sams butcher is not in kelston any more he was good but used other people to make his bacon t hats…read morehow he got awards not him he used his name the bacon was made from a guy from the bacon co in south auckland

If awards are anything to go by then Sams Butchery consistently comes out on top…read more I have tried their meat cuts, sausages and home cured bacon and have to say they are well deserving winners of best in the country. For the summer barbecue we often picked up Sams Butchery homemade pork, lamb and beef sausages including Italian and Chorizo flavours. The store is very big and refrigerators well stocked with top cuts of meat. If you have a special order then ask the team as they'll be happy to accommodate. Another reason I am a regular shopper here is that their prices are very reasonable overall and Sam does a good job at having weekly specials.

The King of meat?, um I think not! This store doesn't really have alot going for it. It's meant to…read morebe a specialist meat supermarket but it really doesn't have the quality of product to be able to stand up to scrutiny. The prices are cheap true but so is the meat ,I don't know if I would actually trust anything that came from this store. It really does feel like a meat market, and kind of seedy in a weird way. If you are after a cheap cut of meat, you would be better off going to a supermarket like Pak n Save or Countdown while they've got some decent specials on. What brought us in initially was the giant sign outside the shop that advertised a fantastic price on a 1kg bag of bacon pieces, it didn't help that we couldn't find them anywhere, and when we asked the guy at the shop he said they had run out. It would help to take the sign down in that case. While the guy working there was helpful enough, it wasn't his fault that he was the only one working at the time when we were in there. It's a decent size shop and one guy can only do so much.

I hope that my frequent five star ratings of establishments does not diminish the veracity of what…read moreI type in these reviews. Writing reviews for me is more about giving my fellow yelp family the opportunity to visit these locations to sample, taste, buy and own the best of what is available whilst getting exceptional quality for their money and unparalleled service. I'm not about bargains, I prefer quality over quantity. And if it's good enough, large volumes can be consumed...I've been known to eat three meals in one sitting with dessert and the usual accompaniment of vino. Franklin Country Meats (FCM) is an fine example of a butcher that puts out high quality fare. If you're after volume at a cheap price, then I'd recommend you go somewhere else. If you're happy to pay a little bit extra for fantastic meat, then this is definitely one butcher to stop in at. A friend had recommended FCM to me some years ago. He stated that the meat doesn't shrink like other meats purchased at other butchers'. He named one franchise in particular which just happened to be the one that I 'used to buy' my meat from. That and a supermarket chain, both of which shall remain unnamed. I'd always thought of meat as being a means to an end...something that was served up but couldn't really be dressed up much more than what it was...because it was meat. I've always thought that if I wanted to eat an exceptional cut, it would have to be served up at a fine dining restaurant. It annoys me now, that I'd held this misconception for some years because the two best and most memorable steaks that I had ever eaten in the world were not at fine dining establishments. One was at a restaurant in Dahab, Egypt where the beast was slaughtered and prepared to be served the following day. What was surprising was that this restaurant did not purport itself to be anything other than a place for sustenance, nourishment and 'hydrating' after a spectacular day diving in the Red Sea. The other most memorable steak of equal standing was from a cafe that I happened across in Brussels, Belgium. It was a €5 Euro meal which had steak, pomme frites and salate. They didn't even ask me how I wanted it, and it was served rare! What an absolute delight that steak was. And if you've been to Belgium, you'd know that they do food fantastically. Now, coming back to FCM. The reason this review has come about in a roundabout way, is because I wanted to highlight that you don't need t spend top dollar to have the best steak in the world. Hotel Kostes, Paris. Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai. Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park. Le Méridien Etoile, Paris. London Hilton on Park Lane. The Grosvenor, Park Lane. Fantastic meals, I have enjoyed at all of these places, but you could have five star quality meat from Franklin Country Meats. Their pork marinated ribs are divine and they have gold medal, silver medal and bronze medal awarded sausages. Their casarole cuts are top notch and do not shrink when you slow cook them. All in all, the best of the best, except for the bacon and ham, which I go to Pokeno Bacon for. Love, love, love all the same!!!

From the owner: We have a large range of specialty Meat products.read more

A hidden gem. The tandoori chicken and spicy lamb sausages are the best in NZ. If your anywhere…read morenear St Luke's or want to go for a drive to find a decent butcher this is the place.

I don't normally enjoy going to butchers. I don't like all the dead meat reminding me that I should…read morebe a full on vegetarian. I don't like the smell. I don't like how cold it is. I could go on, but I won't. Instead I'll go on about why a recent trip to the Henderson Aussie Butcher wasn't so bad. In fact, it was excellent. Not because the store was clean (it was), not because there was lots of variety of meat (there was), and not because it was cheap (it was). It was because of the friendliest dude in the whole world serving me. I told him the chicken I wanted, and instead of standing there in silence while he bagged my fresh meat, he talked about how gutted he was that he was working today because he was missing out on his nephew's first birthday, but he had to come to work because they were six staff short; they usually had 11 staff on a Saturday but today they only had about five. I didn't even notice I was waiting, until he finished his story and gave me my wrapped up purchase. Excellent tactic. Excellent customer service.

These guys are amazing - their sausages are out of this world. I'll never buy a supermarket sausage…read moreagain! I have a real aversion to horrible, unknown gristly bits in my sausages, and I have yet to have that experience with a single sausage from this butcher. Plus they've given me a hot sausage from the pan a few times now when I've gone in for my pork chipolatas, and they've all been delicious. Their bacon is pretty awesome too, but I eat a lot of bacon and it's a little too pricy for me to justify buying it from them every time.

I once stopped here for some burger patties as I wanted to make handmade burgers for dinner than…read morenight. Despite there being none made up, the butcher was happy to make some up for me. Less than ten minutes later they were ready, and they made for an excellent dinner. Another time I was asked if I would like to sample a sausage that they had cooking away, and as it was conveniently at lunch I obliged. It was a sausage from the Pokeno Butchery (Mt Eden Butchers have only recently started selling these, along with their award winning bacon). It was very tasty indeed and I think they make a great option for an easy dinner. If you're after friendly, helpful service with an emphasis on quality - visit Mt Eden Traditional Butchery and see if you too become a fan.

Great selection of meat. Place looks clean too. Good service…read more They even honored our special request how to pack our meat because we had to transport them on a flight. Professionally done!!

I never gave the Aussie Butcher much thought. It seemed weird and unpatriotic to patronize an…read moreAussie brand in NZ when there were equivalent alternatives. I've heard the cheesy radio ads and just clumped them in with the likes of the Mad Butcher. I was assigned sausage duty for a social club event at work and on recommendation I decided to inquire with the Mt Roskill location. The manager, (I think his name was Paul), was super helpful and gave us a great discount due to the quantity ordered. They had an extensive range of flavours which were all offered at the the same price and gluten free. We ended up going with 100% beef and the Garlic & Smoked Paprika options. The manager advised that they made sausages every Monday and Thursday and since the event was on Friday, we were getting them fresh as! When I went to pick them up all the staff were so incredibly friendly and the manager was so insistent that I soak the sausages in hot water for 10 minutes before grilling them that he gave me a bucket to do so free of charge. I was really surprised at the wide selection of quality yet reasonably priced meat and specialty cuts. At the social club event, the sausages were such a hit and inspired many people to talk about their deliciousness. The Aussie Butcher isn't super boutique but also isn't a cheap meat lot. You can tell they care about the product and are keen on providing reasonable prices. Totally a fan!

Hi all, We visited the Westmere Butchery at the weekend for…read morestaples of sausages, steak and chook. All were lovely! Clean and well prepared, and very tasty, which always does it for me. Good on you, keep up the great work. We'll always return to an establishment that provides good service, and a product of value. Thank you :-)

Excellent selection and friendly staff…read more Fabulous range of meats, good parking, The only downside is the Arsenal poster

The Whenuapai Meat Centre is known by most West Auckland locals as the best place to go for fresh…read morecuts of meat. Incredibly well priced, you can't find anything else like it! Having grown up in central Auckland, I only recently discovered the Whenuapai Meat Centre. As an enthusiastic chef, my boyfriend's dad swears by it. He refuses to buy his meat anywhere else, and insisted I accompany him on a trip to the butchery. Whenuapai is a pretty small place, and the atmosphere of the Meat Centre was really friendly and community oriented. The two guys working there both knew my boyfriend's dad by name, and he in turn knew them and every other customer in the store. It was really nice - despite being in the biggest city in New Zealand it felt like we were in a tiny town. The lamb chops we bought were some of the biggest I have ever seen and this butchery had a great selection of meats and cuts. Though I'm not an expert, I could tell it was all great quality and that the butchers were really experienced. They also seemed to genuinely enjoy their job - both men wore big smiles and even gave us a discount for being regulars. If you're ever out in West Auckland, don't settle for the shitty overpriced meat you find in the local Pak N Save or Countdown. Head out to Whenuapai and give these guys a go. It's a real Kiwi experience - real meat from real Kiwi blokes, and you can't beat the prices!

We stumbled across Earth Seed Organics when looking for a cafe close to the train tracks for my…read moretrain-mad little man. Quaintly situated in what appears to an old railway cottage, it seemed to suit our purpose nicely, despite being a little "cosy" due to the shelves of organic produce and the general layout. The range of food was relatively limited and not everything was labelled. Given the clientele that this store is likely to attract, I would have expected what is fast becoming standard allergen/vegetarian labelling, but some foods did not have names or prices. We settled for pies (the little dude had apple, I had beef), juices and the little dude had a hot chocolate. I'd been hoping to indulge in a coffee myself, but the café had run out of soy milk - again, quite surprising, given the expected clientele. The service was friendly, if a little slow and vague. Bizarrely, given the ethos of the organic movement, the only tableware available was disposable plastic. It wasn't a terrible experience - we did get to see a lot of trains - but there are other cafes across the city that are doing the organic thing better, and we'd be more likely to visit those if that was what we had been searching for.

My first review for these guys was back in Feb 2013, so time for an update me thinks...and an…read moreupgrade. I recently popped in here for something to eat mid week. They have had a few changes since I lasted visited; less cafe space for indoor patrons, but more food to buy on the run,from warm homemade lasagnes, to healthy gourmet salads. Something that hadn't changed was the service, quite blaise to be honest. Friendly-ish. The amount of amazing, delicious food on offfer is the biggest drawcard. The snug little space is really inviting too. The long queue in front of me indicates I am not the only one that thinks so.