Premier Hospitality

Meat & Wine Co Barangaroo

Meat & Wine
Written by Roma Publications

The Meat & Wine Co Barangaroo

Sydney restaurant, The Meat & Wine Co, recently opened its doors to a stylish new fit out with harbour side views in the streets of Barangaroo. Following its opening, the restaurant has been shortlisted for a 2018 Restaurant Bar & Design Award in the category of Australia & Pacific Restaurant.

Specialist strategy, design and build agency Design Partnership worked alongside AVA Construction to complete the project and together they brought to life the vision of the Barangaroo venue for the restaurant’s owner, Bradley Michael.

Callie van de Merwe, the founder of South African-based studio, Design Partnership, said: “We drew rich inspiration from both Aboriginal and African traditions. These visual cues are reflected in some of the architectural elements of the restaurant.”

Traditional African Villages where private and public spaces are intertwined was one of the main inspirations for the space.  In an African Village, smaller internal mud, twig or adobe structures are placed in a way that the negative space between the structures forms all of the public spaces, with a tree acting as the anchor point for the entire village, becoming a place for teaching or storytelling.

Whilst the spaces and shapes with the restaurant may seem a little random and organic at first, the natural flow and rhythm become apparent as one moves through it. Whilst the traditional African village as a concept was very plausible and made sense as a blueprint for the creative development of the space, research on the Barangaroo site revealed a very significant historical Aboriginal context. It was therefore incumbent for Design Partnership to take this into consideration and find a way to stay true to the original intent whilst also paying homage to habits, tradition and culture of the original people around the Barangaroo area.

The architecture and design therefore pays homage to Barangaroo’s historical Aboriginal fishing culture through elaborate ceiling installations crafted from a variety of replica short staffed paddles scattered over both the ground and first floor seating areas.

Meat & Wine

Traditional regional vernacular African architecture has also been reinterpreted through a lattice framework that wraps around the entire first floor. This lattice details draw inspiration from traditional fabrication methods seen in a Swazi Beehive or Adobe Mud Hut, which both have intricate lattice frameworks at their heart. Moreover, South African vibes are infused through the textures, tonalities and finishes throughout the entire space, such as South African hand stitched leather and handmade furniture, alongside hand blown glass lights from Swaziland.

“Our sense of a quality visit is not as much linked to the memory of the taste of the food as it is to the series of great experiences we have had in a restaurant,” said Merwe. “The adage that people ignore design that ignored people, therefore remained the constant gauge to measure every single design decision made.”

As well as expansive seating across both floors of the restaurant, there are also a number of self-contained private dining rooms for groups of various sizes. Whisky enthusiasts will be drawn to the dedicated Whisky Room which houses endless bottles of Glenmorangie and is decorated with striking finishes such as hand-stitched leather and handmade furniture from South Africa.

The Meat & Wine Co founder, Bradley Michael commented: “With great attention to detail and no expense spared, the new flagship location will be the most lavish and exceptional Meat & Wine Co venue to date, and is now open to the public with a brand new menu of distinctive South African flavours.”

Established in 2000, The Meat & Wine Co brings a personable service to give the sense of a ‘home away from home,’ while focusing on meat yet still bringing guests a cutting edge modern cuisine. The company currently has seven locations with sites also in Circular Quay, Perth and South Yarra.

The Meat & Wine Co Barangaroo is located at 100 Barangaroo Avenue, on the corner of Barangaroo Avenue and Watermans Quay and is open Sunday to Thursday from 12pm until 10pm and Friday to Saturday from 12pm until late.

For more information visit: www.themeatandwineco.com/locations/barangaroo/

Meat & Wine

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Roma Publications