After years of testing and regulatory hurdles, Australian startup Vow has launched its cultured (or ‘lab-grown’) Japanese quail in Australian eating places.
And I’ve lastly had the possibility to style it.
As a know-how journalist, dwelling cook dinner, and self-proclaimed foodie, I’ve stored an in depth eye on the choice meat house for a few years.
My previous adventures have included sneaking into closed taste-tests of Inconceivable’s pork at CES and sampling plant-based rooster engineered by an ex-Boeing scientist in a backstreet Seattle lab.
So since Vow first introduced its cultured Japanese quail product, generally known as ‘Forged’ in early 2024, I’ve been impatiently ready to provide it a attempt.
Vow itself has had a notable trajectory. Launched in 2019 with a mission to create “foods never eaten before,” Vow has raised greater than $80 million from buyers together with Blackbird Ventures and Sq. Peg. This included a $73 million elevate again in 2022.
Alongside the best way, it constructed Australia’s largest cultivated meat facility and have become the primary firm accepted by Meals Requirements Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) for the industrial sale of cultivated meat.
Earlier than showing in Sydney eating places, Solid (initially referred to as ‘Morsel‘) had already debuted internationally at Singapore’s Mandala Membership in late 2024, starring in a headline seven-course omakase. Vow’s profile additionally rose globally because of PR stunts just like the “woolly mammoth meatball”.
All of that is to say that after years of anticipation, I used to be, frankly, ravenous.
Vow’s Solid Gras x Maiz: Innovation on a plate
The total description of Vow’s Solid x Maiz dish that includes cultured Japanese quail. Picture: Tegan Jones
My expertise with Vow’s cultured Japanese quail got here within the type of ‘Forged Gras’ at Maiz, a standout amongst Sydney’s present wave of Mexican eating places.
Situated within the coronary heart of Newtown, Maiz is understood for reinventing genuine Mexican classics and flavours with a contemporary twist.
Because the title suggests, Maiz is a love letter to corn itself, with the menu highlighting house-made moles, blue corn, and seasonal produce.
It’s probably the greatest consuming experiences I’ve had in Sydney, even past the classy dish.
For the Solid Gras, Maiz takes a holistic moderately than purely plant-based method. The dish is served as a part of a $56 dish: a blue corn huarache offers the bottom, topped with flat iron steak, wealthy huitlacoche bearnaise (a sauce created from prized Mexican corn fungus), charred spring onion salsa, and a shiny barbacoa (slow-cooked) glaze.
After I requested, the chef advised me he spent a couple of week designing the most effective dish to showcase the distinctive flavour profile of the classy quail.
From the primary chew, Solid Gras impressed. Regardless of wanting like a slither of mushroom, the feel was exceptionally gentle and spreadable. It was harking back to bone marrow however embodied deep umami and fungi-forward notes that paired completely with the steak and earthy sauce.
For me, it evoked the comforting indulgence of a Sunday roast, however with the intense, layered flavour profile of Mexican delicacies.
The choice to pair the classy quail pâté with steak, moderately than presenting it as a vegan different, makes the idea accessible for mainstream diners and presents the dish as a real collaboration, in addition to an moral substitute.
It additionally follows within the footsteps of Mandala in Singapore, which provided diners a savoury cannoli full of ‘forged parfait’ and black pearl caviar, in addition to a ‘Hokkaido Wagyu Sando’ – a milk bun topped with A5 Hokkaido wagyu and Solid Parfait.
I additionally appreciated the ingredient as a substitute for conventional foie gras, which even some meat eaters (together with myself) nonetheless keep away from for moral causes. Solid Gras affords the richness of basic foie gras, however with out animal cruelty, making it a much more interesting possibility for anybody involved about moral consuming.
It’s additionally price noting Maiz isn’t the one venue in Sydney at the moment serving Solid’s cultured quail.
The launch has shortly prolonged to a number of main Sydney eating places, every placing its personal spin on Vow’s flagship product. You’ll discover it at Kitchen by Mike within the CBD, Nel in Surry Hills, and at The Waratah.
Australia’s regulatory future with cultured meat
Vow’s woolly mammoth meatball. Supply: Vow
The journey towards regulatory approval for cultivated meat in Australia has been prolonged and detailed.
FSANZ’s June 2025 clearance for Vow’s cultured quail required years of scientific and meals security assessments, public consultations, and amendments to meals codes.
Australia now stands alongside Singapore, the USA, and the Netherlands as one of many first nations on this planet to approve this new class. Trade observers hope this opens the door to broader acceptance and funding in different proteins, with the regulatory template prone to be adopted by future candidates.
What I’m hoping is that the Solid Gras and different merchandise within the cultured meat class change into greater than a curiosity.
My expertise at Maiz confirmed that when know-how meets considerate cooking, you get a dish worthy of hype and prepared for severe diners.
Nevertheless, as we’ve got seen with most meat alternate options over the previous 10 years, pricing nonetheless stays a barrier to adoption. Solid Gras is firmly within the high-end realm of the meals scene, and that’s mirrored within the restaurant costs.
That’s to be anticipated given how new it’s. However my hope is that sooner or later, cultured meat and meat alternate options usually will change into extra fiscally accessible for meat and non-meat eaters alike.
However for now, I’m satiated with the concept that the arrival of cultured meat within the mainstream implies that the dialog round meals, innovation, and sustainability goes to get much more fascinating.
Disclosure: The creator reviewed Solid Gras as a visitor of Vow.
This story first appeared on SmartCompany. You may learn the unique right here.
