London & South East

Three cuts of Meat

Meat Restaurant- London

A dash of religious iconography, a smattering of outlandish art and the smell of frying beef? It can only mean another Meat restaurant has opened its doors in London.

Beginning life two years ago as popup restaurant Meat Wagon, there are now three Meat restaurants in the Capital, Meat Liquor, Meat Market and now Meat Mission.

After the success of the 150 cover Liquor, Meat Market was opened to a critical fanfare in Covent Garden early last year. Mission is still only young, opening its doors in late December 2012 but judging by the progress of its siblings it will grow from strength to strength.

One thing which unifies the differing Meats is the internal flavour – Architects and Interior Designers Shed have ensured each restaurant is unique yet consistent with the overall black comedy theme. The company gives some insight into the designs on their website:

“Originality and nonconformity were at the heart of the Meat Wagon’s philosophy so all environments had to embody this ethos while taking on their own character.

“So with this influence the idea came: a modern day mural to make Michelangelo weep, a ’tattoo’ that would envelop and intertwine with the obscurity of the building. A scene that would tell some of the Meat Wagon’s story so far and mutate the classical architecture into something far more appropriate to the Meat philosophy.”

Indeed Scott Collins, co-founder of Meat, recently said that he wanted to provide somewhere that was “fun and affordable” and that every new addition to the Meat family should “always be an evolution from the previous venue”.

Shed Creative Director, Matt Smith, spoke to Premier Hospitality about the close to the bone design in Meat. He said:

“In every instance we used the location or architecture or something of site itself to try and determine the concept, we took influence from the other restaurants but the clients are very conscious of not making a corporate style chain.”

Meat Restaurant- London

Speaking about Mission, Matt added:

“With Meat Mission for example it was an old missionary, Barnardos used to use it as a soup kitchen in the 19th century.

“We kept a lot of the internal features with a lot of things being inserted – we dropped a ceiling in which was back illuminated and designed like one big stain glass artwork.

“The interior design is very tongue in cheek and is full of pseudo religious artwork, there is a mock painting of the last supper for example in which Jesus and his disciples are eating burgers.”

When asked what the project means to Shed, Matt said:

“It’s nice for us because it is a stark contrast to some of the other works we do, Shed does quite a lot of luxury work but these were budget projects, it keeps us on our toes!”

Visitors to the Meat restaurants can expect a menu bulging with, well, meat! There are bespoke hotdogs, including the Chili Dog, with its smoked beef sausage wrapped in a bun and topped with chili, cheese, onion, jalapenos and mustard.

Meat Restaurant- London

You will also be enticed by the Dead Hippie burger (two beef patties, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onion) and the Double Bubble burger (two beef patties, cheese, pickles, white onions and mustard). In addition there are some truly tantalizing sides and desserts, from chili cheese fries to key lime pie.

To have your own escape into the realms of meat then visit www.meatmission.com.

Oval Workshop ltd 

Established for over twenty years, Oval Workshop manufacture and design bespoke furniture for the retail and commercial sectors.

The company offers free standing and fitted furniture in a variety of materials and finishes depending on design specification.

Operating from a workshop in London, clients are encouraged to visit during production so they can observe the furniture being created and talk to the company further about any more input they may want to have into the project.

Most recently Oval Workshop completed works for the new Meat restaurant, Meat Mission. Speaking about the project, Managing Director, Rob Ward said:

“We completed all the seating, upholstery and tables for Meat Mission, in addition to installing six light boxes.

Meat Restaurant- London

“Mission came to us because we work in a variety of different materials including wood, steel and glass, but also because we are very much a bespoke business.”

When asked what it was Oval Workshop pride themselves on, Rob added:

“Our business works very closely with a design team from an early date, resolving designs and then getting them made and manufactured to a standard that everyone is happy with.”

Cummins & Pope ltd 

Formed in 1969, Cummins & Pope ltd is an established and well recognised main contractor for refurbishment and new build projects.

Quantity surveying, design and build, project management are all provided by the company under one dedicated, experienced team.

The company have worked nationwide with various restaurants, bars, hotels, nightclubs, casinos and fast food outlets offering services from bespoke joinery, wall finishes, carpentry, groundworks, roofing and brickwork to name but a few.

Most recently Cummins & Pope completed works on the unique London restaurant, Meat Mission. Speaking about the project, Director, Mark Pope said:

“It was very interesting working on this project due to the unique bespoke nature of the finishes and designs required by the client, It was certainly pushing boundaries”.

Meat Restaurant- London

When asked what the family run business prides itself on, Mark added:

“We have a great team at Cummins & Pope and we really do pride ourselves on honesty, value and our ability to work within small time frames.

“At Cummins & Pope we understand that every client is different with individual processes, formalities and requests which sometimes present its own challenges

“To ensure we deliver our objectives we approach each customer with a tailor made customer care approach to help achieve their aims and to maintain our level of communication and customer care.”

 Sewfine ltd

Sewfine are a specialist soft furnishing contractors, manufacturing, designing and installing every kind of soft furnishing for hotels, bars, pubs and restaurants.

The company supply roughly 250 pubs a year along with care homes and hotels and have recently supplied partition curtains and room dividers for the new addition to the Meat restaurants, Meat Mission.

Speaking about Sewfine’s involvement in the project, Director, Guy Powis said:

“We previously worked with Meat restaurants on Meat Liquor and we were therefore very interested to get involved in Mission.

“Of course it is also always a pleasure to work alongside Cummins & Pope, whom we have worked with for many years on a variety of projects.”

When asked what Sewfine prides itself on as a company, Guy added:

“Our hook is any application in any public space. From your local pub to the finest hotels such as the Dorchester on Park Lane, Sewfine can provide for all your soft furnishing needs.”

 El Wire Craft

Electroluminescent wire is a new material hitting the UK which offers designers the chance to use lighting in a fresh and imaginative way.

At the forefront of supplying this material is El Wire Craft, the company not only supplies but also offers technical support to customers ensuring the best results are achieved.

Director of El Wire Craft, Dave Molz, took some time to explain what this new material can do. He said:

Electroluminescent wire is a new material which uses less electricity than LEDS, is less polluting in its production and offers a total 360 visibility.

Most recently the company supplied El Wire to Shed in their design of the Meat Mission restaurant. Speaking about the development, Dave added:

“Shed had already come up with some amazing designs for Meat Mission and they got in touch with us in order to check whether their design could feasibly be created using El Wire. We passed designs back and forth until the final design was made by Shed.

“Once Shed had got the material, they then realised how it could be used to really good effect and asked for more.”

When asked what EL Wire Craft pride themselves on as a company, Dave said: “We pride ourselves on a decent understanding of the materials, a love of design and wanting to fulfil people’s dreams as designers.”

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