Mac and Wild originally began life on Charlotte Street in Central London as The Wild Game Company, but moved about a year ago to a more spacious location over on Great Titchfield Street. They specialise in really great Scottish produce – think venison, salmon and whisky rather than your stereotypical deep-fried Mars bars.
Kelsey and I started the night off with a couple of whisky cocktails; she had the delicately herbed Forager, while I went for the slightly spicier Ginger Laddie. Both were delicious, although I have to say I think mine won on presentation alone as it came in its own woollen covered hip flask ready to be poured over ice. Yum.
Because we’re both horribly indecisive, and the menu all sounded so good, it took us about 20 minutes to decide what to order. The menu itself is nice and compact, but everything looks so delicious that it’s hard to narrow it down to just one choice. In the end, we settled on sharing a couple of starters – an intriguingly named ‘Beer Stick’ and a venison scotch egg.
Our venison scotch egg can only be described as food porn at its best. I still have no idea how they manage to get a perfectly cooked poached egg inside all the hot, delicious meaty goodness, but OMFG did they do it. The leaner venison meat meant it didn’t feel at all greasy and I’m honesty quite sad I had to share it (although not too sad as it meant I could eat more later).
For our mains, we both chose a burger. Kelsey went for their iconic Veni-moo, which has won multiple awards. It’s a mix of a venison patty, a beef patty, cheese, caramelised onions and bearnaise sauce. She also added in bacon for good measure. Because bacon makes EVERYTHING even better.
I was trying to be *vaguely* low carb, so choose the Skinny Veni – two patties of venison (much lower in fat than beef), cheese, caramelised onions and a little side salad. It was really rich and meaty and I honestly didn’t miss the bun at all. The lady on the table next to me was also tucking into to a steak salad which looked really summery and fresh – perfect if you’re after something a little lighter.
The lack of bun was possibly helped along by the side of hand cut chips and haggis mac n cheese that we shared on the side. I’ve never really eaten haggis before as my brain rebels against the thought of offal, but it was one of the best mac n cheeses I’ve had. Ever. Not too oozy, but rich, cheesy and something they need to start offering as a main course.
We were will into our second round of cocktails at this point (Auld Pal and Bonnie Brae) so despite feeling like we were growing food babies, decided to take one for the team and test out dessert. I was suckered in by the description of the ‘I shouldn’t but I will’ – a thick chocolate mousse with cornflake crunch, nuts and a scoop of salted caramel ice cream. It’s very rich, so might be one best to share if you’ve already gone in hard on the meat; I was disappointed in myself for not being able to finish it. Kelsey chose a simple scoop of salted caramel ice cream with honeycomb on top and a pot of chocolate sauce on the side.
It was such a delicious meal and although they were lacking on the venison steak front (everything is hunted up in Scotland so availability does vary week to week) I wouldn’t hesitate to go back. You’ll need to book as the place was packed, even on a Monday night and I’ve heard that their weekend brunch is also meant to be epic.
Prices start at around £10 for mains, £4-7 for desserts and around £9 for cocktails.
*I was invited to review Mac and Wild, but all opinions and venison-related food babies my own
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