Lockdown changed the way restaurants across the city operate – many turned into takeaway businesses overnight and those that weren’t able to send out hot food for delivery came up with a new option; the DIY meal kit. They put together a box of ingredients, which you then cook at home, meaning you can get a taste of your fave restaurant and feel like a pro chef in the kitchen. Here are the best of the bunch to order…
Susuru by Masaki – This ramen kit from Dinings Chef Masaki Sugasaki doesn’t come cheap (£18 per person) but OH BOY it is worth it. Going to put it out there and say it’s one of the best ramens we’ve ever had, including Japan. The price doesn’t seem so bad once it’s arrived and you realise all the work that’s gone into it – there’s all manner of little powders and oils that go into an already delicious chicken stock broth to take it up a notch. From the yuzu scented broth to the perfect fresh noodles and smoked chicken breast – this is one banging bowl of ramen. Available this January only for delivery or collection as part of Dinings at Home.
Mortimer House Kitchen – Knock up an entire porchetta feast for four, minimal effort required, with this kit from Mortimer House Kitchen. As well as a whole porchetta, garlic roasties, broccoli, salsa verde & mustard jus, the box contains capocollo & burrata to start, tiramisu to finish AND ciabatta rolls & onion jam for leftover sarnies the next day. Now that’s what we call service.
Donostia – this San Sebastian inspired box from Donostia is full of Basque tapas and pintxo dishes, so get ready for sexy slices of jamon Iberico, blistered padron peppers, pan con tomate, crab pintxos and Jersey Royal potatoes with chorizo and aioli. Not forgetting, two slices of THAT Basque cheesecake.
Bermondsey Larder – Robin Gill and his team at Bermondsey Larder have really outdone themselves with these at-home kits. Expect some familiar dishes from his years at The Dairy as well as new creations too, always with a supplier-led ethos at the core of the menu. There’s snacks of homemade sourdough, smoked bone marrow butter, and chicken liver mousse, followed by agnolotti with Delica pumpkin, cashew blue and cavolo nero. For mains you can choose between salt baked celeriac with wild mushrooms & pickled walnut vinaigrette or beef short rib with celeriac gratin.
Limin’ Beach Club – Sure pizza, burgers, and roasts are all good but if you’re getting as bored of ordering the same takeaways as you are of sitting in the house, then spice things up with some Trinidad and Tobago flavours. Limin’ Beach Club, who launched in the midst of the pandemic, are serving up authentic Trini dishes out of their Gabriel Wharf hub. And we’ve been lucky enough to try Roadside Doubles, the country’s famous street food, on their home turf so we were intrigued to see how Limin’s fared. Made from baras (a type of flat bread) the pancake like discs are topped with chana (a rich lentil curry) and a mix of spices. Stick on some reggae and wash it all down with Threeway Rum, the restaurant’s own white rum brand. Twerking is completely down to you – but advisable if you want to get into the swing of it (and practice before night clubs open).
Koya – The udon noodle specialists are now on delivery platform Big Night with a choice of three appropriately-named DIY meal kits – the Big(ish) Night, the Big Night and the Big Night Vegetarian – which come wrapped in a Furoshiki scarf. All of them include the signature udon noods and broth plus a range of small plates like pickles, creamed tofu with Jerusalem artichoke and plaice sashimi. Not only is it very easy to pull the whole feast together as a lot of the side dishes can be eaten cold, it’s food you’d never attempt to make from scratch, which makes it even more impressive when you knock it all up.
Hoppers – Hoppers’ own ‘Cash & Kari’ retail range features meal kits, restaurant-blend curry powders, Sri Lankan spices, ready-to-drink cocktails, and Hoppers’ own-brew beers. Kari-home kits (a mix of ready to eat and cook-at-home dishes) include the paneer and lamb kothu kits, kalupol chicken, and the bone marrow varuval, one of Hoppers’ most popular dishes.
Joanna’s – You can’t go to Joanna’s, the Crystal Palace institution, but Joanna’s can come to you (anywhere within the M25) with its new three-course boxes for two. The boxes reflect the same comforting and hearty food you’d get in the restaurant with dishes like mackerel with compressed cucumber & herb creme fraiche, confit duck with lentils & buttered greens, and sticky toffee puding with vanilla cream. It all tastes gorgeous and it’s a breeze to make – opening a few pots and popping some foil trays in the oven is about as taxing as this meal gets.
Juici Jerk – You can bring some island sunshine to your kitchen thanks to the new DIY kits from pop-up Caribbean kitchen Juici Jerk. As well as perfectly marinated chicken the box also includes rice & peas, plaintain, festival dough, coleslaw, mac & cheese and homemade sauces so you can put on a right spread at home. Every ingredient is helpfully numbered, the instructions are easy to follow, and it’s properly tasty – a real winner of a DIY kit.
Sasha Pasta – Sasha Pasta is a one-woman power-house making fresh dough every morning from her kitchen in Islington. And this pasta is the real deal. The weekly changing menu features quirky flavour combos you probably won’t find anywhere else too, from salami, olive and rose harissa tagliatelle to pistachio and basil trofie packed with fresh chilli.
Flesh & Buns – Flesh & Buns have finally bringing their baos to our homes with this kit featuring their signature buns stuffed with crispy pork belly, karashi mayo and pickled apple sauce. They even offer the option to add a bamboo steamer into your basket for a proper authentic experience and for guaranteed fluffiness. This at-home kit is truly un-bao-lievable.
Fidelari – Fidelari is a brand new pasta delivery brand run by Vanessa and Valentina, who are both from Puglia and who met at Restaurant Theo Randall, and it’s all about proper authentic pasta. The kits include handmade pasta and sauces, with combos including pappardelle & beef shin ragu, troccoli with squid & tomato and gnocchi with rocket pesto, and all you have to do to is heat and eat.
Aktar at Home – Aktar Islam, who runs Michelen-starred Opheem in Birmingham, has expanded his at-home offering with a weekly curry box available for nationwide delivery. There are ten Indian dishes inside, including a range of curries from across the country like Allepy fish curry, Hyderabadi beef curry and Kashmiri aubergine curry; pulao rice; and breads. The portions are extremely generous – we’re talking multiple meals for a family, which at £70 is amazing value – and everything can be frozen too, so you can spread the enjoyment out over a few weeks.
Ampeli – A Mediterranean holiday may be off the cards for the moment but Fitzrovia restaurant Ampeli is bringing you the next best thing with its new at-home meal boxes. You get a choice of two social plates, like salt cod croquettes and roasted cauliflower with labneh; a sharing main like lamb shoulder souvlaki with citrus potatoes and feta dressing (which is essentially a fancy kebab and chips); and a pud like baklava cigars or Greek rice pudding. It’s all pretty easy to pull together and they even give some plating up suggestions so you can go full MasterChef.
Gaucho – You can now get the ultimate Gaucho experience at home with the launch of their nationwide delivery boxes and there’s not just one, but TWO kits to choose from. The Gaucho Pie Box features a selection of hearty pies including beef & malbec, chicken & chorizo and burrata & spinach for the veggies. The Beef Wellington Box includes, you guessed it, beef wellington but with a very tasty side of whipped provolone potatoes too. They both finish things off with a flourless chocolate cake, espresso cream and dulce de leche. It’s a proper Argentinian feast.
Where the pancakes are – The London Bridge restaurant has a new at-home Big Brunch box (£45 to feed six) containing organic buttermilk (or a vegan alternative) pancake flour mix, Canadian maple syrup, Swaledale smoked streaky bacon, blueberries, bananas, buttermilk, eggs and butter so you can flip out stacks and stacks of pancakes.
Breakfast En Bread – The Barge House in Hackney is famous for its breakfasts inside sourdough loaves and you can get them at home thanks to the Breakfast En Bread delivery service. The loaves are stuffed with spinach, leeks, mushrooms, tomatoes and, depending on which variety you choose, cheese, bacon and sausage, and each one comes ready to go in the oven so all you have to do is add the egg yolk right at the end. It’s the most low-effort brunch you can get and you can even freeze the loaves if you want to save up them for a treat.
Club Mexicana – Taco ’bout a fiesta. Club Mexicana now deliver their infamous vegan tacos nationwide for people to recreate in the comfort of their own home. The menu changes monthly and they make it very easy for you put the Mexican feast together. The Al Pastor taco box features Club Mexicana’s homemade al pastor seitan, marinated in Meriel’s secret chilli adobo sauce, accompanied by fresh corn tortillas and Taco toppings like caramelised pineapple, red onion and a zingy salsa verde with coriander, and chilli lime seasoning.
Zested – Zested have really thought outside the box with their new approach to at-home dining. They’ve created a meal kit that’s not only planet conscious and kinder to the environment, but very tasty too. Where possible, they use ethical, free-range and locally grown ingredients so you could be feasting on the likes of smoked haddock with spiced cauliflower khichdi or roast coley with smokey Spanish beans. Plus they plant a tree for every single delivery.
Smith & Wollenksy – Raise the steaks at home with one of these Smith & Wollensky boxes. You can choose from a monster 28 day dry-aged, grass-fed Irish tomahawk; 28 dry-aged USDA bone-in-rib-eye; or USDA fillet, and each cut comes with whipped potatoes, creamed spinach and peppercorn sauce for you to have on the side. And if you happen to be in a big household, the boxes can be scaled up to feed four and six people….bring on the meat sweats.
Dinings SW3 – The super swish Japanese restaurant Dinings SW3 has just launched its Dinings at Home menu. If you’ve always fancied making your own sushi then the DIY kits are a great place to start, with all the fresh fish, seafood, nori sheets and sushi rice you need to get rolling. There’s also the DIY Tar Tar chips box, containing premium “Toro” fatty tuna, salmon, potted native lobster, seared wagyu and roasted beetroot to be piled on crispy rice bites. If you’re not so in to the DIY then there’s also ready made dishes available for delivery.
Lyle’s – Michelin-starred Lyle’s is getting into the delivery game with not one but three different food boxes. The Provisions Box is ingredients based, featuring goodies like damson jam, Neal’s Yard cheese and Lyle’s mince pie mix & pastry. The Meal Kit, as the name suggests, is a dinner box including dishes like crab & barley porridge, fore-rib steak with beetroot sauce, and quince sponge with vanilla custard to be finished off at home. And the Wild Food Meal Kit is similar to the last one, just with some game dishes in there instead.
Bocca di Lupo – Jacob Kenedy is making it easy for you to take a tour around Italy with the Bocca di Lupo at Home boxes, which change each month to reflect a different regional menu that’s running in the Soho restaurant. There are three options each month – veggie, fish or meat – and each one has three courses for two people, and it’s all super simple to put together. For the Lazio box, which included mozzarella in carrozza, suckling pig with grapes, chestnuts and greens with potatoes, and burnt ricotta pie, it’s a simple matter of baking the starter, crisping up the pork in the oven and warming through the sauce and sides. Step-by-step instructions are provided on the website so you really can’t go wrong!
The Vurger Co. – We love the The Vurger Co.’s naughty, plant-based fast-food range and now they’ve launched ‘At Home’ DIY New York Melt burger kits for those who can’t make it down to their spot. The 100% vegan feast includes Beyond Meat burger patties, cheese, lettuce, sliced gherkins, tomatoes and jar of house-made burger sauce, with two portions of skin-on fries to be cooked at home. It’s an eco-friendly kit with completely compostable packaging and a reusable freezer bag, plus they’re delivering nationwide, and we think it’s basically a steal at only £18.95 for two people.
Bancone – Bancone at Home is back with two- and four-person pasta kits featuring some of the restaurant’s classics like bucatini cacio e pepe, spicy pork & n’duja ragù with mafalde, and spinach & ricotta mezzaluna ravioli with sage butter.
Bubbledogs – Sandia Chang’s Bubbledogs is now offering grower champagnes via the new online Bubbleshop. Her and the team have created four home kits – The Mac Daddy, The Reuben, The Mexican, and The Chilli Cheese – that you can recreate at home. Each kit serves two (although you actually get four hot dogs) and is priced at £20, with the added touch of the restaurant’s serving trays and Bubbledogs greaseproof paper, so that they can be plated up restaurant-style. For the full experience, add a bottle of Sandia’s recommend Champagne pairing for each ‘dog.
Chotto Matte – The Peruvian-Japanese restaurant based in Soho recently launched the ‘At Home’ kit which is £60 for two people which is pretty amazing value considering you get Padron Peppers, Choclo Corn, Pollo Anticucho, Black Cod Aji Miso, Asado De Tira and Purple Potato Purée. Chotto Matte has done most of the hard work on all these dishes, which are delivered in pouches and mostly just need heating up in the oven or via the ‘boil in the bag’ method. There’s also loads of mini sauce bottles that go with each dish and really solid clear instructions.
Stein’s at Home – Chef Director Jack Stein and the team have added two new menus to their at-home range – the sea bass box with mussels & black beans, Thai sea bass and mango fool, and the coq au reisling box with smoked salmon pate, coq au riesling and chocolate torte. The hake and Indonesian curry menus are still available to order but if you want a real blowout, it’s gotta be the scallops, lobster thermidor and chocolate pave box, because let’s be honest you’d never be making all that from scratch.
Yum Bun – The sun may not be out but your buns still can be thanks to Miso Mushroom Bao box from Yum Bun. The hard graft has been done for you, like making the baos and cooking the mushrooms, so all you have to do is steam the buns, glaze the shrooms and get the garnishes ready. If you’ve got meat eaters in the house you can also get a pork belly bao box or a mixed one if you just can’t make your mind up.
Santo Remedio – Edson and Natalie Diaz-Fuentes have launched three Remedy Kits so you can get your fix of Santo Remedio’s Mexican food at home. All the kits come with sides of black beans, citrus potato salad, slaw, corn tortillas, chips and salsa, with the choice of beef short rib with mole negro, barbacoa lamb shank or duck carnitas. It only takes some heating up and mixing together to create the spread, and although they say the kits serve two, you get a serious amount of food. Add on a bottle of ready-mixed margaritas to really get the fiesta going.
Jose Pizarro – There’s a new delivery hero in town – José Pizarro. His new tapas at home menu is by far the best restaurant delivery we’ve had. José has landed on a method that gives you amazing dishes for minimal effort. All the cooked dishes have been vacuum packed, meaning to finish them at home you mostly just have to pop the bags into simmering water for a few minutes and then cut it open. But just to make sure you get everything right, José has done a video to every single dish, showing you how to assemble the final bits. We recommend getting the Iberico Bellota ham, olives, boquerones, pan con tomate, the chorizo, mini Spanish tortilla, and the chicken and seafood paella. Super professional and super easy – this is the most restaurant-like meal we’ve had in lockdown!
Island Poke
Wild Radish – Wild Radish is a new chef-led recipe box service featuring dishes from the likes of Phillip Howard, Anna Hansen, Alyn Williams and Marianna Leivaditaki. The boxes come with the best seasonal ingredients, sourced from the chefs’ favourite suppliers, and easy-to-follow recipes and tips so you can recreate restaurant quality food at home. Each box comes with a little surprise, like fresh bread or artisanal chocolate, and you can also add on a bottle of wine matched to the dish by Matthew Jukes. One to order for the time you’re trying to impress your mates with your kitchen skills.
Officina 00 – Officina 00 has launched a range of finish at home versions of their signature pastas, including pumpkin gnocchi with brown butter & gorgonzola, corzetti with wild mushroom & pork sausage, and occhi with beef brisket genovese. It takes about five minutes to get it from box to plate so it’s super speedy and easy to cook, and the kits are available on demand so you can order one as soon as the pasta cravings strike.
Supa Ya Ramen – The Hackney Road outpost of Supa Ya Ramen may have had to close but you can still get your hands on its ramen thanks to feast box delivery service Dishpatch. The Supa Ya Ramen box, which serves two, features ramen with tamarind & chipotle braised chicken, roast chicken soup, mushroom soy, confit garlic oil, hand cut noodles & fudgy egg, plus buttered miso cabbage, bacon fat glazed brussel sprouts, radicchio with ponzu vinaigrette, soy pickled cucumbers and pickled turnips on the side. All you have to do it heat the bits up and serve.
Nonna Tonda
Mother Clucker – give the Colonel a run for his money and cook up your own chicken with the Mother Clucker D.I.Fry kit. The box contains brined chicken, buttermilk, flour mix, hot sauce, lime mayo and slaw as well as the all-important tips on how to achieve the perfect fry at home. It comes in two- and four-person servings and if you get the big one, £2.50 gets donated to Brixton Soup Kitchen. Cluck yeah!
Cue Point – if you’re over the same barbecue, it’s time to mix things up with a meal kit from Cue Point, who specialise in inclusive, British-Afghan smoked meats. The lamb and brisket kit includes smoked brisket, smoked lamb, nacos (Afghan naan tacos), Afghan green chutney, crispy onions, jalapeño jam and pickled chillies. YUM.
Burger & Beyond
BAO
Baggio Burger – Italian-American burger joint Baggio Burger is now doing meal kits for two of its signature buns, the Baggio Bacon Cheeseburger (with parma ham, American cheese and sundried tomato ketchup) and the Topolino (with mozzarella, gorgonzola and fig jam), and you can order them via meal kit platform Great Food 2U.
Yummy Plant-Based – as you can guess from the name, Yummy Plant-Based is all about vegan goodies like their DIY Falafel Kit. Enough for four people, the kit contains enough mix for 25-30 falafels, spicy tomato sauce, houmous,
tehina, green chilli dip, pickles, red cabbage salad, za’atar seasoning and fluffy pitta breads, and they deliver anywhere within the M25.
Passyunk Avenue – make an authentic Philly Cheesesteak at home with one of the LOVEbundle kits from Philadelphia-inspired spot Passyunk Avenue. The sandwich boxes – there’s also a Hoagie one – come with all the bread and fillings you need to create some truly epic sarnies. They also do buffalo wings and Passyunk Pale IPA beer boxes for the ultimate Philly experience.
ZOILO – this is one for all the carnivores out there. ZOILO is doing steak boxes featuring prime Argentine ribeye steaks, chimichurri, flavoured oils plus provolone cheese and oregano honey so you can recreate their provoleta starter at home as well. Make sure you don’t go thirsty either with one of their Argentine wine selection boxes.
Dishoom – bacon naan rolls are back on the menu! The Dishoom DIY kit features enough ingredients to make TWO epic Bacon Naan Rolls – that’s dough balls, smoked streaky bacon, tomato chilli jam, and cream cheese. You’ll also get tea and spices so that you can brew a batch of their Masala Chai.
Shoryu Ramen – knocking up a Japanese feast at home just got a whole lot easier thanks to Shoryu Ramen. The restaurant chain is doing DIY meal kits (which you can whack in your freezer and save for later) of some of its most popular dishes, including ganso ramen, piri piri tonkotsu and the vegan white natural. You can get them as single dishes, double kits and even a family pack of six mixed ones.
The Cheese Bar
Charred
Lahpet
Hame
Arros QD
The Good Egg – if you’ve got really into baking during lockdown, you can now recreate The Good Egg’s famous babka with their new bake-your-own babka kit. It comes with flour, sugar, yeast, butter, egg, chocolate chips and chocolate tahini, so you just need to provide the milk, and they’re delivering them within an 8-mile radius of the Stokey restaurant.
Le Swine – Le Swine is making sure your breakfasts are still on point in lockdown with their DIY bacon butty kit, containing middle bacon, bacon butter, milk & onion buns and homemade ketchup
Pasta Nostra
Patty & Bun – you can still get your Patty & Bun fix with a Lockdown DIY Patty Kits, including patties, brioche buns, cheese, onions and mayo, so you can make the burgers at home. You can get meaty ones to recreate Ari Golds or Smokey Robinsons, with plant-based ones also available, and you can see how it’s done right here.
Shuk – The Israeli market stall at Borough has a range of bangin’ DIY kits. There’s a DIY babka kit, which you can get in chocolate, hazelnut & cookie crumb or in a special collab flavour with Bubala of baked ricotta cheesecake, biscoff and sour cherry. YUM. There’s a DIY pitta kit; these kits are £30 including delivery and include everything you need to make four stuffed pittas at home. There’s two signatures to choose from, the fish tagine or the spiced lamb meatballs, chilli yoghurt, pickled red cabbage, coriander & mint. And they’ve got a sabich kit, with roast aubergine, sliced eggs, homemade pickles, chopped tomatoes, fresh mint & coriander topped with creamy amba tahini, and a drizzle of shug and harissa oil to finish things off. For £30, there’s enough for four stuffed pitas.
Pizza Pilgrims – whip up authentic Neapolitan pizza in your own home thanks to Pizza Pilgrims and their Frying Pan Pizza Kits. The kits contain all the ingredients you need so all you need to have on hand is a frying pan and a grill. And if you need a little help, check out how it’s done right here.
Passo – whip up an Italian feast with at-home salami and margherita pizza kits; fresh pasta including agnolotti, gnocchi, and pici; fresh sauces (hello sausage and n’duja ragu) and bottled negronis from Passo.
Arabica – you don’t have to go without Levantine treats during lockdown because Arabica is now doing deliveries. As well as mezze platters, including dips, boregi, kibeh and fattoush, you can get DIY falafel kits and jars of their own spices and sauces.
Honest Burger