E Wood

I cannot recommend this place highly enough, my friends all thought it was hilarious that on my actual 30^th birthday nothing made me happier than going to pick up 2.5kilos of venison from lovely, friendly, Maurice the butcher, (ordered the day before) so that i could cook up a pie for twenty people on the weekend. They all really enjoyed the pie though and those who were non-​vegetarians all asked me where his shop was:) I was worried that as I’d bought the meat a little early before the party, on the Wednesday when the party was the Friday, then it wouldn’t be as fresh, but it came in a vacuum sealed pack so it kept really well, but i think it would have still been as tender and as tasty even if it hadn’t been vacuum sealed. So I suppose if ur not an early bird and able to get up early enough to go before work, the way to get around the early closing time (4pm on a weekday) is to buy some meat on the weekend and it’d be good until tuesday at least. There is a nice range of meat in stock anyway but if you want something particular you just have to ring up and order it the day before. Maurice’s customer service is really great and it was no problem to him to sell me a small amount of venison that had been in his deep freeze earlier in the week, just to test out whether i liked the taste or not so I only spent couple of pounds that visit. There was no pressure to buy a lot in one visit, unlike some small independent shops you go into. The prices are really reasonable, I agree with the gavpacho review. I had been to another butcher in Angel a couple of years back again for a special birthday treat and I realise now I was charged rather a lot more than I should have been for a tenderloin of steak, which, though an expensive cut, could have been sold for less than half the price i paid at the butchers in Angel. On my second visit as well as my venison I also bought some bacon which was very very tasty and unlike supermarket bacon it was not full of water, so it stayed the same size as when it went onto the grill! I also bought some fresh quail’s eggs, which one of the regular customer’s was buying whilst I was in the shop, so I thought I’d give them a try. Nothing so cute for breakfast as tiny little fried quails eggs, and again very reasonably priced:) Although for ecological reasons I try not to eat meat everyday, i really enjoy meat when i do have it and if you buy from a good butcher you know it has been produced on a farm that cares about quality not just quantity. Before testing the venison I was trying to decide between a venison or a rabbit pie recipe, and so I’ll probably go back for the rabbit to give that a try too sometime in the near future as the venison was so yummy!

This butchers shop has been serving islington residents for over 100 years. The meat is considerably younger than 100 years of course and there’s always a wide choice of all the usual stuff.
Highly recommend the steaks here (sirloin is superb) and the pork and lamb steaks/​chops are also fantastic. Free range chicken much nicer than any of the stuff you’ll get in the supermarket too!
Maurice is always very happy to help you choose the right bit of meat to match what you’re trying to cook so don’t be afraid to go in and ask — you will get better quality than the supermarket and usually for cheaper too! Opens at 7am and closes at 4 so on a weekday go before work to get your dinner sorted.