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Delicious, delivered: London’s best restaurant meal kits

OpenTable November 22, 2020 Leave a Comment

Lost your cooking mojo? Exhausted your local takeaway options? We hear you. If you’re missing dining out, these meal kits are the perfect way to recreate a little restaurant magic at home.

Passo To Go
We can still remember the thrill of leaving the office after a long day and heading straight to Passo for restorative carbs and Negronis. Now, you can recreate that post-work buzz at home with pizza and pasta kits from Passo To Go. With a little help from their how-to videos, you can have a proper pizza or a bowl of paccheri arrabbiata on the table in no time. There’s tonnarelli cacio e pepe and bottled Negronis, too – perfect for your next home date night.

Mac & Wild
Mac & Wild’s Venimoo burger is a thing of beauty – two patties (one beef, one venison) with cheese, pickles, béarnaise sauce and caramelised onions. Their kit has everything you need to recreate it at home, right down to the brioche buns and their famous Red Jon sauce. There are haggis pop kits and a virtual drinks cabinet stocked with bottles of their signature cocktails. Burgers and Manhattans on the sofa? Maybe staying in isn’t so bad after all.

Blacklock at Home
Someday soon, we’ll be back at Blacklock knocking back £5 cocktails and demolishing platters of chargrilled chops. Until then, they’re delivering everything you need to create the steak supper of your dreams – rump fillet steaks, or a 40 day aged Porterhouse, with beef dripping chips, kale salad, chop sauce, and white chocolate cheesecake for afters. The majestic ‘All In’ box (above) is currently sold out, but keep an eye on the website for its return.

Gauthier Home
Enjoy a box of eight vegan dishes from award-winning chef Alexis Gauthier, prepared at his Soho restaurant and delivered ready to heat at home. There’s enough food for a plant-based feast for four, or you can split the dishes to eat over a few days. The menu changes weekly and you can order paired wines, or even Champagne, to make dining at home feel extra special.

Dirty Bones
Take burger night to the next level with a little help from Dirty Bones. With their kits, you can recreate the classic cheeseburger, the vegan chilli cheeseburger, and the Mac Daddy, topped with pulled beef short rib and mac ‘n’ cheese. For the ultimate indulgent night in, get the Hero Kit – two Mac Daddy burgers, plus an Old Skool Fashioned cocktail and everything you need to make their delicious crispy lamb fries.

Bocca di Lupo at Home
This celebrated Italian restaurant is sending out feast boxes inspired by different regions of Italy – Puglia in November, and Piedmont in December. We’ve got our eye on their festive hampers and the Alba truffle feasts, which include a whole white truffle to shave over tonnarelli al fonduta.

Chotto at Home
Expand your culinary horizons with a recipe kit from Chotto Matte, a Soho spot that specialises in Nikkei cuisine – a fusion of Peruvian and Japanese. Priced at £60 for two, the kit features five of their most popular dishes, including spicy pollo picante, black cod with a chili miso marinade, and asado de tira (slow-cooked BBQ beef with teriyaki jus).

Arabica
While their restaurants are closed, Arabica are delivering Middle Eastern meal kits and ingredients to your door. You can get the kids involved with the DIY falafel kit or treat your housemates to their ‘Feast for Beirut’ – a selection of fresh meze dishes, followed by Lebanese-style beef short rib with vermicelli rice, and baklava for dessert.

These kits are a fantastic way to support restaurants while we can’t dine in. Check out Restaurant Kits and Dishpatch for more at-home options from restaurants like Farang, Berenjak, and Café Murano.

If you would rather leave the cooking to the experts, check out our Instagram feed for some of London’s tastiest takeaway options.

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Sunday saviours: Manchester’s best roast dinners

OpenTable October 31, 2020

There’s no better way to round off the week than with a Sunday roast, especially when someone else does the cooking and clearing up. If you’re already dreaming about crispy roasties and lashings of gravy, we’ve got you covered with this round-up of Manchester’s finest Sunday roasts.

Hawksmoor
Hawksmoor takes its roasts as seriously as its steaks, so beef connoisseurs are in very safe hands. Their beef rump is started off on the charcoal grill and then roasted slowly in the oven for maximum flavour. Served with beef dripping roast potatoes, plenty of veg, and a rich bone marrow and onion gravy, it’s the best £20 you’ll spend all week.

KALA Bistro
Part of Gary Usher’s Elite Bistros empire, KALA has been a hit with the locals since it opened its doors in 2019. The restaurant gets rave reviews from OpenTable diners, not just for its food but for the friendly staff that make everyday dining feel extra special. On Sundays, you can choose from roast beef with all the trimmings or their stuffed pork belly with caramelised apple sauce and rich, sticky gravy.

Dukes 92
A Castlefield institution since 1991, Dukes 92 is the perfect place to spend a lazy Sunday. If you’ve had a long week or you’re a bit hungover, their hearty roast dinners will sort you out in no time. There’s beef with homemade Yorkshire puddings, roast chicken with macadamia nut stuffing, and a Lancashire cheese and onion pie for your plant-based pals. Whatever you choose, be sure to leave room for their sticky toffee pudding!

The Refuge by Volta
Spend your Sunday in one of Manchester’s most glamorous dining rooms, where the roasts are served all day long. After a Mimosa or two, you can tuck into grass-fed beef, rare-breed pork loin, or half a roast chicken with garlic and thyme butter. The sides are also given special attention, from the maple-glazed parsnips and Vimto-braised red cabbage to optional extras like stuffing balls and pigs-in-blankets.

Gaucho
Set in a converted church in Deansgate, this Argentinean steakhouse serves some of the best beef in town. Every Sunday, it’s roasted to perfection and served with bottomless sides for £29.50pp. Yes, that means unlimited roast potatoes, glazed carrots, buttered greens, and as many Yorkshire puddings as you can manage. Come hungry!

Evelyn’s Cafe Bar
On those Sundays where it’s a struggle to roll out of bed, Evelyn’s roasts will make you so glad you did. Step away from the kitchen and head to the Northern Quarter for mustard-rubbed beef sirloin, Moroccan-style lamb, or harissa buttermilk roast chicken, all served with seasonal roast veg. There are spicy Bloody Marys made with pink peppercorn vodka and lots of meat-free options, like roast cauliflower with dahl gravy.

Still searching for the perfect Sunday roast? Visit OpenTable to discover more restaurants in Manchester.

Photo Credit: Bacon on the Beech for The Refuge. All other images courtesy of the restaurants.

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Discover the flavours of West Africa this autumn at Papa L’s Kitchen

OpenTable October 22, 2020

This autumn, Gambian-born chef Lawrence Gomez is bringing the flavours of West Africa to south-west London for a six-week pop-up, Papa L’s Kitchen. We caught up with him to find out more about his career as a chef and what diners can expect from his unique African fusion menu.

How did your journey into food begin? Did you always want to become a chef?

My food journey began when I was a child watching my Mum cook. We used to have lots of dinner parties and I was fascinated by the way food brings people together and how food plays a big part in how Gambians socialise. My Mum did a lot of the cooking and she would always make us watch and learn before we actually did something. I decided I wanted to become a chef when I was in secondary school and I was the only boy in my class in my food tech class.

How would you describe your cooking style?

My style is a mix of home cooking and the style and techniques I learned at some of the top restaurants in London. When I was young, all the children used to just eat from the same big bowl and I remember how happy that made me, everyone sharing and having fun. That’s what I’m trying to do with my food – not eating from the same bowl but everyone sharing home-cooked dishes and having a really good time.

After the success of your summer pop-up, you were able to re-employ your former colleagues from The Gojk. With the hospitality industry going through such a tough time, this must have felt like a huge win for you?

It was a huge win to put a smile on my staff’s faces knowing that they can pay their rent, feed their families and have a regular income in this difficult time for people in hospitality. I’ve also employed additional staff who were out of work due to COVID. It was a huge risk but it’s paid off and I’m overwhelmed by the support of customers and my Instagram followers who keep coming back to try new dishes – that’s a really special feeling for me and my team.

For some diners, your pop-up might be their first experience of West African food. What can they expect from your menu?

In terms of the African-fusion cuisine I offer, it’s about mixing the learnings from my career with my heritage and trying to change people’s perceptions in terms of the ingredients that are being used. I love to cook with fish and other traditional ingredients from back home, and then put my own little twist on things. The dining experience at Papa L’s Kitchen is a culmination of my life, from growing up in Gambia watching my mum cook, to working at restaurants like The Ivy and Sexy Fish. I was also a DJ in central London so the music in the restaurant and the fun aspect comes from there.

What are your favourite dishes on the menu? (If you can choose!)

My favourite dishes are all of them! If I had to choose it would be Ma’s Benachin rice because it’s inspired by my Mum’s recipe and it’s the national dish of Gambia, so this one comes straight from the heart. If you ask my customers, the crowd favourite is definitely the grilled king prawns in my signature sauce – people can’t get enough of them!

The pop-up runs until 14th November. What are your plans for 2021?

We’ll have a special announcement about the rest of 2020 coming soon so stay tuned! The plan for 2021 is to go full time with the restaurant and employ my staff full-time, not part-time.

When you’re not in the kitchen, where do you like to dine out in London?

When I’m not working, which is very rare these days, I eat wherever my kids take me so it’s always down to them and if I said anything other than McDonalds, I’d be lying! That’s a rare occasion though, and usually you’ll find us in GBK or Wahaca.

Papa L’s Kitchen is popping up at The Gojk on Old Brompton Road until 14th November, with 15% off every Thursday during Black History Month. Visit OpenTable to make a reservation.

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Spice Odyssey: 5 of the best Indian tasting menus in London

OpenTable October 20, 2020

Explore your love of spice with a tasting menu experience at one of London’s top Indian restaurants. Each course is an adventure – a chance to break out of your culinary comfort zone and try new flavours, textures and ingredients. If you’re ready to take the plunge, these award-winning restaurants offer tasting menus that will surprise, delight and linger in your memory for years to come.

Kanishka
Specialising in dishes from north-east India’s Sister States, Kanishka is the latest addition to Atul Kochhar’s restaurant empire. The menu promises ‘elevated simplicity’, relying less on oil and spice and more on the combination of top quality ingredients. The 7-course tasting menu features seared scallops with peas and caviar, a cumin and black pepper-spiced goat curry, and Atul’s signature chicken tikka pie. If five courses feels more manageable, diners can opt for King Kanishka’s tasting menu, priced at £55pp.

Atul Kochhar’s tasting menu: £110pp. Wine pairing £60pp. King Kanishka’s tasting menu: £55pp.

Quilon
A star of the London food scene since 1999, Quilon continues to impress diners with its modern take on south-west Indian coastal cuisine. As you might expect, fish and seafood takes centre stage, alongside meat and vegetable dishes fragrant with coconut, curry leaves and Tellicherry pepper. The tasting menus change with the seasons but current highlights include fresh lobster with butter, pepper and garlic, lamb biryani with traditional Malabar spices, and Quilon’s famous fish curry (halibut simmered in coconut, chilli, and raw mango sauce).

Vegetarian tasting menu £85pp, non-vegetarian £85pp, seafood £95pp. 8-course beer and food pairing menu £120pp.

The Cinnamon Club
In Westminster, the former Old Westminster Library provides an elegant book-lined backdrop for Vivek’s Singh’s contemporary Indian cuisine. The restaurant has long been famous for its game, so expect to find dishes like clove-smoked pigeon and tandoori venison saddle on the seven-course tasting menu. If you’re not sure how to navigate the wine list, opt for the wine pairings or trust the sommelier to find the perfect bottle or carafe to complement your meal.

7 courses £85pp, or £170 with wine pairing.

Bombay Bustle
Inspired by the tiffin tin carriers of Mumbai, Bombay Bustle serves some of the city’s best-loved dishes alongside family recipes. With its pewter bar and green leather booths, it feels less formal than big sister Jamavar but the food is equally impressive. Their tasting menu includes some of their most popular dishes – Achari lamb chop with pickling spices, crispy battered Koliwada squid, and an indulgent chicken tikka makhani. Round off your meal with their Old Gold Fashioned, made with roasted pecan-infused whiskey and homemade spiced bitters.

6 courses £65pp. Wine pairing £35pp.

Benares
Consistently ranked among the top Indian restaurants in London, Benares offers an unforgettable fine dining experience in the heart of Mayfair. Splash out on the tasting menu and you’ll be treated to dishes like baked Malabar scallop, tandoori lamb chop with saag aloo, and tawa masala turbot with clam moilee. The flavours are bold but refined – a real treat for spice lovers. For special occasions, consider booking the Chef’s Table, which overlooks the kitchen, or the Sommelier’s Table, where you can dine surrounded by exquisite wines from around the world.

6 courses £98pp, vegetarian £89pp. Paired wines available from £59pp.

Visit OpenTable to discover more of London’s best Indian restaurants.

Photo Credit: David Robson for Bombay Bustle. All other images courtesy of the restaurants.

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