip in Australia but I still do, I’ve been in the service industry myself!). Give this place a miss — there HAVE to be better places to eat in the area. Looks like a fair few people have had the same lacklustre service. Would be funny to know if it was all from Mr. Pink Cheeks because the other servers seemed uninspired but at least polite!

Extremely poor service! When asked for a recommendation of beer was just told to read the menu, our unfinished entrees were taken away to replace the mains without asking, however our starter plates weren’t taken until halfway through the mains. Our waiter was lucky to smile and to top it off the cliché strand of hair amongst the food. Quite disappointing considering we were out for a family members birthday and definitely not the worth the bill. Didn’t even bother staying for dessert.

Food isn’t too bad but the waiters don’t seem to know much. Nice greeting at the door by the waitresses though. I was offered by Unilocal for a free drink when checking in on Unilocal.I asked the waiter for the free drink offer and he didn’t know what it’s about and took my phone away to ask about the free offer. However we waited for 20+ mins for the drink to arrive, when we were ready to leave. Don’t think we will come back here again. Food isn’t the best and many places in Sydney offer better food than here.

The service here is extremely poor. It took 35 minutes for one wait staff to take the orders of 15 people. It then took another 20 minutes for patrons to receive their drinks. Food orders were t even taken!
We also enquired about the free drink offer through Unilocal,but were quickly advised by management that we could not use it. No real reason as to why. Disappointed.
Suffice to say, won’t be coming back here again as a result of such poor service.
Whilst waiting this whole time, 7 wait staff were folding towels in the customer area/​restaurant. Why aren’t these staff servicing customers?

If you can, make sure you hit up M&W with someone you like enough to go sharesies with. Seriously this is the best place for a carnivorous date night.
Personally, one of us goes for the ribs platter (½ rack of each pork, lamb, & beef) and the other gets a steak. We debate about starters (pork belly, carpaccio, garlic bread, calamari, and bruschetta are all winners), but whether we get one or not we never manage to finish the mains.
Sharesies don’t seem to work as well for business lunches though — and if you’re looking for a spot for lunch, this is your place. Ask for their express lunch menus (there’s a couple) for a great deal on delicious food (I’m talking $ 35 for appy (calamari) + main (steak!!) + glass of wine. No sharesies needed.
M&W Co is also a member of the CitiBank Dining Program, so if you’ve got the card make sure you [comply with whatever T&Cs there are and] ask your server to get your free bottle of wine.

What I had: onion rings, wagyu steak (6+ marbling), burger, rump steak for kids, side of button mushrooms.
Onion rings came first. Very crunchy. But the onions could hardly be tasted. Nevertheless, it was tasty. Their best seller is the 300g wagyu steak and their flagship product (A$ 59). I always eat steak and this was great steak. No need for any sauce. It was very good by itself. Juicy too. My kids couldn’t stop eating it. The burger was so so. Pretty standard. Although it was juicy, it lacked the punch on flavor. Kids menu rump steak was awful. Even my kids, who are steak eaters, couldn’t eat it. It was so thin that it was easy to overcook. Ours was overcooked.
The side of mushrooms were great. Giant. Tasty.
The verdict: order the flagship. Their best seller is really good. I would come back for it.
I spent A$ 160 for 3 adults and 2 kids for food.

I am still in food coma the morning after! Food was better than I was expecting for sure! But I did splurge on the wagyu rib-​eye with the shiraz paring, and finished up with a rich panna cotta! When you spend like A$ 100 on food, it better be good.

We just came into town, tired and hungry from travels and walked down to Darling Harbour to find a nice view and a bite to eat. We scored with this place. It was around 3pm on a Wednesday so it was empty. We sat at a table outside to soak up some sun and people watch. The 3 of us picked a bottle of wine and the waiter was nice enough to bring us a taste before we committed to it. We ordered the sharing platter that had: calamari (amazing), prawns with a spicy sauce (delicious), bruschetta (great), and pork belly (phenomenal)!!! Everything was so delicious. We decided to order another bottle of wine and each had a salad that was great. The wedge salad, the pea salad and the kale salad.
The staff was friendly and one of the girls basically helped us plan out our next day since one of us was only there for one day. Great way to start off an amazing Sydney holiday.

Every now and then I fondly recall the time my mum yelled at the home-​economics teacher for suggesting I could pay more attention and be more diligent. Best line? «Sorry what subject is this? Oh right, well let’s just agree that she won’t make a very good housewife and leave it there shall we?» Now I wonder if maybe I should have listened because last night I found out I had been sold a wedding dress 2 sizes too small which apparently any half decent seamstress would have known.
Cue the Rocky opening (thanks Dan). I am an all exercising, all paleo dieting machine. Although it’s unlikely I’ll lose 2 sizes in 5 weeks I’m going to give it a bloody good shot.
I have not had a bit of dairy or carb for ONE WHOLE DAY. *Gasp* I even spent a farewell drinking sparkling water *even bigger gasp*
The only way I have managed this is to have a delicious dinner at Meat+Wine to look forward to.
Biltong, Carpaccio, kangaroo steak, mushrooms, veges, salad, hold the chat potatoes and onion rings thanks. Food was delicious, view was great and the fireworks that the City of Sydney put on for me personally were very pretty.
My friend got a free house wine courtesy of Unilocal (I was still on the waters) and I was comfortably full by the end (but still eyeing off other tables’ chips).
At $ 90 per head its a bit pricey. I obviously can’t eat like this every night so I’m probably going to need to learn to cook paleo bread or something… again I’m starting to see where that teacher had a point.

I have not had too many positive experiences with steak in Australia so far. As an American living in Sydney I find Aussie steak cut too thinly and inevitably overcooked. Not so at Meat & Wine Co. which is an American style steak house of the first order. That means it has big thick steaks that are perfectly cooked. They have grades of quality — go for the Black which is their top level. Extensive wine list filled with big fat reds, as any top steakhouse should. It’s a big restaurant and we were able to walk right in. Service was decent enough. I’ll go back next time I’ve got a hankering for a real Yankee style steak!

Went to this place lunch time on a Tuesday and was nice and quite, with enough activity happening outside. We sat inside next to the window (ask for a window seat the view isn’t breathtaking but it is def nicer than in the middle especially when its just 2 people.
We ordered garlic bread to start then chicken kebab and half a rack of pork ribs for main. Whoo weeee soon realised that getting garlic bread was tad ambitious. The portions are definitely not small and if you plan on having all three courses there than prepare to feel incredibly full and a little sick.
Dessert we had the Brûlée and the chocolate tart, everything was tasty except only a tiny thing I picked up especially when on the menu it said ‘Crème brûlée with fresh strawberries’ and it comes out with one rotten strawberry on the side. Other than that the meals were fantastic, little pricy but that’s what you expect for the location and the type of food.
Would go back.

I’d been hearing from a few people that this place had ribs to one up hurricane’s which in my boom is a BIG call. I was a bit skeptical but kept an open mind and decided to give this place a go. A very spur of the moment decision which left us waiting for an hour for a table for 2 on a Friday night. Rookie mistake.
After an hours wait I’m starving. Food generally tastes better when I’m starving but even under these circumstances the ribs have nothing on hurricane’s. They weren’t bad tasting but just not on the same level as hurricane’s. I did however enjoy the prawns. Whatever sauce they used was spicy and amazing. Their white sangria was also very refreshing and did manage to get me drunk quicker thab usual.
Anyway I’ve ticked meat wine and co off the list. Now to try some other places. Anyone got any rib suggestions?

I’m always a bit hesitant to eat at a touristy looking restaurant smack dab in the middle of tourist city (like Darling Harbour), but don’t let that deter you from going here because it is incredible.
I went with a friend and we split everything because the menu is so large and too hard to choose from. We also each used the Unilocal check-​in offer and had a glass of Shiraz.
The food:
Homemade bread board — you must get it. It’s a nice portion of toasty bread served with amazing dukkah.
Monte free range eye of rump cooked medium rare — DEVINE. We got the side of mashed potatoes and the creamy garlic sauce. The meat was cooked very well and the portion was hearty.
Handmade agnolotti — a really great mix of sweet and savory. The sauce on the pasta is incredibly decadent.
We walked in on a Wednesday night without a reservation, but it got quite busy by 8 pm. Many Unilocalers complain about the service, but every single person that waited on us were very friendly and attentive.
Go here!