The Meat & Wine Co.

This African-inspired premium steakhouse is inside an 1896-built heritage building. The 140-seat restaurant is the seventh in the group, joining others in Melbourne and Sydney.

The menu features plenty of flame-cooked steaks (grass-fed, grain-fed and Wagyu), ribs, and skewered proteins ranging from chicken to prawns to kangaroo. Beef is basted with a secret recipe known only to the chain’s owner, who moved to Australia from South Africa in 2003. You can choose from nine different sauces to add once the steak hits your plate. The comprehensive selection of entrees includes Boerewors, a type of South African sausage, alongside Szechuan calamari and glazed pork belly.

The restaurant caters for pescatarians and vegetarians – there’s a good parmesan panna cotta entrée – and there are vegan options, too.

There is consistency across all Meat & Wine Co. outlets; you can go from a Meat and Wine Co in Perth to one in Sydney or Melbourne and your steak is going to be cooked the same way every time. And the company says it can trace meat back to the individual animal. Beef comes from cattle reared in Queensland by Global Meats.

The wine list, though, has a more local focus; half of it is devoted to West Australian wine.

The Federation-era interior has been left largely untouched – contemporary African furniture and decor is mostly responsible for the transformation. The dining area is separated into two rooms, with the main space a more traditional steak house in full view of the kitchen. The adjoining heritage room features a whisky bar offering 50 different varieties.