Sydney's favourite local butchers

If you have a conscience about the meat you eat, Feather and Bone speaks your language. They’re ethically minded regarding animal welfare (and know each of their local suppliers personally) and they practice whole-animal sort of butchery to be as sustainable as possible, right down to soil and genetic variety in the animals it buys and butchers. Order online for delivery or pick-up, or stop in to eye-up your meat first and check out the other local, ethical produce they stock (Country Valley milk and yoghurt, Katie Swift cordials, Pepe Saya butter and ghee and more). You can also hire a spit if you’re ambitious with your grilling goals.

This might be the poshest butcher in Sydney, in the whole of Australia and quite possibly the world (without a hint of hyperbole in sight). Its current incarnation (there has been a butcher on the same site since 1876) is thanks to Victor and Anthony Puharich of Vic’s Premium Quality Meats. In 2009 they created this retail ode to the animal in all its gloriously edible forms. Three luxuriously large butcher blocks behind a curtain of glass set the stage for carcass-carving theatre. A display case almost groans under the weight of the cuts within while pates, terrines and sausages are displayed like pastries in the finest French patisseries. Gleaming metal accents complement the marble, stone and glass everywhere. And you’ll marvel at the wall made entirely of Himalayan sea-salt bricks. All of their meat is Australian in origin, including whatever is scenting the air on the Labesse Giraudon rotisserie that day.

The only fully kosher butcher in Sydney is found in Bondi. On first sight, it might appear to be a Spartan operation but it has offered a full menu that have been both slaughtered and prepared according to strict Jewish dietary laws for decades. It draws customers from all over New South Wales and is a household name within the Sydney Jewish community. If you can’t make it to Bondi, Hadassa Kosher Butchery delivers to nearby suburbs and they sell some cooked products too, if you need something in a pinch.

Sam the Butcher supplies the Bondi bubble with its organic (bio-dynamic and grass-fed) meat fix. A blue-painted brick wall makes it stand out from the retail crowd on Bondi Road and broadcasts that Sam’s is also where locals go to get their hands on more exotic meats, like wild boar, emu, crocodile, goose, camel and kangaroo. Current owner and fourth-generation butcher Sam Diasinos took over in 1999 (there’s been a butcher on the site for approximately 70 years) and has been encasing gluten-free Merguez sausages and the like ever since.

The Northern Beaches deserve a good butcher, and they recently got it with the newly opened Fairlight Butcher. This small, white-tiled shop offers everything a good butcher should – things like house-cured biltong and dry-aged ribeye steaks – and pays particular attention to provenance and quality, like the rest on this list. Lamb shanks come from Cowra, ‘open-range’ eggs are courtesy of Papanui and, naturally, they too love a little Tassie beef. They’re also community minded, distributing fruit and veg boxes directly from the local growers’ market (orders need to be placed by Wednesday). The shelf of condiments also means you’ll leave with whatever sauces you think you’ll need later. It’s only weeks old but already feels like a neighbourhood establishment.

Like many of the top butchers in town, they’re all about ‘paddock to plate’, working with suppliers and farmers to bring you everything from Tasmania’s Cape Grim grass-fed beef to Byron Bay’s Black Berkshire pork. It’s a high-end yet accessible shop with knowledgeable staff. Shelves and tables showcase grocery items that go well with your meat buys (things like fresh lemons, mustards and small-batch barbecue sauces) and polished concrete floors give the space an industrial-chic edge. Grass-fed beef is always in stock and sits alongside things like local lamb chops, finely ground house-made Toulouse sausages and ready-to-cook things like prosciutto-wrapped chicken breasts, which make the perfect mid-week dinner. Game like quail, duck and venison and offal like Haggis are available if you give them a few days of notice. If you’re tight on time, shop online and opt for home delivery.

Bondi folk are big on local produce, and Field to Fork are proud to be at the forefront when it comes to supplying locals with ethically sourced free range meats. Your beef, pork, lamb and chicken all come directly from low stress facilities where the meat has been handled humanely. Butchery is in this family-owned business’s blood with more than 25 years of experience carving meat. Along with the raw goods, Field to Fork also have a commercial kitchen where they prep family-style meals including slow braised lamb shanks, beef bourguignon and lasagne. Also, make sure you try their traditional biltong – it’s like fatty, chewy meat candy.

Would you believe you can get some of Australia’s best steaks right next to the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest fish market? Just across from the Sydney Fish Market’s seagull-filled carpark, Vic’s Meat Markets stocks plenty of top-tier Wagyu alongside grass-fed steaks, game meats, poultry and lamb. If you’re up for a challenge you can purchase a whole animal side ready for you to butcher back at home, or leave it to the experts who will break it down for you however you need it. If all the meat shopping makes you hungry, make sure you pop next door after for a brisket sandwich.