Restaurants at home kits
Discussion
We had Christmas dinner from the Michelin star Fischers at Baslow. It was absolutely delicious. Collected Christmas Eve, heated up on Christmas day. I joked with work colleagues that it was the most expensive ping meal ever. 
I agree with other posters, it's about supporting places that you want to go to or go back to when life gets a little more normal.
I agree with other posters, it's about supporting places that you want to go to or go back to when life gets a little more normal.
LaurasOtherHalf said:
Managed to catch the valentine's box from Northcoat this morning. Expensive for a cook at home meal but as above, an incredibly cheap way of sampling her menu.
Looking forward to it so will post up the results once we've had it
I got the email at 1045 by the time I logged onto their site at 1120 it was all sold out! Looking forward to it so will post up the results once we've had it
I’m really torn with the restaurant kits. I want to support these places as I want them available when we can visit again but I just can’t get past some of the prices.
I’m fairly competent in the kitchen and have quite a few gadgets (mandoline, sous vide, pressure cooker, stand mixer etc) which help to recreate some restaurant style dishes. I’m currently trying to improve my sauce skills which is often the difference between a high end meal and home cook and I really need to work on presentation which would still be an issue serving up a restaurant kit.
I have friends that have tried one of our local restaurants kits, a place that I have been to and really loved but because of a difference in disposable income the £70 cost seems a lot to me when I could probably recreate 75% of the meal myself for a fraction of that.
The reason I go out to eat is to have something I can’t do myself; I don’t go to mid level pubs / restaurants (unless with a group) anymore as I can do the same or better, it’s either spoons or Michelin star now. I just feel that if a beef wellington or sous vide lamb shank turned up I’d be disappointed.
I’m fairly competent in the kitchen and have quite a few gadgets (mandoline, sous vide, pressure cooker, stand mixer etc) which help to recreate some restaurant style dishes. I’m currently trying to improve my sauce skills which is often the difference between a high end meal and home cook and I really need to work on presentation which would still be an issue serving up a restaurant kit.
I have friends that have tried one of our local restaurants kits, a place that I have been to and really loved but because of a difference in disposable income the £70 cost seems a lot to me when I could probably recreate 75% of the meal myself for a fraction of that.
The reason I go out to eat is to have something I can’t do myself; I don’t go to mid level pubs / restaurants (unless with a group) anymore as I can do the same or better, it’s either spoons or Michelin star now. I just feel that if a beef wellington or sous vide lamb shank turned up I’d be disappointed.
I 100% get you Tom, I'm probably of a similar skillset and usually I'd enjoy a valentine's weekend as I'd be able to spend a good proportion of Saturday prepping and putting in the effort to make something special.
However, at the moment when our C-19 numbers are above 1000 we're simply doing online shopping and not bothering with scouring for the best ingredients.
Including delivery (which was a swizz as how can you advertise a nationwide meal box that doesn't include nationwide delivery?!) £155 is ridiculously expensive considering the cost of the ingredients. But then I value my time above £100 for a Saturday afternoon spent cooking and prepping even if I'd enjoy doing it for free.
Lisa Goodwin-Allen has been on the register for a couple of years now and her cooking on the GCM program against our local hero Simon Rogan at Christmas really put her top of our list.
The other thing is we really aren't the type of family to leave the kids with the grandparents and go out by ourselves. We've done fine dining with the kids and it only takes one kid getting beyond tired to ruin it so it is a fine line. To be honest, if this is a success I only hope they continue doing them post covid as it gives us a chance to do things that we enjoy without bombing the kids off (our youngest isn't yet 2 yr old).
The Smokestack looks good for the kids, our eldest loves 5 guys and although she enjoys an occasional McDonald's I'm looking forward to letting her try something else. Obviously not as special for the kids not having the restaurant atmosphere but what else can you do?
However, at the moment when our C-19 numbers are above 1000 we're simply doing online shopping and not bothering with scouring for the best ingredients.
Including delivery (which was a swizz as how can you advertise a nationwide meal box that doesn't include nationwide delivery?!) £155 is ridiculously expensive considering the cost of the ingredients. But then I value my time above £100 for a Saturday afternoon spent cooking and prepping even if I'd enjoy doing it for free.
Lisa Goodwin-Allen has been on the register for a couple of years now and her cooking on the GCM program against our local hero Simon Rogan at Christmas really put her top of our list.
The other thing is we really aren't the type of family to leave the kids with the grandparents and go out by ourselves. We've done fine dining with the kids and it only takes one kid getting beyond tired to ruin it so it is a fine line. To be honest, if this is a success I only hope they continue doing them post covid as it gives us a chance to do things that we enjoy without bombing the kids off (our youngest isn't yet 2 yr old).
The Smokestack looks good for the kids, our eldest loves 5 guys and although she enjoys an occasional McDonald's I'm looking forward to letting her try something else. Obviously not as special for the kids not having the restaurant atmosphere but what else can you do?
Got one coming from a well regarded local place next week as a present from my brother for Christmas.
https://masterclasses.sixbynico.co.uk/pages/how-it...
https://masterclasses.sixbynico.co.uk/pages/how-it...
We’ve had a few over lock down 1,2 and 3 for birthdays and anniversary’s and have really enjoyed them. Expensive but cheaper than a fancy night out for 2
Adam Reid - Great British Menu kit, my favourite of them all. Food was great, instructions were really well written and flowed really well. This one needed the most work out of all of them ( ie make up a batter then coat and deep fry a bit of fish) but I found it enjoyable working through the steps and the end results were great. (I tried to pass this off as my own cooking but wife guessed as soon as she saw the food, Kitchen looked like a bomb had hit it at the end)
Wood at home - NYE kit, this was far more focused on the presentation than the Adam Reid kit (that reflects the difference in Simon woods vs Adam Reid’s styles), most of the cooking was just reheating. Came with a pair of nice little plates and bowls so that when plating up your food it looked right rather than being lost on my plain white IKEA plates. Instructions were a bit sparse on a few A4 sheets of paper. Food looked amazing and tasted great. A big thumbs up for Simon on the Packaging, with a lot of paper and the insulation was wool, the other kits had more single use plastic and big bits of polystyrene packaging
Haar at home - best of land and sea, good food but didn’t feel like anything I couldn’t have bought and prepared my self
We have the home by nico and home by James knappett in order for Valentine’s Day and later in fab
Adam Reid - Great British Menu kit, my favourite of them all. Food was great, instructions were really well written and flowed really well. This one needed the most work out of all of them ( ie make up a batter then coat and deep fry a bit of fish) but I found it enjoyable working through the steps and the end results were great. (I tried to pass this off as my own cooking but wife guessed as soon as she saw the food, Kitchen looked like a bomb had hit it at the end)
Wood at home - NYE kit, this was far more focused on the presentation than the Adam Reid kit (that reflects the difference in Simon woods vs Adam Reid’s styles), most of the cooking was just reheating. Came with a pair of nice little plates and bowls so that when plating up your food it looked right rather than being lost on my plain white IKEA plates. Instructions were a bit sparse on a few A4 sheets of paper. Food looked amazing and tasted great. A big thumbs up for Simon on the Packaging, with a lot of paper and the insulation was wool, the other kits had more single use plastic and big bits of polystyrene packaging
Haar at home - best of land and sea, good food but didn’t feel like anything I couldn’t have bought and prepared my self
We have the home by nico and home by James knappett in order for Valentine’s Day and later in fab
Audis5b9 said:
We've ordered the Ynyshir at home box 1,
Will report back once we've had it this Weekend.
Following up from that... here's the results:Will report back once we've had it this Weekend.
BBQ Flatbread - Garlic and Herb Butter - 60 Month Aged Parmesan
Singapore Chilli Crab - Deep Fried Sweet Bun
Shawarma Spiced Welsh Lamb Leg- Mint Potato Yoghurt Salad - Lettuce - Wild Garlic - Tahini
Sticky Toffee Pudding - Jersey Double Cream
It was incredible! So much flavour throughout. The chef is a magician. Hats off to him being able to box it up and send it round the country and taste like it does.
I gave a JKS Ambassador store box to my brother for his 40th at the weekend, it was the mixed grill box from Brigadiers with a couple of extra dishes he wanted to try from Gymkhana, Grilled prawns, chicken wings, lamb chops, naan, goat sliders, pork cheek vindaloo, daal and .various sauces and things.
Certainly not cheap at around £130 but there was a lot of food for 4 people and he was impressed with everything he ate. I certainly could make it at home but the hassle of sourcing various meats, fish, making sauces in such small quantities would put me off and the convenience is a big factor, it's £30 a head which isn't bad considering.
Certainly not cheap at around £130 but there was a lot of food for 4 people and he was impressed with everything he ate. I certainly could make it at home but the hassle of sourcing various meats, fish, making sauces in such small quantities would put me off and the convenience is a big factor, it's £30 a head which isn't bad considering.
AlvinSultana said:
I shall be ordering the feast, and I shall report, should we be spared.....
https://boisdaleathome.co.uk/collections/burns-kit...
Fish course looking good.https://boisdaleathome.co.uk/collections/burns-kit...
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