Foodies are getting their kicks with restaurant kits, which deliver all the ingredients for your favourite meals to your door, straight from some of the most popular restaurants.
Supper clubs are out and restaurant kits are in as the coolest foodie activity right now. Which is good news in the wake of another national lockdown, isn’t it?
Yup, the new plan for date nights, birthdays and anniversaries is, instead of going out, getting dishes from your favourite restaurants delivered straight to your door and making them at your own convenience.
Cult restaurants all over London and beyond have been creating their own kits, which means loyal customers can recreate menu classics at home and still get their fix for the best pizza, burgers, Indian cuisine and more, in town.
We’ve picked out some of our favourites which you can order right now.
Lyle’s
Lyle’s Lyle’s, the Michelin-starred restaurant from James Lowe and John Ogier has put together a specially curated selection of menu boxes, allowing fans of this acclaimed haunt to cook up signature dishes at home.
While all of the meal kits are delicious, the mid-week offering is a little different to the other restaurant boxes out there as it specialises in lighter, more casual meals which are great for weeknights.
The menu changes every few weeks but for an example of what you can expect to see, the current box includes cured, dried and grilled mackerel that is served with a preserved gooseberry condiment alongside xxtail Pithivier made with puff pastry, swede and radicchio. There’s also blood orange and olive oil cake as well as brown butter cake for your sweet tooth.
Please note: this product is only for London delivery.
Shop Lyle’s mid-week box for two at Lyle’s, £70
Buy now
Sidechick
Patty&Bun’s sister brand Sidechick is all about deliciously-seasoned butterfly chicken that you can dig right into. Although the White City and Hackney branches are, of course, currently closed, Londoners can still get their fill of finger-licking fun with the DIY kit.
There are three to choose from including za’atar, piri piri or butter and herb and each one arrives pre-marinated and boneless, so you can just pop it in the oven.
The pack includes simple cooking instructions (including how to finish your dish under the grill for extra crispiness), as well as some herb yoghurt and hot pepper sauce to enjoy on the side.
Note: this kit delivers to London postcodes only.
Shop DIY kit at Sidechick, £18.50
Buy now
German Gymnasium
German Gymnasium in London’s Kings Cross is one of the city’s must-visit spots. Voted the most beautiful restaurants in the world in 2016, it is famed for its staggering ceiling, pink leather seats and architectural staircases.
But, of course, it is most loved for its food. True to its name, the menu follows a German theme with highlights such as schnitzel and apple strudel. Well, you can still get this part of the experience at home and even sitting on your sofa, it’s an incredibly lavish way to spend an evening.
Choose between the schnitzel experience or the ultimate experience, both of which are available to be upgraded with alcoholic drinks. We recommend going the whole hog, as it were, and opting for the ultimate package as it includes three courses to replicate the restaurant experience. This includes a starter of smoked salmon potato rösti, a main of whole duck braised red cabbage, potato dumpling and duck jus and a dessert of apple strudel.
Shop at home experience at German Gymnasium, from £40
Buy now
The Ginger Pig & SHUK Brisket Pita Box
Imagine beef brisket, lovingly braised for 12 hours with date honey, baharat spices and sweet red wine, which has been wrapped into a soft pitta, layered with cheese and finished with a big dollop of smokey mayo, delivered straight to your door to assemble when you please.
This is the creation of SHUK and Jamie of The Ginger Pig, who have come together to make a mouthwatering weekend DIY dish.
Each box includes: a set of instructions, a bag of cooked 12 hour spiced beef brisket, a pot of smoky mayo, a pot of pickled red onions, four cheese slices, a head of baby gem lettuce and four bespoke Shuk pitas.
Shop Brisket Pita Box at Shuk London, £30
Buy now
Blacklock at Home Sunday roast experience
Blacklock is the sumptuous London-based chain which specialises in tasty pork chops, delicious cocktails and brilliant roast dinners.
While the restaurants are closed, the Blacklock team are enabling customers nationwide to get stuck into their much-loved dishes at home.
You can already choose from kits such as the ‘steak night for two’, which includes 55 day aged beef rump fillet steaks, beef dripping (oven) chips, kale and parmesan salad, chop sauce, white chocolate cheesecake for two with Maldon sea salt and Sarsons malt vinegar.
Newly launched, though, is the Sunday roast dinner experience which includes Yorkshire puddings, duck-fat roast potatoes, a selection of seasonal vegetables, cauliflower cheese and Blacklock gravy. How delicious does that sound?
Shop at home kits at Blacklock, from £45
Buy now
PAPA L’s KITCHEN
Chef Lawrence Gomez is bringing his delicious African-fusion fare to the masses with a new at-home service. Those within the M25 can now order pre-cooked dishes ready to heat up from the celebrated PAPA L’s KITCHEN in Earl’s Court, with highlights including BBQ lamb cutlets with a side of Ma’s Benachin rice and butternut squash and ginger soup with coconut cream and pumpkin seeds, just to name a few.
Gomez spent 10 years working his way up to become one of the head chefs at Covent Garden’s The Ivy, before spending 18 months at Sexy Fish.
Since then, he’s channelled all of his efforts into creating a menu brimming with high quality, tasty dishes inspired by his Gambian heritage at his very own restaurant.
Expect fantastic flavours and succulent textures – this isn’t one you’ll want to miss out on.
Shop at-home meal kits at PAPA L’s KITCHEN, from £25 (price depends on dishes ordered, minimum of three dishes per order)
Buy now
Hoppers Cash & Kari
Hoppers is the boutique south Asian restaurant chain which has been delighting Londoners with its award-winning dishes and authentic style.
In light of lockdown, Hoppers has developed a new service called Cash & Kari which is inspired by the one-stop corner stores found in Sri Lanka and South India. With personality and playfulness, these ready-to-cook meals make dinner at home feel like an experience.
Meal kits can cater for two, three or four people with options such as lamb kothu roti, paneer kothu roti, and kalupol chicken, coming with delights such as homemade banana chips, mutton rolls, pol rotis, chicken rasa and their take on the all-time favourite dessert, the chocolate-coco biskut pudding.
Shop Cash & Kari at Hoppers, from £25
Buy now
Homeslice X Jameson pizza and whiskey box
Purveyors of truly delicious pizzas, Homeslice has teamed up with Jameson whiskey to deliver to you the perfect night in.
You see, there are lots of scrumptious restaurant kits out there right now but what sets this one apart is how it takes care of your whole dinner experience, from mouth-watering food to drinks to go with it.
Each kit includes two pizzas as well as ingredients to make four serves of Jameson whiskey with Fever Tree ginger beer and a lime garnish. There are nine pizzas to choose from including vegan ndontja and broccoli, four cheeses and salami, parmesan and rocket.
You’ll even receive mini pots of garnish to add the finishing touch to your pizza when it comes out of the oven piping hot.
Shop Homeslice X Jameson pizza and whiskey box at Homeslice, £25
Buy now
The Yan Untethered
The Yan Untethered is known as one of the best places to eat in the Lake District but don’t worry, you can try its scrummy menu of comfort food wherever you are in the UK.
Everything is made from scratch (even the ketchup!), with every meal not only tastes amazing but is inspired by the farm’s history, on which the restaurant and rooms sits.
We particularly like The Yan’s delivery kits because of their themed options, which make a special night in a lot easier. For example, the ‘date night’ package includes a starter of slow-cooked potted beef brisket with Yan chutney (made from the vegetables grown in the restaurant’s garden) with sourdough toast topped with smoked cheese as well as a pork belly sharing platter with roast potatoes, pickled red cabbage, apple sauce made from their own apples and cider gravy. Plus, you’ll have to save room for the traditional sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce and vanilla custard… and a cheese board with three local cheeses, our own chutney and Yan crackers.
These options can change weekly but there’s always something delicious in-store and you’re welcome to buy dishes separately, too.
Shop cook-at-home dishes at The Yan Untethered, from £4.50
Order now
Barge House’s Breakfast En Bread brunch kits with Gail’s Bakery
Although many restaurant kits cater to dinner time, we like that Barge House’s Breakfast En Bread kit is all about brunching. This neighbourhood eatery, based in east London’s Hackney, has breakfast dish available to order throughout the UK – and it’s something you won’t want to miss.
They’ve teamed up with Gail’s Bakery to create three types of ‘loaded sourdough bread rolls’ which are filled with typical breakfast foodstuffs, popped in the oven at home by you.
The Original recreates a classic Full English breakfast with oyster mushrooms, bacon, Barge House banger, spinach, egg and much more (it also comes in a scrumptious vegetarian option).
The Smokey Salmon takes locally smoked salmon from Chapel & Swan combined with crème fraiche, spinach, slow roast tomatoes and leeks before being garnished with dill, a squeeze of lemon and topped with an egg.
While the Au-Barge is filled with baked aubergine and aromatic tomato sauce with black olives, oyster mushrooms, vegan feta, spinach and finished with green sauce.
Shop sourdough bread rolls at Barge House, from £14.50
Buy now
Chotto at Home
Chotto Matte is the luxurious Japanese fusion restaurant which mixes grill dishes and sushi, right in the middle of London’s Soho.
The restaurant is famous for mixing sleek interiors with a grungy Tokyo edge, as well as stand-out food, of course. Although you can’t have the full experience right now, you can order one of Chotto Matte’s restaurant kits so that you can whip up some of the menu’s delicious dishes at home.
Designed to give customers the opportunity to cook restaurant-quality food from the comfort of their own home, the kit includes five of the restaurant’s hero dishes, including the iconic Padron Peppers and Black Cod Aji Miso.
Shop Chotto at Home for two at Chotto Matte, £60
Buy now
PASSO to go
Shoreditch-based Italian restaurant Passo has created a range of delicious DIY pizza kits allowing you to whip up mouth-watering pizza at home.
There are loads of options to choose from including spiced salami, smoked speck and portobello mushroom and a three cheese margherita.
The kits are available nationwide and can be delivered next day if ordered by 10am the previous morning.
Shop DIY pizza kits at PASSO, from £16
Buy now
BAO
BAO serves up contemporary Taiwanese dishes with an edge and even though you can’t go into the London branches right now, you can feast at home.
The Classic BAO made-by-you kit box contains six BAOs, 12hr braised pork, coriander, fermented mustard greens and peanut powder (pictured at the top of this article). Each box comes with instructions on how to cook and assemble.
BAO also has a vegetarian-friendly home kit option (pictured above) as well as pre-made BAO creations that you can simply heat up at home.
Shop classic pork made-by-you kit at BAO, £20
Buy now
SMOKESTAK
SMOKESTAK is a favourite among east Londoners, who flock to its Shoreditch site for slow-roasted meats in an industrial setting.
For those who can’t get a slice of the action in E1 though, chef and founder David Carter is firing up his wood-fired smoker and offering DIY bun boxes and smoked meats by the pound for delivery across London and nationwide.
All meat will be fully-smoked and cooked in the Shoreditch restaurant before being chilled and vacuum-packed for dispatch nationwide in a thermally insulated and recyclable box via overnight courier. Once it arrives, simply reheat and assemble using the instructions.
Weekly menus go live every Monday at midday until 6pm on Wednesday, so get your orders in quick as they often sell out. You’ll have to wait until the weekend for your meat though, as deliveries only happen on Friday night.
Shop SMOKESTAK at home at SMOKESTAK, from £24
Buy now
Dishoom’s Bacon Naan Roll kit
Dishoom is the cult South Asian restaurant which has us all queuing down the street for a chance to bag a table.
Although Dishoom is loved for lunch, dinner and cocktails, there is one dish that gets touted again and again as a favourite: the breakfast bacon naan roll.
This at-home kit means you can have a bacon naan roll whenever you like (and skip those long wait times in the process).
It contains fresh ingredients straight from the restaurant including: smoked streaky bacon from Ramsay of Carluke (matured in the traditional Ayrshire way and smoked over applewood and beechwood chips), three naan doughballs (enough for two plus a spare for experimentation), tomato-chilli jam (their sweet, sharp, spicy signature sauce), fresh coriander and cream cheese.
There’s also some cooking instructions and loose-leaf Darjeeling tea, chai spices and fresh ginger slices for brewing Chef Naved’s much-loved Masala Chai tea.
Plus, for each kit sold, Dishoom donates a meal to Magic Breakfast which is a charity who provide nourishing free meals to schools.
Shop bacon naan roll kit at Dishoom, £16
Buy now
Patty & Bun’s The Meat Kit Box
Patty & Bun has got it down when it comes to delicious, juicy burgers – the kind that you’d think only a restaurant could whip up.
But, specially for lockdown, the chefs have put together easy-to-use and mouth-watering kits so that you can recreate the magic of their kitchen, in yours.
In each box you’ll find all the ingredients Patty & Bun use to make their burgers, all you need to provide is the lettuce and tomato. The contents includes two signature HG Walter beef patties and two Smokey Robinson beef patties, four brioche buns, a pot of Smokey P&B Mayo, cheese slices, and homemade pickled and smokey onions.
Shop The Meat Kit Box at Patty & Bun, £25
Buy now
Classic Margherita Frying Pan Pizza Kit
Pizza Pilgrims have come up with a novel way of giving you your pizza fix while at home, with a frying pan version that you can cook in your own oven.
Choose between a Margherita or nduja pizza kit and you’ll receive two or four Pizza Pilgrims Neapolitan 48 hour proved dough balls with Caputo Flour from Naples, marinara sauce, fresh Fior Di Latte, extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil and parmesan.
Shop Frying Pan Pizza Kit at Pizza Pilgrims, £15
Buy now
Images: Barge House /courtesy of brands
Source: Read Full Article
