Hunting and gathering at Kingsley’s Meats

When I walked into Kingsley’s Meats a couple of weeks for the first time, I was immediately struck by the stylish, warm and cosy interior, very befitting of the Rose Bay village shops which it is nestled into.

Headed up by Joel (ex-Hudson’s Meats) and the familiar faces of Mark and Troy (ex GRUB), I found the staff super friendly and helpful from the start.

Here you will find an abundance of grass fed and finished meats, pastured chickens and pork, all from various local farms. One wall is lined with various jars and condiments and the freezer is stocked with organ meats (brains, chicken livers, black pudding), bones for stock making, limited dairy, pies and Careme puff pastry.

But proceed with caution: Don’t expect that ALL of the meats and products will be pasture fed and finished and free of grains and preservatives. If these factors matter to you (and they do to me) then the key is thatyou will have to ASK! There’s a subset of products there that I wouldn’t buy eg cocktail Frankfurt sausages, grain-fed wagyu, rice flour based sausages, pastry, pies and probably most if not all of the visually enticing condiments that grace the shelf. When I questioned Joel on why he stocks these less than super nutritious products he replied that he is servicing a market, and that many of his customers in the local vicinity expect and demand these types of products. Ok, so not everyone has the same standards of nutrition as I do.  I get and respect that. At the end of the day Joel is running a business and has to pay rent and cover other expenses. I appreciate that while I only make and sell products that I am proud of my family and I (and my customers) consuming, for others this may not be a commercial reality. What I DO admire about Kingsley’s Meats is:

(a) the staffs’ knowledge of their products and their complete honesty and transparency in their source and processing. For example, they will NOT hide the fact that some of the products contain preservatives or that the wagyu is grain-fed etc

(b) the staffs’ willingness to tailor a product to meet the customer’s standards (e.g. they will happily make grain-free sausages if you pre-order 5kg and divi up between friends) and they will happily order in less than popular (but nutrient-dense) meats on an ad hoc basis on request (eg lambs brains, chook feet for making gelatinous chicken broth etc).

From the couple of times I have been there I walked out with armfuls of very reasonably priced chicken feet, chicken livers, beef cutlets, eye fillet and black pudding (the black pudding- traditional pork blood sausages- was amazing sliced then pan fried in beef tallow …. tasted like a super flavoursome sausage! Left over pieces were thrown into kids school lunches which they devoured).

I commend Joel and his team for establishing this little gem where we can purchase pastured meats and (often hard to source) organ meats.

Contact details are: 22 Plumer Road, Rose Bay (ph 9363 4971). Closed Sundays.

Kingsleys Meats are in the process of setting up a wesbite but in the meantime you can Like them on Facebook here.

Have you been to Kingsley’s Meats? What did you think of it?

Hunting and gathering at Kingsley's Meats

When I walked into Kingsley's Meats a couple of weeks for the first time, I was immediately struck by the stylish, warm and cosy interior, very befitting of the Rose Bay village shops which it is nestled into. Headed up by Joel (ex-Hudson's Meats) and the familiar faces of Mark and Troy (ex GRUB), I found the staff super friendly and helpful from the start.

Here you will find an abundance of grass fed and finished meats, pastured chickens and pork, all from various local farms. One wall is lined with various jars and condiments and the freezer is stocked with organ meats (brains, chicken livers, black pudding), bones for stock making, limited dairy, pies and Careme puff pastry.

But proceed with caution: Don't expect that ALL of the meats and products will be pasture fed and finished and free of grains and preservatives. If these factors matter to you (and they do to me) then the key is that you will have to ASK! There's a subset of products there that I wouldn't buy eg cocktail Frankfurt sausages, grain-fed wagyu, rice flour based sausages, pastry, pies and probably most if not all of the visually enticing condiments that grace the shelf. When I questioned Joel on why he stocks these less than super nutritious products he replied that he is servicing a market, and that many of his customers in the local vicinity expect and demand these types of products. Ok, so not everyone has the same standards of nutrition as I do.  I get and respect that. At the end of the day Joel is running a business and has to pay rent and cover other expenses. I appreciate that while I only make and sell products that I am proud of my family and I (and my customers) consuming, for others this may not be a commercial reality. What I DO admire about Kingsley's Meats is:

(a) the staffs' knowledge of their products and their complete honesty and transparency in their source and processing. For example, they will NOT hide the fact that some of the products contain preservatives or that the wagyu is grain-fed etc

(b) the staffs' willingness to tailor a product to meet the customer's standards (e.g. they will happily make grain-free sausages if you pre-order 5kg and divi up between friends) and they will happily order in less than popular (but nutrient-dense) meats on an ad hoc basis on request (eg lambs brains, chook feet for making gelatinous chicken broth etc).

From the couple of times I have been there I walked out with armfuls of very reasonably priced chicken feet, chicken livers, beef cutlets, eye fillet and black pudding (the black pudding- traditional pork blood sausages- was amazing sliced then pan fried in beef tallow .... tasted like a super flavoursome sausage! Left over pieces were thrown into kids school lunches which they devoured).

I commend Joel and his team for establishing this little gem where we can purchase pastured meats and (often hard to source) organ meats.

Contact details are: 22 Plumer Road, Rose Bay (ph 9363 4971). Closed Sundays.

Kingsleys Meats are in the process of setting up a wesbite but in the meantime you can Like them on Facebook here.

Have you been to Kingsley's Meats? What did you think of it?

Lettuce Deliver taking over Abundant Organics

Abundant Organics- my online organic retailer of raw dairy, bones, livers, chicken feet, meat, produce and loads more- has recently closed for financial reasons. They have come to an agreement with Lettuce Deliver (based in Homebush) to support customers. All standing orders for raw dairy (ie Cleopatra's milk and cream) can now be filled by Lettuce Deliver. Like Abundant Organics, Lettuce Deliver is a one stop shop supplier of organic food and products. I have been liaising with Lettuce Deliver over the past couple of days and took my first delivery of raw dairy, beef bones, chook carcasses and produce today. I was impressed with the quality of the fresh produce, their service and how receptive they were to my requests for new products. They require customers to purchase a minimum of $30 of produce. They deliver to Bronte 4 times a week with a $6.60 delivery fee. Check out delivery days for your suburb and ordering cut-off times on their website (click on the Lettuce Deliver hyperlink above).

Lettuce Deliver currently stock Cleavers brand of organic meat but shortly will be switching over to Cherry Tree Organic pastured meat from Victoria. Although it is not currently advertised on their site, Lettuce Deliver tell me that they can consistently offer Cherry Tree organic beef bones and chook carcasses (for making stock)  so if you are interested in this please let them know. I also impressed on them the importance of supplying chicken livers (for making pate) and chicken feet (the only way to make chicken stock gelatinous) and they are currently confirming whether or not they can supply these too from Cherry Tree Organics. Fingers crossed. You don't ask, you don't get. That's been my motto in life and it's served me very well to date :-) (always asking sweetly of course!)

While I do also like to physcially go and check out fresh produce in a store (such as Just Organics on Oxford St or BU Organics on Ebley St), I find it convenient to have my 10 litres of raw milk delivered to my home on a weekly basis to save me lugging it from the shops to home (especially in small car with kids in tow!). So I use a combination of retail stores and on-line delivery.

I used to use Lettuce Deliver about 8 years ago then switched to Abundant Orgnaics (for reasons that escape me). Funny how I've now come full circle back to Lettuce Deliver. That's life.

If you try out Lettuce Deliver let me know what you think of them.