Hunting and gathering at Kingsley’s Meats
Becca Crawford
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?
