Hot in the City: Constitution Place welcomes The Meat & Wine Co

The scaffolding and temporary fences have come down on the corner of London Circuit and Constitution Avenue to reveal the glitzy new Constitution Place precinct.

Inspired by Walter Burley Griffin’s design for the capital, Constitution Place is home to a visually stunning landmark building that will be occupied by the ACT Government, commercial institutions, a hotel, and some tempting dining and retail options.

The jewel in the crown of the food and beverage offering at the entry to the retail laneway is The Meat & Wine Co. Opening next Wednesday (21 April), the restaurant will be the brand’s first to open in Canberra and marks the 10th restaurant from the premium steakhouse chain to open in Australia.

Australian operations manager of The Meat & Wine Co, Troy Mattingly, explains: “We’ve been waiting for the right opportunity and premium location to open our first Meat & Wine Co venue in Canberra.

“We believe Constitution Place is a perfect iconic site to showcase our food and beverage offering, personable service, Afro-centric atmosphere and dining theatre. We are excited to share our passion and offering to the local community of Canberra very soon,” he said.

The restaurant will serve an Afro-centric menu with premium and dry-aged steaks, a premium wine list, and trending paddock-to-plate dishes and meals.

Being a steakhouse, at the heart of it all is the extensive meat program which includes the AGED program, an exclusive dry-aging process new to the restaurant.

Food manager Thomas Geoffrey explains: “Our AGED program is a new introduction to our extensive meat program this year, incorporating classic dry-aging methods along with a butter aging technique developed over the long months of lockdowns.

“In our humble opinion, this is some of the best dry age beef – our exclusive Monte rib eye is aged on the bone for 6 weeks in flavoured butter to give an exceptionally tender and flavourful dry age steak, cut and prepared in-store each day for our guests.”

For diners new to the brand, Geoffrey suggests trying an AGED rib-eye on the bone for an unparalleled dining experience, South African beef sausages Boerewors for a traditional meal, and the dark chocolate fondant to finish, which is prepared in house and baked to order.

To complete the experience and as the restaurant name suggests, the drinks list at The Meat & Wine Co to accompany your meal is just as important. It includes various popular cocktails, refreshing beers and ciders, and a hand-selected range of wines that have been curated to match the steaks and dishes on the menu.

Beverage manager Ben Preston explains that these varietals come from “producers from South Africa, where our heritage begins, France and Italy, wines from Argentina and our friends in New Zealand, of course”.

Wines from Australia include listings from Margaret River, WA to the Hunter Valley in NSW, cool-climate Tasmanian styles to Mornington and the Yarra Valley in Victoria.

“In addition, we have been liaising with our friends within the Canberra and surrounding wine regions to introduce a selected ‘Back Vintage’ list from some of our favourite wineries throughout the regions. Post fires and floods, we’ll help support our vigneron friends by reintroducing some of their great wines from the past vintages and will continue to source for your drinking pleasure,” he added.

There are more than 25 styles by the glass and over 130 listings on the wine list alone to pick from.

Opening on 21 April, The Meat & Wine Co is located on the ground level at 1 Constitution Ave, Constitution Pl, and will be open from Wednesday to Sunday from 12:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

Original Article published by Sophia Brady on The RiotACT.