Adam Sherriff has special tasting snags for Fannie Bay butcher

After 13 years, a Top End butcher shop has changed hands and some new flavours and tastes are on the horizon. Read what the new snagman has planned.

Adam Sherriff is keen to continue the quality legacy of Fannie Bay Gourmet Meats with his own spin. Picture: Floss Adams.

The iconic Fannie Bay butcher that immortalised chicken laksa snags has a new sausage king at the helm.

Adam Sherriff may not be a butcher by trade, but together with his wife Christine has taken ownership of Fannie Bay Gourmet Meats, where he plans to but his cheffing skills to good use.

It is the first time in 13 years the popular butcher shop has changed owners, and Mr Sherriff plans to use his experience in military cheffing to plan the ultimate to-go meals.

The longtime crowd favourites of the shop such as the chicken bombs, pork parcels and of course, chicken laksa sausages will stay.

But timesavers such as stir fry dishes and seasoned steaks will be added to the range for customer convenience.

Adam Sherriff says looking after his customers is his priority. Picture: Floss Adams.

“We’re just trying to eliminate the work on the average punter,” Mr Sherriff said.

“So people can just pull them out, stick them on the barbie straight away, then they don’t have to worry about too much prep time and they can get more into the beers which I know the Territorians love.”

He said the chicken laksa would remain a permanent centrepiece of the menu.

“We don’t have a choice,” Mr Sherriff said.

“He made them so popular that we can’t get away with not having them”.

The change of hands took place on November 30 last year, after Terry and Bronwyn Wilkins passed on their legacy of supplying quality meat to the community.

Former Fannie Bay Gourmet Meats owner Terry Wilkins with his award-winning chicken laksa snags. Picture: Glenn Campbell.

Mr Wilkins assured that his longtime butcher shop was now in “good hands”.

“It was mixed emotions handing it over, we put our heart and soul into it for 13 years but it was nice to hand the baton on, we wanted a new chapter,” Mr Wilkins said.

New flavours for the selection range are in the mix but Mr Sherriff said he could not reveal his secrets just yet.

“We’ll keep those cards close to our chest,” he said.

“We got a few new flavours that we plan to enter in competitions later this year.

“Once we’re nice and comfortable, probably around the start of the dry season, that’s when we’ll start banging out some, well, bangers hopefully.”

Between juggling a busy business and the school drop-offs and pick-ups for his five-year-old daughter, Mr Sherriff said owning his first business has been a “hectic” experience but “in a good way”.

“The Fannie Bay community has been fantastic and an absolutely wonderful bunch and I can’t thank them enough for making us feel welcome,” he said.

“For those that are dubious about new people taking over, we’re definitely keeping some of the classic lines.

“There’s going to be some minor changes to make it our own but we’re not turning it into a corporate event, it’s a family butcher, it’s a small business, it’s Darwin owned and run.

“Our focus is to look after the people.”