Whole Beast Butchery

Where are the chicken breasts? The chops? And what about the mince? You’ll need to ask the guy in the apron, Marcus Papadopoulo, who will go to the cool room and grab a whole beast. He’ll carry it to the wooden block in the centre of the shop and cut a hunk to either wrap up for you to take home or first mince, if that’s the cut you require.

At this butchery-provedore everything is stored and dry-aged whole, a process that enhances the flavour and tenderness of the meat. Papadopoulo, who’s from one of Sydney’s best butchers, Vic’s Meats, carves everything to the weight and specifications of the customer, including steaks, racks of lamb ribs or slabs of pork belly.

If you have no idea how many grams of sirloin you need, or how lean or fatty a cut your recipe requires, Papadopoulo will figure it out. If you need 13 chicken livers or 80 grams of lamb hearts, he can get that, too.

If you’re after steak, the beef is aged between six to eight weeks. The pig, lamb and beef carcases (for other cuts of beef) are aged a minimum of 14 days. The carcases come directly from small farms, and Papadopoulo looks for beasts that have been grass fed, are an optimal size, and have good muscle confirmation and fat coverage.

There are also rillettes, pâtés, jars of pickles, and tomato sugo and chilli jam, all made on the premises. The only things that aren’t, the cured meats, are from industry legends De Palma Salumi in Padstow and Pino’s Dolce Vita in Kogarah.