Exceptional butchery service in Moira

GlynD

Just tried Moira Meat Centre. I had been itching to for quite some time as, to us, McCartney's has gone way downhill and I had bought a few sausage rolls on the way past and though they were the best I'd had in years.

Obviously a much smaller shop but the produce on offer was gorgeous looking. We spent just under £60 with a very friendly, chatty butcher who then carried our bags to the car for us and spent about five minutes having a natter.

If the meat's half as good as it looks we'll be back in this butchers, even though we have a wee drive to get to it.

Cotta

Only you could be itching to go to a butchers Glynn, .

GlynD

Cotta wrote: »

Only you could be itching to go to a butchers Glynn, .

Aye you're right. Even the current Mrs GlynD says that I shop in a butchers the way she shops for clothes.

saverbuyer

Is it an actual butcher? As in are they buying/bringing sides in and cutting them up on site?

There seems to be a load of butchers setting/setup shop where they are obviously buying in trays of pre-cut meat from processors and selling it on or have a number of shops and they work from a factory which does all the boning and all the “butcher” is, is a sales assistant. I asked a local butcher for a particular cut recently and he didn’t have a notion.

I like a butcher who has either raised his own cattle, got it slaughtered and butchered it, or one who with a small operation and can choose the exact high quality beasts they want. It’s getting increasingly hard to find.

dmxdave

I would highly recommend Jonathan McDowell, very high quality meat.

http://www.yell.com/biz/farmview-home-butchery-belfast-720513/

GlynD

saverbuyer wrote: »

Is it an actual butcher? As in are they buying/bringing sides in and cutting them up on site?

There seems to be a load of butchers setting/setup shop where they are obviously buying in trays of pre-cut meat from processors and selling it on or have a number of shops and they work from a factory which does all the boning and all the “butcher” is, is a sales assistant. I asked a local butcher for a particular cut recently and he didn’t have a notion.

I like a butcher who has either raised his own cattle, got it slaughtered and butchered it, or one who with a small operation and can choose the exact high quality beasts they want. It’s getting increasingly hard to find.

No this is the real deal. We watched several butchers at work whilst there. In particular another lady who was being served asked for four 1" thick fillets. The butcher went into his cold room and came out with a huge lump of what used to be a bull and cut the most delicious looking steaks off it. Allowing her to examine them before wrapping. There were one or two things which had been obviously bought in such as black and white puddings but there was also a selection of pies, sausage rolls and deli items, all made on the premises.

None of this was over the top btw. This wee shop only holds about 6 people. It's been there for a lifetime. Our butcher today was telling us that the original owner died last year and explained his wife was now running it.

The chap who served us used to work in McCartney's in the golden days when they were the most famous butcher's in Ireland. McCartney's is right across the street from this little place and they've co-existed throughout the years. That must be a sign he's ok too because you know what Moira people are like.

GlynD

dmxdave wrote: »

I would highly recommend Jonathan McDowell, very high quality meat.

http://www.yell.com/biz/farmview-home-butchery-belfast-720513/

That's Castlereagh though. Another 40 minutes drive for us past Moira.

jtk174

Have you tried the butchers in Waringstown. I am not an expert in this area, but I know he has his own cattle and makes pies etc on the premises.

GlynD

jtk174 wrote: »

Have you tried the butchers in Waringstown. I am not an expert in this area, but I know he has his own cattle and makes pies etc on the premises.

Didn't even know there was a butcher in Waringston.

jtk174

There's not a big lot to see in the town but it does have Desi the butcher and a fruit and veg shop next door then a coffee shop next to that.
They are about 200 yards past the Planters pub and right across the road from Waringstown House.

Any meat, pies, sausage rolls etc that I tried have been excellent.

x12yhp

I have recently spent quite a bit more time in Moira and have tried a bunch of butchers both in Moira and Portadown. I was not massively impressed by McCartneys, they have a really nice new shop and they have plenty of choice but I was just left a little cold by the meat I tried. The Meat Centre has become my 'go-to', as detailed above, the guys are extremely friendly and are always happy to have a bit of a chat, advise either what you want or listen to what you want to do. A great example was prime rib which is a family fave. I told the guys what I wanted to do with it, that I wanted a nice layer of fat and I wanted it on the bone. They cut it just how I wanted and spent a bit of time removing some of the more gristley bits. We went to another butcher when with parents and got a similar cut. They removed various bits and stripped down much of the fat (admittedly we were not so specific but they told us that this was the best way to do it). The results were that the Meat Centre cut was by far the tastier.

I definitely second the recommendation to the Meat Centre.