IT’S almost like a meaty work of art when you walk into a good butcher’s shop.

Colourful kebabs, dainty meatballs, exotic sausages and glossy cuts of meats all rub shoulders in a sort of pretty abattoir run by Picasso.

Situated on Bulwer Street, just up from Hyde Park, Frank Torre Quality Butcher has to be one of the prettiest around.

It not only looks good; it has a massive range of produce in a sprawling and spacious shop.

If you don’t know what you want, it can be a bit overwhelming as you are confronted with an intimidating wall of meat, including everything from beef and chicken to goat and rabbit.

I usually pop in to get my weekly batch of sausages and chicken schnitzels (rolls and sausage are a Saturday morning tradition in our house and you can’t go past Frank’s quality snags) 

Today I wanted something for dinner and saw they sold quail on their website, so I asked the bloke behind the till about them.

Unfortunately they only had frozen ones as they didn’t sell quickly enough to keep fresh.

Some of the steaks looked particularly inviting, but I decided to get the Mediterranean-style lamb roll ($39.95 per kg) as it was something I wouldn’t normally buy.

The roll was perfect for a mid-week, hassle-free roast and paired up nicely with some salad and potatoes.

I also got a nice batch of veal schnitzels ($25.95 per kg) to take home for dinner. Veal wasn’t that readily available when I was growing up in the UK, so I have fond childhood memories of eating it on family holidays in Italy.

On Tuesday lunchtime, the shop was pretty quiet and I had a nice chat with the bloke behind the counter about red meat.

Giant tomahawk steaks are in vogue right now and you’ll find them more and more on restaurant menus to share or as a standalone Fred Flintstone-treat, but the butcher I spoke to reckons you can’t go past a nice porterhouse or rump, noting a lot of food trends are just American razzmatazz.

I’m more of a T-bone guy and think they taste amazing when done on the barbie.

After just over an hour in the oven, the lamb roll was ready.

The string came off no probs and it was easy to slice into portions for the family.

The succulent lamb was top notch and went well with the halloumi and spinach stuffing. 

They hadn’t overdone it with the halloumi (otherwise it would be too salty) and the spinach provided a refreshing antidote to the Cypriot cheese.

The lamb itself was gorgeous – not fatty or stringy – and you could tell it came from a top quality butcher and farm. It was a great hassle-free roast for during the week. If the lamb was great, the veal schnitzels were next level with a lovely light Parmesan and breadcrumb coating.

Pan-fried with just a little olive oil, the delicious flavour from the veal really shone through.

In these times of extreme mortgage stress, people may shy away from the local butcher, thinking it’s far more expensive than the supermarket, but I saw lots of great offers at Frank Torre’s and your regular weekly stuff – sausages and schnitzels – weren’t too pricey and were of superior quality. The Voice’s trip to Frank Torre Quality Butcher was a success and it’s a great destination for your weekly meat shop and the odd speciality item.

Frank Torre Quality Butcher
318-322 Bulwer Street, Perth
facebook.com/FrankTorreButchers

by STEPHEN POLLOCK