Speckle Park beef poised to hit top menus

From paddock to plate, Speckle Park beef is beginning to shake up the premium beef market in Australia—winning praise from chefs, researchers and producers alike. While Wagyu remains the country’s most recognised luxury beef, a new wave of culinary appreciation is surging for Speckle Park, and it’s being led by some of Australia’s top chefs.

When Amy and Justin Dickens of Jad Speckle Park dropped off two Speckle Park carcases to Longshore, a fine diner in Sydney, chef Jarrod Walsh didn’t expect to be blown away. He’d built his kitchen around premium beef brands like Westholme Wagyu and, like many in the industry, was used to associating eating quality with visible marbling.

At first glance, the Speckle Park beef didn’t show the signature white flecks chefs are trained to seek. “The marbling was so miniscule,” Walsh told Broadsheet in a recent feature: Wagyu is good. Top Chefs say Speckle Park might be better. “My first thought was – this isn’t going to be great.”

Then he tasted it.

“It ate like Wagyu. It was quite fatty in the mouth, but with a really beefy, grass-fed flavour. It was right up my alley.”

Walsh is not alone. An increasing number of chefs—among them Mark Best, Icebergs’ Alex Pritchard and Cinder’s Jake Furst—have begun experimenting with Speckle Park beef in their restaurants, each echoing similar sentiments: this breed is different. And it’s very, very good.

Read the full story on Broadsheet
Words by: Dan Cunningham. First published on 23 April 2025; updated on 30 April 2025.