Lockdown Gourmand
Lockdown can be a tricky time but you can still enjoy some wonderful food and culinary experiences. Dinner at home can also be fun and glamorous, and one thing that has come out of this year has been the creativity from restaurants and chefs in finding ways to bring you delicious delights for your table.
This has been a great way to support and celebrate your favourite restaurants and some of this country's exceptional producers and suppliers. Here are some of our favourites, explore what London has to offer in at-home dinning, and drinking!
Big Night, in!
Big Night is a new delivery system built by restaurateurs, for those that love restaurants. A carefully curated list, it includes some of the best restaurants in London, with meal kits and hot meals right to your door including Luca, The Laughing Heart, Levan, and Mangal 2.
Feasting for Two
The restaurant Nutshell on St Martin’s Lane in Covent Garden has launched their at-home delivery service, which will celebrate the wealth of flavours of regional dishes of Iran. Delivery is every Thursday and Saturday nationwide or for local Londoners pick up is available. The special home kit for two, features 7 dishes from their winter menu, prices start from £55 + delivery.
The menu includes their famed Bazaar Bread with Zaytoun Barvedeh, an olive tapenade with pomegranate and walnut and their Mushroom Kotlets with barberry and burnt yoghurt.For mains, indulge in a choice between three Mazandarani Lamb (Halal) Halibut Mast, and the vegetarian option featuring vegan Kofte Tabrizi which all come with Tahchin, a crispy saffron rice cake. The kit features a warming toasted flour tart with pistachio and spiced clotted cream for dessert. You can also order. wine from their extensive wine list, cocktails or a house infused gins.
Top Cuvée Comes Over for Dinner
Launched this month, under the helm of Top Covée’s head chef Will Blank (ex Lyle’s), this wine-focused restaurant has developed daily changing menus for you to enjoy at home. There is also a rotating natural wine pairings to complement each menu, plus a Spotify playlist! Prepared fresh daily in the kitchen at Top Cuvée, meals arrive with simple heating instructions. Priced at £35 for two (before wine), an example of your menu: Cheese scones with cultured butter, Roast chicken & tarragon pot pie with Carrots in sage butter, and finishing with Sticky toffee pudding with ivy house cream.
Fish Supper
For a taste of Rick Stein's famed seafood dishes look no further than Stein's at Home. All the preparation has been done by the Rick Stein team, all that's needed from you is to cook and plate up the dishes. There are currently three boxes to choose from, The Hake Box, The Indonesian Curry Box and The Lobster Box, priced from £40 per box. Example dishes include starters of Grilled Scallops with a hazelnut and coriander butter; classic Moules mariniere and Smoked mackerel pate; mains of Grilled hake piperade; Indonesian seafood curry with pilau rice and a green bean and coconut saladand a delicious Lobster thermidor. To round off the experience add a bottle or two to the box, chosen by Head of Drinks and Sommelier, Charlie Stein.
Cooking up a Storm
Restaurant Kits offers the essential ingredients to create signature dishes from beloved restaurants, all delivered in one simple box. These Kits bring the UK’s most loved independent restaurants into the comfort of everyone’s home, including Dirty Bones, Pizza Pilgrims, Flank, Yum Bun and Scotland specialist’s Mac & Wild. Created by Mac & Wild co-founders, Andy Waugh and Calum Mackinnon along with Edward Alun-Jones; the kits have been a huge success since their launch during the midst of the pandemic.
A Sweet Note
Lockdown may be in full swing, but life doesn't stop. Birthdays and good news still need celebrating, and afternoon teas and sweet treats can make a dark autumnal day brighter. Reemie’s Cakes is an independent cake specialist, with a range simply delicious baked treats to choose from. For showstoppers look no further than Hebe Konditori, with their incredible bespoke cakes.
Imbibing in Autumn
Cosying up with a lovely bottle of wine is a great way to spend an autumn evening. Over the year, to support the lockdown, a number of independent wine bars have become shops and have found fun ways of get great drinks to you.
Nobody Asked Me is a small wine bar in Hackney which opened in January this year. With a unique selection of wines, and hand-batch cocktails this wine shop gives you a chance to explore new drinks. Diogenes the Dog in Elephant & Castle has an adventurous, well curated global wine list, and have been known to offer very detailed sommelier services over the phone; they are also a grocery store during the day and are serving mulled wine to-go. Usually Modal Wines supply restaurants, but during lockdown they have developed an online shop and have some of the best natural wines that Europe has to offer, including their own blend named ‘Spirals’ which is dedicating all profits to charity, this season it is to Made in Hackney.
Enjoy an aperitif with Swift Bar’s ‘speakeasy at home’ range of cocktails, this year Swift was named 33rd best bar in the world and a favourite spot of ours - so their drinks are definitely a must! Tayer + Elementary was named 5th best bar this year, and have just opened an ‘online off license’, which is definitely worth a peek - snacks as well as great drinks!
We truly believe that memories are best served together and we hope some of these recommendations will bright your days. A relaxed dinner recreating your favourite casual dining spot, or a more occasional home kit with beautifully wines, or a fun apéritif are always to explore flavours and culinary adventures.
