16 Of The Best Food Delivery Boxes For Fine Dining At Home
By Myrtle G. Corbo 1 year ago
.
A table at your favourite restaurant is hard to beat, but when there are so many delicious recipe boxes out there, a night in (with the sofa mere metres away) seems all the more tempting.
From authentic Spanish paella to freshly made pasta, not only do recipe boxes and food delivery services promise to improve your kitchen skills and recipe know-how, but they’re also great for cutting down food waste with pre-portioned ingredients delivered to your door.
Now, best get the wine chilled…
How we test food delivery boxes
We tasked 10 households to work their way through 10 different recipe boxes, scoring each on the quality of the ingredients, ease of prep, flavour of the finished product, and overall delivery experience.
Read on for their picks, plus a selection from the ELLE Editors, too…
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below
Best for date night
Wild Radish
There are lots of fine dining deliveries out there, but Wild Radish wowed our testers from the get-go, with its well-communicated delivery, premium ingredients and optional wine pairing.
Take your pick from seasonally inspired menus (including vegetarian, meat and fish options), with our panel opting for a duck breast with a fruity currant sauce, which, despite sounding complex, was easy enough to make thanks to the streamlined instructions and tips. All that’s left for you to do is set the table, light the candles and let date night commence.
Key specifications
Price: £70.00
Delivery: Nationwide
Order here
Best for a speedy weeknight supper
Pasta Evangelists
Pasta Evangelists promises a taste of la dolce vita (minus the airmiles), with authentic Italian pasta dishes ready in just five minutes. Our testers whipped up a winning dish of beef shin ragu and malfade, which was full of rich, umami flavour and tender meat, while the pasta was perfectly al dente – just how we like it.
And if you’d rather swerve the kitchen and sample its award-winning pastas IRL, then hop to Harrods Food Hall, where you can feast on lobster tortellini served with a lobster and vine tomato butter and rigatoni with black truffle.
Key specifications
Price: From £7.00
Delivery: Nationwide, via Ocado
Order here
Best recipe box for cookware
Brindisa Paella Kit
Bring a taste of Spain to the table with Tapas Brindisa (AKA one of our favourite spots in London for authentic croquetas de jamón and patatas bravas). Everything included is top quality, from the sweet smoked paprika and piquillo peppers to the paella pan to cook it in – just add your pick of shellfish, meat,or fresh veggies. This screams long rosé-filled lunches, so fingers crossed for some warm weather this summer.
Key specifications
Price: £49.99
Delivery: Nationwide
Order here
Best recipe box for dinner parties
Feast Box
Throwing a dinner party is a great idea in practice, but prepping and planning can take it out of you before you’ve had the change to pop the champagne. That’s where Feast Box comes in; take your pick from the weekly changing menu – which spans everything from Indian to Indonesian – and you’ll receive pre-portioned, locally sourced produce to feed 4 to 6 guests, complete with easy-to-follow recipe cards.
Our panel tucked into an all-vegan Korean feast and, though they couldn’t possibly pick a stand-out dish, they couldn’t get enough of the chilli-laced cauliflower wings, glass noodle stir fry and crispy tofu marinaded in sweet soy and ginger. Delicious.
Key specifications
Price: From £45.00
Delivery: Nationwide
Order here
Eat like the Italians, with this Soho restaurant’s monthly-changing regional food box and allow yourself to be transported from Tuscany to Veneto.
Choose between ‘Campo’ (vegetarian), ‘Maccellaio’ (meat), and ‘Mare’ (sea) three-course menus. In February, boxes will be a hearty fare for one of the coldest months of the year. Expect baked scallops with parmesan, lemon, thyme and pumpkin ‘in saor’ to start, followed by warming mains of Maiale al latte – a signature northern Veneto dish where pork shoulder is cooked long and slow in milk and spices. For the veggies, there’s the restaurant favourite spinach and ricotta malfatti with brown butter and sage. To finish, a generous portion of Tiramisu, a household favourite and a dessert said to have originated in the Venetian city of Treviso.
Key specifications
Price: £49.00
Delivery: Nationwide
Exploring a different city through experimental and unpredictable dishes every month, award-winning Six By Nico will satisfy your fancy six-course dinner dreams. In February, it looks to the Scottish Hebrides in a nod to the chef’s Scottish roots.
A starter of Isle of Harris gin Cured smoked salmon is served with cucumber, apple chutney and dill crème fraîche, followed by an explosively tasty main course of Stornoway black pudding & pork belly pressé with Scotch broth and white bean ragu. For sides, warm potato salad and shellfish rouille along with salt baked beetroot with Hebridean blue cheese and walnut dressing will have you tasting the fresh sea air. And for pudding? It’s the Tipsy Laird Trifle with stem ginger jelly, sea buckthorn and vanilla cream, followed by Mull cheddar cheese with relish and water crackers. A bottle of Séptimo Sentido Verdejo from Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, will wash it down perfectly. Veggie option also available.
Key specifications
Price: £60.00
Delivery: Nationwide
Order here
Petersham Nurseries’ La Goccia
You might not get the theatrical ambiance of professional chefs preparing the dishes in front of you, like in their Covent Garden venue, but you will get an Italian feast to remember. Focusing on small plates known as cicchetti, seasonality is key for La Goccia’s ever-changing menus.
For March, burrata is served with squash and cauliflower with sundried tomato ailoli. Share slow-cooked beef ragù rigatoni and wood-fired chicken between two, along with the potato and bortlotti bean sides. For the veggies, it’s fresh spaghetti with wild mushrooms and leek gratinato. The tiramasu will be the lightest you’ve ever tasted.
Key specifications
Price: From £80.00
Delivery: Nationwide
For those missing a slice of Portugal, rustic Bar Douro draws inspiration from traditional Portugese cuisine. From croquetes de alheira (smoked Portuguese sausage) to bacalhau a bras (salt cod hash), the feast box is a rotating selection of favourites from every section of the restaurant’s small-plate led menu. The bread and Bar Douro olive oil to start is almost as delicious as the main event and for pudding, it’s traditional Portuguese Toucinho do Ceu, a rich and decadent yolk almond cake made with pork fat, served with orange créme fraîche.
Key specifications
Price: From £54.00
Delivery: Nationwide
Order here
Chelsea’s swanky Japanese spot Dinings SW3 let’s you make restaurant quality sushi at home. Using the finest, sustainable fish and seafood, nori sheets and sushi rice, learn how to make your own tuna, salmon, lobster and scallop temaki.
If you’d rather sit back and relax, their nationwide Dinner Kit includes wagyu beef carpaccio, salmon teriyaki cavolo nero and white chocolate mochi for desert.
For their Susuru series, Chef Masaki Sugisaki celebrates the Japanese ritual of the slurp in the form of a comforting duck udon noodle dish, Kamo-Nanbam. Expect Udon hand-crafted udon noodles with an umami-rich dashi and Cornish-reared duck breast.
Key specifications
Price: Varies
Delivery: London
Head to South America for a four-course Peruvian feast with Mayfair’s COYA food box. The feast for two will begin with corn tortillas, shrimp crackers and guacamole, followed by fresh ceviche options including Ceviche Criollo (sea bream with red onion, sweet potato and aji Amarillo), Salmon Pepino (salmon, jalapenos, cucumber and coriander) and Pez Limon (yellowtail with green chilli and radish). For mains, choose from lamb rump with aji panka and salmon fillet with stir-fried quinoa, soy and green vegetables. The rich and creamy Chocolate and orange tart with crème fraîche twill add a zing.
Feeling thirsty? Add ready-to-pour cocktails to your order, including Negroni Time (thyme infused gin, sweet vermouth, Campari and COYA bitters), Claro Margarita (Reposado Tequila, agave, jalapeno and vanilla) and the Maracuya Martini (vanilla infused vodka, passion fruit and citrus).
Key specifications
Price: £110.00
Delivery: London
Authentic flavours of Sri Lanka run wild in meat and vegan feasting boxes from Soho’s Kolamba. A simple reheating will draw out the flavours of island classics classics like ceylon chicken curry, dhal, green bean and coconut curry and fiery Pol Sambols for two.
Key specifications
Price: From £36.00
Delivery: Nationwide
Comfort & Joy by Jikoni
For vegetarian and vegan meal boxes, Ravinder Bhogal’s award-winning Jikoni has six different boxes on a weekly rotation, inspired by ‘immigrant cuisine’ and shared flavours across parts of South Asia and the Far East, the Middle East, East Africa and Britain. Crowd pleasers include sweetcorn, lime leaf & lemongrass fritters, with Chilli Dipping sauce, and crispy aubergine in Sichuan caramel.
Key specifications
Price: From £22.00
Delivery: London
From breakfast in bed to wholesome speedy lunches, Yotam’s meal kits are effortless, with their Ottolenghi Ready food box helping you pull off a nutritious dinner by simply reheating in the saucepan, available nationwide. Choose from beef and ricotta meatballs; spicy confit tandoori chickpeas; spiced lamb ragu with harissa, apricots and green olives; or braised spinach and herbs with paneer and lime.
The Shakshuka meal kit includes the Ottolenghi Ready Shakshuka sauce, labneh, coriander cress, four Clarence Court eggs, Dusty Knuckle focaccia and freshly squeezed orange juice.
Key specifications
Price: From £25.50
Delivery: Nationwide
Two chefs from Newington Green’s hugely hyped Primeur are using their N5 kitchen to create first class comfort food. The finest ingredients, like Yorkshire-based Swaledale beef ragu, level up the simple menu of home-made focaccia, lasagne (with an aubergine veggie option) and tiramisu.
A sell-out every week, be prepared to order from midday every Wednesday, for collection or delivery within a 5 mile radius of the restaurant. When it arrives – delivered by a team of furloughed hospitality workers – reheat or freeze for later.
Key specifications
Price: From £8.00
Delivery: North and East London
A celebrated street food brand may not scream ‘fine dining’, but such intense and delicate flavours are worthy of respect. Delivering chilled curry puffs, curries, sauces and laksa noodle meal kits, street food restaurant Old Chang Kee offer a taste of Singapore.
With their Laksa Meal Kit, expect rice noodles, beansprouts, prawns and tofu in a light but fragrant broth that’s made from dried shrimp, spices and coconut milk.
Key specifications
Price: From £11.00
Delivery: Nationwide
Features Assistant
Becky Burgum is ELLE’s Features Assistant covering all things culture, from the music festival gender imbalance, to periods and Boris Johnson’s voting record.
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io
Advertisement – Continue Reading Below