It’s time to fire up the grill because barbecue season is upon us! Introducing Swiss Butchery, one of the best butchers in Shanghai—a one-stop shop for steaks, beef patties, sausages, burger buns, and more.
This barbecue season, I had hit up my favorite butcher Swiss Butchery to see what they had in store… I ended up putting on an apron and gloves for an impromptu lesson on how to trim an entire knuckle for beef patties. More on that below.
About Swiss Butchery Shanghai
Swiss Butchery Shanghai is highly regarded in the community as a top-notch butchery. It is a popular choice, if not the choice, when it comes to shopping for quality fresh meat.
The company imports their own beef and veal, and ensures traceability, quality, and expert butchering. They case their own sausages and produce their own hocks of ham, as well as grind, blend, and season beef patties for burger enthusiasts.
In addition to online ordering and delivery, Swiss Butchery has a store on Wulumuqi Zhong Lu that serves as a butchery as well as a delicatessen and mini-mart. The selection of beef is primarily Australian with a few USDA cuts, including tenderloin, ribeye (and rib roast), striploin, skirt, brisket, oyster blade, chuck, mince, oxtail, kalbi, shank, and bone marrow.
They also have pork and house-made smoked bacon, as well as chicken, and Atlantic salmon.
The deli section is where you’ll find house-cased sausages of merguez lamb and beef, chorizo, bratwurst, Italian sausage, veal and pork sausages, cheese sausages, smoked sausages, and cold cuts of honey baked ham, chicken ham, turkey ham, and roast beef. Add to that a modest selection of vegetables and dairy products, as well as pantry essentials like sea salt and barbecue sauce.
One of the things I love about Swiss Butchery Shanghai, other than their exceptional selection of beef, is that customization is encouraged.
I’m a proud proponent of thick-cut steaks and enjoy cooking big slabs of meat, and Swiss Butchery comes through every time, even when ordering online. For example, I’d order 1 kg of ribeye, and ask for it to be cut into three steaks.
The Art of Butchery
As I mentioned, I was pulled into trimming a beef knuckle, which made me appreciate the art of butchery even more. It also got me an inside look at how Swiss Butchery’s attention to quality yields some hella juicy burger patties.
Their butchers trim all the gristle and silver skin from the round, which reduces the chance of a sinewy bite.
Then they grind it into mince and mix it with fat trimmed from rib-eyes (extra flavorful) at a precise 80-20 ratio. Finally, it’s seasoned with a house blend of spices and pressed into 150g patties.
I later find out that most of their butchers are actually chefs, and have worked at restaurants like Mr & Mrs Bund and hotels like Park Hyatt. In short, they know what they’re doing, and they are more than happy to advise you on how to cook your favorite dishes with different cuts.
The entire process of trimming, when done by head butcher John, takes about 20 minutes, and maybe 45 minutes total to grind, season, and press.
Swiss Butchery also carries burger buns — a one-stop shop! Get some of their bacon while you’re at it. In addition, they also have a few ready-made items like beef wellington and Atlantic salmon en croute.
What To Buy From Swiss Butchery Shanghai
And so, with the barbecue season underway, time to stock up.
My shopping basket would look like:
- Whole brisket, which I’ll marinate overnight & smoke
- Skirt steak, salt & pepper
- Rib-eye roast, salt & pepper, BBQ sauce
- Kalbi short ribs, ssamjang
- Sausages: merguez, smoked chorizo, cheese
Shop Now – Get Free BBQ Sauce
Shop now, delivered today — for Shanghai. Swiss Butchery also delivers throughout China. Click here to shop!
Spend more than ¥200 when you shop online (for pick up and delivery) and receive a free bottle of Curtice Brothers barbecue sauce! Another perk about ordering online is that you might get some additional freebies with your order.
Check out with coupon code “nomnom” to claim your complimentary sauce.
Also available for delivery on Eleme via their Wulumuqi Zhong Lu store, but you won’t be able to apply the code there.
Happy barbecuing!
Additional images taken by Mattias Isaksson and provided by Swiss Butchery.
Swiss Butchery Shanghai
Address: 86 Wulumuqi Zhong Lu, near Anfu Lu 乌鲁木齐中路86号, 近安福路
Tel: 54500068
Hours: Daily, 9am-7pm
