6 Melrose Square, Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, South Africa
Cuisine:
Barbecue
Good for:
Dinner, Lunch, Outdoor Seating, Reservations
The Meat Co
6 Visitor Photos +
REVIEWS
2 Reviews
6 Melrose Square, Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, South Africa
Expert Review
The Meat Co. is a well-known carnivorous establishment in the heart of Melrose Arch. Its large patio is impressive, although it...
The Meat Co. is a well-known carnivorous establishment in the heart of Melrose Arch. Its large patio is impressive, although it was relatively vacant when I went there. It looks like a steakhouse should look, bottles of wine in cabinets on the inside with strong, tough wooden décor that just screams, “eat beef here”. There were a few groups of people who were obviously in meetings at large tables in private rooms or in far corners so it seems popular with the working diners.
When in Rome, I had opted for a salad and a simple fillet. What you get is what you think you are going to get, a piled-high salad, a piece of meat and the normal sides of vegetables and friend onions. You can order different cuts of meat with different sauces of course, no different than that of the majority of steakhouses you will find in South Africa. The food was, well … fine. The meat was tender, the vegetables were cooked decently and the salad was fresh. However, there was no blowing my mind with this lunch. I can get super excited about steaks, I guess this just wasn’t the one.
The service was prompt and the atmosphere is pleasant if you sit outside on a clear day. If you need to hole up with your business team and talk about the details of your latest deal, I suppose you might also gain from this restaurant’s vast seating choices. I almost forgot, if you haven’t gotten enough … you can buy biltong here to bring home.
Expert Review
Located in the Western-style Melrose Arch strip mall, the meat at The Meat Co is out-of- this-galaxy-good with a lot...
Located in the Western-style Melrose Arch strip mall, the meat at The Meat Co is out-of-
this-galaxy-good with a lot of welcome South African touches — like the addition of sides like pap (South Africa’s version of polenta) and chakalaka (a popular piquant relish), biltong bowls to snack on, and of course what’s a South African meat restaurant without the national sausage on the menu? Gourmet beef boerewors comes as an entrée to whet your palate for the Romanesque feast that awaits. Interestingly, the parsley and garlic grilled snails are some of the best – poached under the grill with a shaving of Parmesan and crusty bread to mop up the sapid broth, this dish is rapturously good, but without a doubt, when in Rome, eat like Romans. Or something like that. In this case, your choice of protein is a dizzying one: everything from super-aged steaks to an earthy-flavoured fillet mignon, rich braised oxtail, saucy spare ribs, pork, lamb, venison, beef – here you have a veritable one-stop-shop to sate your carnivorous cravings no matter how bloody. The wine list in a place like this has to be big enough and in some cases brash too, in order to accompany the bold flavours of the meat. And with esteemed tipples like Meerlust Rubicon, Paul Sauer Kanonkop and Haute Cabriere, amongst other big players, there is no disappointment here. A nice touch is that the wine list acts as sommelier too, by pairing itself with items on the menu. So you will look smart on that first date.