Sydney carnivores take note – Haverick Meats is now open to the public!
I first read about this fabulous wholesaler on Not Quite Nigella (thanks Lorraine!) but only recently made the trek to Banksmeadow to check them out. They’re one of Sydney’s leading meat suppliers, providing produce to some of our finest hatted restaurants, including Tetsuya’s and Bilson’s.
Their retail outlet is only open on Saturdays between 9am and 2pm. It’s not a huge space, but every item is of superb quality, and many are vacuum sealed in thick Cryovac packaging, ensuring a long shelf life in the fridge.
Larger cuts, like the pasture-fed striploin below, can be sliced and portioned on request…
These meat trays are the bargain buy at Haverick’s – a far cry from any pub raffle prize, and great value at $70 for over $100 worth of meat. Each contains enough premium meat to feed my family of wolves five times over, working out at a very economical $14 a meal, or $3.50 per person.
On our last visit, we bought fresh Aylesbury Duck marylands – Haverick’s is the only place I’ve found that sells this cut unfrozen…
…some lamb mince and local diced lamb…
…and one of the meat trays for our neighbour Dredgey, who’d given us some money to spend for him. His box included certified Angus rump and sirloin steaks, Otway free range pork cutlets, free range lamb loin chops, and Italian style pork and beef sausages…
Haverick Meats is definitely worth a Saturday morning visit.
Don’t be intimidated by the industrial setting – the shop is staffed by cheerful, approachable butchers who are extremely knowledgeable without being the least bit condescending. They patiently fielded my annoying questions about where the meat came from and how it had been reared. If you’re after a cut which isn’t on display, they’ll be more than happy to go into the warehouse and search it out for you.
We found the prices very reasonable, but what really shone through was the quality of the meat on offer. And strange as this might sound, the outlet had a lovely vibe to it – everyone who worked there was smiling, relaxed and glad to see us. It was a very pleasant way to spend a little time over the weekend.
If you do go, take along a cold bag and some cash or your EFTPOS card, as there’s a 1.5% surcharge for credit cards. Remember to take a sweater as well, as the showroom is basically a fridge – although there are jackets available for loan if required.
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Haverick Meats
13-15 Green Street
Banksmeadow NSW 2019
Phone: 02 9316 8900
www.haverickmeats.com.au
Open to the public: Saturdays 9am to 2pm
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
A really good review and I am quite envious that you have the store :)
Thanks Cindy! As I was looking at all the Angus beef cuts, I remembered your earlier post and could just imagine how much fun you’d have there. I couldn’t believe all the meat trays had Angus steaks in them!! :)
I would love them to package one of everything for me please.
:-) Mandy
If I could, I would definitely organise that for you, Mandy! :)
That is really lovely meat.
They have stores like that in the US- but I am always intimidated by the butchers. Especially at the stores in NYC. I really like the package you bought for your neighbour. EFTPOS is like a debit card?
Heidi, yes EFTPOS is a debit card – over here it’s a commonly used term and stands for (I think) “Electronic funds transfer (at) point of sale”. :)
Thank you for picking up on the point about how pleasant all the staff were. You’re absolutely right – it can be intimidating to even approach such a high-end outlet, but honestly, the people working there were so nice. Customers who were just buying a piece of meat for dinner were treated with the same courtesy as those who were spending hundreds of dollars. And I realised why when we met the owner last time we were there – it was getting busy, so he was at the checkout, packing bags and then he helped us carry them to our car!
Any business that patiently answers all the background questions is all good in my books. From all the times I’ve done it, it usually shows they are proud of the business, really want to show that they do care, and have a healthy respect for the customer. All things that ensure repeat customers!
I remember this review from NQN, will now pop it further up in my memory bank :-)
Brydie, that’s exactly right! If you go, look out for the lamb, it’s very reasonably priced, and free range from Junee NSW – that’s more than I usually know about the lamb I buy! :)
So glad that you enjoyed going there as much as I did! The quality of the meat is just so fantastic isn’t it! :D
Lorraine, thanks again for the headsup! It’s a great find! :)
Oh I just love a good butcher shop. This is brilliant. I’m going to spend some time with my local in the next few weeks. He deals with game meats too. Thanks for sharing. :)
Anna, sounds like you’re in for a treat – look forward to reading about it!
Wow -those meat trays look amazing! How lucky you are to have such a wonderful resource.
Amanda, we’re very fortunate indeed! I’ve just got duck marylands roasting as I type.. :)
Good review, Celia. We’ve got a meat supplier here (Gippsland) that supplies out of the factory, prices aren’t too bad. What’s the definition of ‘free range lamb’. I’m always interested in how they define these terms.
Meaghan, it did make me wonder too. :) I thought all lamb in Aus was pretty much free range, but then again I thought that about beef as well, and so much of it is feedlotted these days…
Celia, your posts about meat, produce markets and specialty food shops leave me drooling and make me (almost) wish I lived in Sydney.
Liz, you don’t need to live here, but it’s a nice place to visit! (With an esky.. :)).
how fantastic – I really wish we had a decent butcher here – it is the one downside of living in a fishing village :)
Yes, but the upside is occasionally, someone gifts you 25kg of sushi grade tuna! :)
Looks wonderful! So worth getting quality as you can actually serve up so much less too as the taste is better.
Anne, that’s so true – the really high quality does seem to stretch a long way, even with our boys! :)
Ooh, great photos, Celia. This looks very similar to the place where I’ve been getting our meat from (Hardwicks, Kyneton, Vic). It’s straight from the abbatoir (with some bought in items), cryovaced and stored in the coolroom. I always take a big parka to wear in there because I spend too long eyeing off all the produce! Good quality and savings to be had by buying this way.
Chris, it does sound very similar – and it’s freezing in there! I look like a dork because I always take gloves! :)
Good butchers are fantastic. Our local one here is pretty awful – I won’t shop there. He seemed to miss the part of butcher training that is “butcher charm school”. (Just love a charming butcher.) Should have seen him when I asked him to bone some lamb for me…
Vix, the older I get, the more important service becomes to me..
Ooo so where does the meat come from? And do you know how it was slaughtered?
Ali, it’s all Australian meat, I believe. Much of it was labelled with where it comes from – beef from Tasmania, lamb from Junee (NSW), Otway free range pork (all female, from Vic and SA, I believe). I did ask about some of the other meat, and the butchers were able to tell me where it came from, and whether it was grass or grain fed. I’m not sure how it’s slaughtered though, sorry, but I think it’s all done in Australia.
What a super find! I’d love to have a place to go to like that to buy my meats. It does say alot about a place when you actually see the owner working and where the employees are actually ‘happy’ to help you. I always ask tons of questions too, because you can never have too much information.
Mel, that’s exactly right! It’s really great that a wholesaler who sells to $200/head restaurants has staff who were willing to go into the warehouse to hunt out six grass-fed striploin steaks for me… :)
Dear friends of Haverick Meats! Thankyou so much for all your kind comments and fantastic feedback.
We are a second generation family business, passionate about what we do and like to see members of the community have access and enjoy the same products we serve to the best restaurants in town @ reasonable prices!
Look forward to meeting you personally on Saturdays!
John, thanks for stopping by to leave a comment! Your outlet is fantastic! :)
I have a friend who buys ethically slaughtered meat… I’m not 100% sure what it entails, but it sounded good and I think it’s a wagon that I would like to hop on. I am probably thinking more of chicken and pork rather than beef or lamb (which I don’t really eat). I have tossed up in the past of whether I would be able to raise meat chickens and top them myself, but I am really not confident of my chances!
Ali, it really does take a lot of guts to slaughter your own, and I’m such a wuz. The first time I held a warm freshly laid egg nearly made a vegetarian out of me. Luckily (or unluckily) I’m too Chinese to miss out on my meat for too long! :)
Thanks Celia it`s so important to find suppliers happy to share worthwhile information about their products whilst providing that wonderful word “service”. We wait and eat fish until a local butcher slaughters his own beasts which he so lovingly talks of.
We miss not having access to our own chicken, lamb, pork and beef but those days are history although we are considering once again growing our own albeit in a small scale. The taste is incomparable.
Lorna, being able to buy direct from the farmer has to be the next best thing to raising your own meat!
This is definitely on my to-do list for next time I come to Sydney. It’s hard to find great service, so when it’s combined with great qualitly there’s no resisting!
Make sure you ring me, because you know I’ll come with you! :)
Hi Celia you can get unfrozen duck marylands at AC Butchery in Marion St and also in the Norton Street Plaza store (the chicken one). Theyre about $22 for 2 duck marylands. But definitely looks like I’ll have to make the trip to Banksmeadow!
Thanks for that, Deb, I don’t often go to AC Butchery, but it’s good to know they’re available there. Having said that, I paid $23 for four marylands, so it’s almost half the price at Haverick’s! :)
Cooked the lamb shoulder roast you got me from there for dinner last night Celia. It was fab. Slow roasted, using a Spanish influenced recipe from Moro and Moro. Very nice indeed. And you know I loved the duck marylands too. I can see me reorganising my Saturday mornings to fit in a visit to this place!
SG, you are definitely going to have to go. Make sure you sign up to the newsletter before you go, and they’ll email you a 10% off voucher to use the following Saturday…
So…officially now my favourite butcher! Its only 15mins from my home and I had no idea about it – so a BIG thanks for sharing !
I bought a stack of meat there on the weekend and they gave me a free chook!!!! Awesome place – great prices.
Hey, that’s great news Karen, I’m so glad you liked it as much as we did! Gotta love a free chook! :)