MAC & WILD, WEST END

 

Mac and Wild is a meat lover's dream restaurant, recently opened north of Oxford Street by street food heroes The Wild Game Company, who won "Street food of the year" at the YBFs and Best Signature Burger at the National Burger Awards 2015. They source their venison and beef, and in fact all their meat, from their own estate in Sutherland in north Scotland, and it's all butchered by founder Andy's family's butchering company.

Bron and I popped in to Mac and Wild to check out their seasonal, red meat and game heavy menu after our rum tasting with Angostura, and were very pleasantly surprised. As we both come from the West Country the rustic décor of the restaurant appealed to us immediately - there are butcher's hooks hanging from the ceiling, shotgun door handles and small tables (made out of a felled tree from Andy's parent's estate) snuggled together to eat on, all lit with candles. The menu is short and sweet - a few bites, three starters, double the number of mains and a couple of puddings.

We started with a couple of the nibbles - haggis pops with a whisky sauce, and battered fish with tartare sauce. The haggis pops were the winner, and I'd probably only order these again as two deep fried things was a bit too much deep frying to start with for me personally.

Starters were excellent. Mackerel, parsley emulsion, cucumber and cider celery. Perfectly cooked fish whose oiliness was cut through by the parsley, cucumber and apple flavours. Bron had the mushroom, brown butter and spring onion which I also loved, as did she - the mushroom flavour was so well balanced on the dish, and I really liked how they'd used big, thick slices of the almost meaty mushroom. Awful photos courtesy of candle light....

 

Both starters were super tasty, but it's the mains that Mac and Wild are really all about. There's a choice of venison chateaubriand, beef chateaubriand (both served by weight depending on the cuts they have available that day), steak frites, steak salad, the veggie grilled cauliflower steak, fish pie when we were there, and their award winning and frankly amazing venimoo burger - made up of a beef patty, venison patty, béarnaise cheese, caramelised onions and brioche bun. Bron had this and it was all sorts of delicious - melty cheese, slightly pink meat with such depth of flavour.

My food envy was minimal when my main arrived - just over 200g of beef chateaubriand (I'd wanted to try the venison but we'd arrived late on a busy night and the smallest piece left was over 350g, which was way too much for me) though the beef was just as good. Served with some of the best chips I've had, bone marrow sauce and grilled greens, this was my kind of food.

I love it when you can tell the quality of the meat when eating it, and you could really taste the difference in Mac and Wild's meat. Great flavours, and the beef almost melted in the mouth.

Despite being utterly stuffed we shared a pudding which, though good, was my least favourite part of the meal. Chocolate lavender ganache, with yoghurt and oats. It wasn't bad, it was just too much food at the end of a huge meal! I liked the bitter chocolate they'd used in the ganache and the natural yoghurt, so it wasn't too sweet.

Mac and Wild is open for lunch and dinner every day of the week except Sundays, and it was really busy when we went despite being late on a Monday night, so do call and book if you want to go!