Now kosher* meals - and all the trimmings - can come to you. We’ve tested the meal-delivery services coming to the aid of hungry households in isolation. (*See individual reviews for supervision details.)
May 14, 2020 16:34
If, like me, you’ve been preparing three meals a day (plus snacks) for more than seven weeks now and you’re in need of a night off, there’s help at hand, writes Victoria Prever.
Many caterers, short on simchas, have swiftly pivoted their businesses to stay afloat. And, despite the awful times, the home diner has never been better catered for. You can order in all kinds of meals, from Friday-night dinner to a cosy, gourmet dinner à deux. Food ranges from simple, haimishe meals at affordable prices to the more luxurious, cooked by chefs who normally cater for stylish weddings and barmitzvahs. So grab the chance to eat some of the best kosher food in town — and there isn’t even a dress code.
The JC has been reviewing some of the delivery services, so you can choose which one’s for you:
Ben Tenenblat has moved from cutting-edge catering to a home delivery service that’s a one-stop shop for all your dining needs. It’s not just frozen gourmet meals (made under KLBD supervision). Also listed on his newly launched site are groceries which include veg boxes; boxes of kosher meats; fresh fish and a great selection of bakery items. There are store-cupboard essentials — including the elusive flour and dried yeast — and even a Shabbat box, which includes two challot, kiddush wine, grape juice, two candles and 12 chocolate rugelach — essential for Shabbat tea. There’s wine too.
I tried a number of his meals: chilli beef (sweet, spicy and tender strips of beef and peppers; giant meatballs (which went down extremely well with my increasingly carnivorous 11-year-old son) and spicy Thai fish cakes with a fiery sweet chilli sauce. With limited freezer space, I donated a pack of chicken and courgette burgers to my parents — the fussiest of foodies — who gave them ten out of ten.
A sticky chocolate babka made my children’s week — we’ve been noshing it for the last few days. There was also a giant olive sourdough loaf, which makes the best sandwiches. I’ve several more meals in my freezer —a spectacularly-sized beef Wellington, beef and pearl onion pie and Tandoori chicken legs. As my husband is pescatarian, my neighbour has been enlisted to share the meals. Thank goodness for community spirit.
There’s also apple crumble and chocolate fondant — which we’ll open for Shabbat. Not sure Mr Neighbour will get a look-in where those are concerned. Prices are £14 to £18 for most of the main courses, which come in portions for two.
Extra helpings:
For simpler tastes and budgets, catering company Josepha White is delivering individual frozen meals. The kosher caterer (also KLBD supervised) whose USP is a no-fuss attitude to help you serve up a simpler (and more affordable) simchah, was already making frozen meals for the Association for Jewish Refugees. It has scaled up that operation and offers a simple menu at reasonable prices.
The meals arrived in single-portion airline-style trays with main, potatoes and vegetables all ready to cook from frozen. Poached salmon was nicely flavoured with dill and served with roast potatoes and green beans. A portion of butternut soup — a bargain at £1.80 — was a perfect lunch with a bagel I had at home. There are seven soup flavours and a range of main courses in three price bands. Vegetarian meals such as stuffed peppers are £6.50; it’s £6.90 for chopped meats and chicken with sauces such as sweet and sour and lemon and garlic. Top of the range are the meals at £7.70, which include schnitzels, shawarma and teriyaki salmon.
Desserts are a bargain at £2 each, but there is a minimum order of ten meals. I love that main courses are sent with their side dishes included — this is the ideal way to send good haimishe food (made with love) to grandparents or anyone struggling to cook for themselves. www.josephawhite.co.uk
This young caterer was quick off the mark when lockdown closed his diary for the foreseeable future. After consulting customers, he started cooking for takeaway ahead of many of his competitors.
He lists a weekly changing menu on Facebook, which is delivered to your door on a Friday. The meat is kosher, but the kitchen is not supervised. The food is delicious. His bolognese sauce has a depth to it that puts mine to shame. My son was smitten with his first mouthful and he and I fight over who gets more when the bolognese pasta bake is on the menu. He’s also partial to the meatballs.
We’ve tasted a fabulous pulled lamb with giant couscous packed with juicy, sweet raisins; a fish pie that was the ultimate comfort food and a richly tomatoey aubergine parmigiana so tasty that my son willingly ate aubergine for the first time. A sophisticated, beef cottage pie was topped with herb- and garlic-smothered crushed new potatoes.
I enjoyed every single thing I tried from Adam Nathan’s kitchen. All dishes (between £8 and £10 per head) serve one person generously and arrive fresh, so you can eat them immediately or freeze for later.
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The last food delivery I picked up from my doorstep this week was an artistically presented box of food that transported me straight to Tel Aviv.
Stav Gal worked in security before she did an about-face into catering a few months ago. She makes the most beautiful boxes which she says are mostly being sent as gifts. Her gift to me was two mallawach — Yemenite flatbreads, which arrived with little pots of grated tomatoes; grated hard boiled eggs, spicy pickled mini cucumbers and hot vinegary peppers — the sort you’d find on the side of your plate at a char-grill restaurant. Four cute mini spinach and feta bourekas formed from crisp, fried filo completed the main course. To finish the light meal, there were fresh apricots and dates, plus some mint to make tea. It felt like a mini-holiday.
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I don’t know about your family but mine are not keen on frozen food of any kind and I have to make dinner from scratch. Or rather, I did, before we invited MyKoCo into our home. This is like no other frozen food, this is MyKoCo frozen food and it delivered on every level … delivered to my doorstep, to my bank balance and, more importantly, to the taste palates of my family.
From start to finish, obtaining your meals couldn’t be easier. Go to www.mykoco.co.uk, select your dishes, select your delivery date, receive your dishes and either store them in your freezer for later or use them that evening. There is an abundance of choice, from the everyday chicken schnitzel to braised beef ragu or Thai basil beef – and not forgetting vegetarian options, such as lasagne or cottage pie. Main, side dish and soups, as well as BBQ boxes, are all available and at such reasonable prices – a BBQ box for two that includes two home-made beef burgers, four marinated chicken wings and two chicken skewers for £19.99; 300g of chicken tagine is £9.95 or Thai basil beef for two is £12.95.
We chose a variety of hearty beef meals and one duck dish for good measure. The food was delivered in see-through containers with clear and concise directions on how to cook, plus nutritional information, ingredients and storage instructions.
Oh my… the smells coming from my kitchen were amazing and just looking at the tableful of colourful dishes was mesmerising.
My favourite had to be the Thai basil beef. Not only was the beef tender, the sauce was out of this world and I had to do everything to stop myself from licking the plate. My husband devoured the duck, saying it was one of the best he’d eaten – the lack of fat and the plentiful meat made him extremely happy.
The other dish that was a huge hit was the beef Bourguignon – beef braised in a red wine sauce with button onions, mushrooms and carrots. Both my daughters said the beef melted in their mouths and the little pop of taste from the tangy button onions was a great addition. The braised beef ragu was full of colour and flavour.
My family have been won over by the superb cooking skills of MyKoCo’s Adam Zeitlin and I would be happy to re order for any day of the week. This is not a service to be set aside for a special occasion – because it has such a reasonable price range, you can have tasty frozen food every day of the week.
MyKoCo is KLBD-supervised.
Extra helpings
The containers might have been simple silver aluminium with cling wrapping but this belied what was within – and were we in for a treat! Jasmine Catering is known for its simcha catering but, due to the current climate, has had to re-evaluate and is now offering an at-home menu for both Shabbat and mid-week, as well as its “Simcha in a Box”.
Anyone would think my family ate out three or four times a week – and they themselves feel they could step into the shoes of Giles Coren, so it was with great relish that they sat down to what can only be described as a taster menu with ten courses. Ten. I kid you not.
We started with a fresh sushi platter and a Mediterranean mezze, which did divide the table. Those on the left enjoyed the fresh salmon wrapped with avocado, while on the right the fresh hummus with marinated mushrooms and stuffed vine leaves was devoured.
Then followed a feast of the most amazing, tantalising, dishes that meant a silence fell across the room and all one could hear (to my horror) was eating noises, coupled with “mmmmmm”.
I don’t care for salt beef. Yes, I am Jewish, but most cuts of salt beef have that awful fat hanging off the side and the meat can be stringy – but I thought I would give it one more go and boy, am I pleased that I did. Jasmine Catering’s salt beef was tender, tasty and a triumph. Coupled with the red cabbage, it was a pure joy to eat.
The green Thai roasted chicken was next and so astonishingly vivid was the green colour that my daughter was unsure whether to try some. But after seeing her sister’s smile on tasting it, her sibling delved in and contentedly consumed the tangy chicken, which was well complemented by the mash potato.
The lamb tagine was unforgettably, mind-blowingly delicious and I was grateful for the couscous, which absorbed the sweet sauce so well. For vegetarians, there was a vegetable curry that had a pleasantly mild hint of spice and the vegetable tagine was colourful and tasty.
This was then rounded off with the lightest and fluffiest of chocolate mousses, an apple strudel reminiscent of my grandma’s and a tiramisu cake – all were awarded five stars.
The website www.jasmine-catering.co.uk is easy to navigate and the price points allow you to add that extra dish that sounds so tempting. Lamb tagine, for instance, is £12.50; salt beef is £10.50. Desserts start at £2.30 and currently Jasmine Catering is not charging for delivery. Jasmine Catering is KLBD-supervised.
Extra helpings