Please note, MeatUp has now closed. Time Out Food editors, July 2019.
Poor old Wandsworth has never had a lot going for it. It’s always been where the A3 meets the South Circular – a mess of highways and dirty buildings, the place you drive through on your way to Balham or Fulham or Putney or anywhere else.
But step out of Wandsworth Town station and you enter an oasis of calm in the shape of Old York Road, an island in the surrounding sea of chaos. Indie shops, litter-free, the sun always shining – London village life permeates its very streets. And it’s here that grill and BBQ specialists MeatUp have, understandably, decided to lay their hat.
The gaff is ubiquitous checklist cool: exposed brick walls, distressed paintwork, wooden tables, dark leather chairs, funky soundtrack, open kitchen, bar and communal seating. To start, spare ribs saw three slabs of smoky pork lightly glazed with a BBQ sauce and served with a piquant red slaw. The slaw comes with most everything – it’s a perfect accompaniment to the meats, with a good crunch and warmth that stays in the mouth a while after everything’s been devoured. Spiced Cornish crab with sourdough toast was sizeable, and equally satisfying.
Steaks (in various cuts and weights), sea bream and pork belly were all tempting, but we were won over by the short rib, a huge hunk of melt-in-the-mouth beef, licked with a spicy maple sauce, served on a bone literally too big for the plate (and only slightly marred by a lump of inedible fat at the base). The burger was no slouch either – slathered in Monterey Jack and juicy even when cooked medium-well. Should you make it to the dessert menu, take the blindfold/pin approach – they’re all good. A carnivore’s paradise in Wandsworth... who’d have thunk it?