Believe or not, I imagined I had already written and published this blog post. It wasn’t until I was writing my newsletter (sign up here, lads) and realised that I had nothing to link to. This is what happens when you’re a mum, I think. You just lose all sense of time and think you’ve done things you just thought about!
Anyway, let’s get down to it.
You remember for my very first Mother’s Day, the total babes at Virgin Experience Days treated me to a lush spa day at Champneys Tring? Well they also decided to treat Josh for his first Father’s Day! They sent over a list of cool Dad-like things, y’know like football stadium tours and car experiences (very stereotypical I know), and Josh picked out the one he wanted straight away. A butchery masterclass at Mac and Wild in London.
I admit my stomach dropped a bit. I’m a bit of a ~flexitarian~. I eat veggie half the week and I’m fussy with meat in general. And the meat I do eat I like to pretend isn’t from an animal. So when I read about this experience I was kinda worried it would be all blood and guts and carving up a dead animal.
Don’t worry, it totally wasn’t scary.
We arrived at Mac and Wild in London’s Devonshire Square and headed to their bar for a cocktail to start. I went for the Wild Fizz and Josh had the Foraged Old Fashioned. Both tasty. It’s all very cool and dimly-lit in there, and did I mention there’s a virtual reality shooting range too? It feels like a very sophisticated Scottish man cave.
When they were ready for us, we headed off to a little room out the back, set up for these kind of masterclasses and demonstrations. We each had our own station but it’s a very casual, informal setting so you feel like you’re with mates at a bar still.
So wait, how come we’ve come here for a masterclass in the first place?
Well, the food has won a ton of awards and originates in the Scottish Highlands from a family game-butchery business. Mac and Wild are all about showcasing good quality meat from this part of Scotland. They believe in eating less meat but eating the right meat. At least that’s what the owner Andy Waugh thinks. Andy himself actually hosted our masterclass and it was so awesome and inspiring to hear someone talk about the thing that they’re passionate about; in this case meat and butchery. But it doesn’t matter what it is, I think that passion is contagious and you come away feeling like you want to go chase your dreams or something.
Andy brought out a bit chunk of beef, not at all bloody or gory, and explained to us what all the different steak cuts were. And it was quite the education. For example, I had no idea a T-bone steak was actually half sirloin and half fillet. Cool, huh?
The experience we were booked onto was all about the tomahawk steak, so we moved onto cutting off our very own tomahawks. And because we are all absolute newbies to butchery, we had pretty chunky, misshapen steaks! But it was fun anyway. Did I mention we were wearing chef whites like we were on Masterchef? Yes, you’re right, that’s absolutely the best part.
Once cut, we went about shaving off the meat from the bone so that you have a proper, Flintstones-esque bit of meat on a stick. And to finish, a little Scottish whiskey tasting with the group! Delightful.
The Virgin Experience Days voucher also included a steak dinner in the Mac and Wild restaurant, so after finishing our butchery masterclass we went back up to the restaurant to enjoy the fruits of our labour.
There were six of us in total, including Andy, so we all sat together and had a lovely time getting to know each other and sampling all the best stuff on the menu. I tried my first ever haggis with their Haggis Pops starter. Way too meaty for me, but not as terrible as I had imagined! And then out came our tomahawks! They were delicious even though they were cut by our amateur hands.
And then they asked if we wanted dessert. Obviously a yes from me. Always. And I thought, well, when in “Scotland” and ordered the Deep Fried Mars Bar Sundae. Just for lols. Just because I’d never tried one. And it tasted just as calorific as you would imagine. I ate the whole thing. But let’s not talk about the cals, ok?
I had such a lovely time at this dinner, and combined with the butchery class, it was an all-round great date night. Josh really enjoyed it and although I was really apprehensive at first, I’m a total convert. Butchery is super interesting, and leads to very delicious dinners.
I massively recommend the Virgin Experience Days voucher if you’re looking for a cool gift for the meat-eater in your life – it’s this Tomahawk Masterclass one over here FYI.
And did I mention we got to take another Tomahawk home?! We had it on the BBQ the next week and oh boy, was it good.
Would you do an experience like this?
Let me know what you think in the comments or head over to my Instagram and Twitter pages for regular updates on my travels and life in general.
Total Blogger Transparency: This experience was gifted by Virgin Experience Days but all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I wouldn’t play you like that, shorty.
