Monday, November 29, 2010

Meaty Savoir Faire!

All my life the local butcher’s was practically the centrepiece of the shopping centre of any Australian town. My small town of 1500 people where I grew up had 2. They always had people in them and it wasn’t only a place to buy your meat, but somewhere to catch up on the local gossip and in my case as a child we used to bundle up newspapers and sell to the butcher, for them to wrap the customer’s purchase in. With the advent of the modern day supermarket these are rapidly closing not only in Australia but across the world. I was disappointed when arriving in Toronto after moving from Australia, that the stand alone butcher shop is practically non existent.

However the butcher’s of my childhood was nothing like Victor Churchill Butchers Sydney. This is high end, the best quality and of the most fabulous design. You could be forgiven that when walking into the place, that you were entering into anything else except a butcher. More like a ritzy gallery with the meat on display like works of art, this gets all the senses moving.


Window shopping at a butcher's might seem a little strange, but be prepared to stop and drool over all manner of meats. Not only will you be looking at the meat, but the store itself. The owners engaged Sydney-based Dreamtime Australia Design who’s many restaurant, bar and resort projects around the world combine traditional and modern elements in a deliciously layered and multi-textured way.


Gone are the traditional refrigerated cabinets and parsley dressed meats, replaced with a store infused with European style and modern, cutting-edge design elements. Rich timber wall paneling, timber beamed ceiling and Italian Calcutta marble stone floor, and Himalayan salt brick walls create the new interior of shop. Meat is interspersed with other objects such as those found in a clothing boutique or wine store to create a tableau that is constantly changing. Behind a glass wall on real wooden butcher blocks, the butchers cleave their way through the best cuts of meat, creating a performance show of sorts



So if you are in the mood for a piece of prime rib…….

7 comments:

  1. Wow, I am impressed. With so much cash put into the decor of that shop, I'm surprised that they can make a profit.
    One thing that I loved about living in Europe was going to the little shops, the butcher, the cheese shop, etc.
    For Thanksgiving 1997, I had a dinner party for 12 at my flat in Paris. My kitchen, specifically my tiny oven, couldn't possibly accomodate all of the cooking. So, my butcher roasted 2 large capons (no turkeys available) and delivered them to my apartment. That's the kind of service that you can't get from a large grocery store.

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  2. OH MY! This is simply amazing. Ironically, I was just looking at a photo (of mine) of a German butcher shop in Hoboken, NJ taken in the late 70s; very different then what we see here.

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  3. Nice! It reminds me of...http://www.thebutchershopboston.com/

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  4. Orgasm!

    That wasn't very ladylike of me, was it!?!

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  5. I thought the ‘chook cam’ wall was giant marrow bones...swoon!

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  6. never before seen anything like that ,
    this is luxury , I love!!

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  7. Belle, That is the difference between European and North American cultures. I love going to a different shop for whatever I need.

    Jill, no not very ladylike, but appropriate and you are the only non Aussie who I have seen use the word "chook".

    Bruce, yep this is deffinitely high end.

    Elena, I am glad you love it.

    Il Duce-I love it, next trip to Boston i am making a bee line.

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