Have you tried any restaurant kits?

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Soldato
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I'm curious if these have gained any traction with our resident cooks. Have you used any of them? What did you think?

I'm tempted by some of bao ones, or ramen etc. Basically things that I haven't yet attempted at home, or require a lot of ingredients/work. Just for a treat. But then I just think, well I can always make those from scratch anyway if I put the time and effort in :o

Are they decent for wannabe cooks who want a treat? Or are they just for people that can't cook but love eating out? :)
 
from a quick google seems like a big waste of money.

even for pizzas.... people to lazy to mix flour water salt yeast and olive oil in a bowl? buy some cheese and tomato puree ? seems like the prices are about equal to a papajohns/dominos pizza as well :O

but the ingredients would cost you about a fiver if you bought them your self and you could probably make about 6 pizzas.


seems like its for people who like the idea of cooking but when it actually comes to it they probably can't be bothered and it ends up in the trash.

probably something that should be left to the supermarkets and you just add your own good quality meat to it
 
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I haven't tried any but stuff like Tonkotsu Ramen I can totally understand, it takes about 48h to make the broth and it's a huge amount of work if you're only doing it for a few portions.

arknor said:
from a quick google seems like a big waste of money.
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There's also the issue of things requiring a lot of very specific ingredients, such as bonito flakes, pig trotters etc. that you're unlikely to use for much else.

So whilst it might be a lot cheaper per portion, unless it's something you intend to make frequently you're likely to spend just as much on the ingredients just to use 10% of them.
 
Raikiri said:
very specific ingredients, such as bonito flakes, pig trotters etc. that you're unlikely to use for much else.
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Exactly. But it's also that there's a lot of central London restaurants that are doing it, which we won't visit any time soon. We can get decent places on deliveroo etc but for a treat and something different...
 
I have bought Ramen Broth, it comes in 1L, condensed, enough to make 15 bowls of ramen. For about £20 it is totally worth it because the time and cost to make 15 bowls is easily £20 or more. You few need a few kilo of pork bones, chicken feet, garlic, Kombu, and spring onions then gas and electric to boil that for like 10hrs+

If I just want a bowl of ramen, as opposed to feeding a party of 10. I take that pre-made broth any day of the week.

I can totally get behind the Sous Chef ramen stuff, it's better than ALL instant and matches most UK ramen shops, or any ramen shops. Honestly it is better than a lot of ramen shops.
 
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I'm thinking of doing the Hawksmoor fillet kit as our first meal back into the house once our renovation is done.
 
I got one from a local restaurant (Ka Pao - https://www.kapaogla.com/). It was good, and convenient but there was an awful lot of plastic packaging and it wasn't anything I couldn't make if I wanted to invest the time. However, it was all very tasty and fair value for money and it was a treat, in a similar way going out for dinner would be and definitely cheaper.

It's my birthday in 5 weeks, and I assume the restaurants will be shut so I'll be looking at doing one for my birthday instead of going out. They are certainly more special than a takeaway, and not that much more expensive.

However I did see Eleven Madison Avenue were doing a roast chicken cook at home for $300...
 
mid_gen said:
I'm a little puzzled as to what constitutes a steak 'kit' :confused:
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The box serves two very hungry (and thirsty) people:

  • 2 x 300g British fillet steaks
  • Matt Brown’s Ultimate oven chips
  • Creamed spinach
  • Bone marrow & Maderia jus (for making Bone marrow gravy)
  • 1 Large Sticky toffee pudding with Clotted Cream to dollop on top
  • 2 x Hawksmoor Lagers
  • Sour Cherry Negroni for 2
  • Bottle of Rosso Braida



So basically couple of Filet steaks, probably can get the same for £30 at a local butcher.

Bottle of wine, say £10 value?

Condiments and sauce....I am sure it will taste okay but £125 for an oven meal is just no. No no no no no.

Oven Chips!!!!!
 
Raymond Lin said:
Oven Chips!!!!!
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So interestingly their oven chips have caused quite a commotion for being insanely good... Of course, £125 is an obscene amount of money for all that, but I feel like we've earned it with this 6 months house renovation that has completely warn us down. I thought the price also included their latest cook book as well, but if that's not the case then it's even worse value.
 
toshj said:
So interestingly their oven chips have caused quite a commotion for being insanely good... Of course, £125 is an obscene amount of money for all that, but I feel like we've earned it with this 6 months house renovation that has completely warn us down. I thought the price also included their latest cook book as well, but if that's not the case then it's even worse value.
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You can get a 300g of Wagyu for £75, but someone has to try it, do report back !
 
Raymond Lin said:
You can get a 300g of Wagyu for £75, but someone has to try it, do report back !
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Not a Wagyu fan.

Also I feel the need to christen the brand new kitchen with an impressive meal. The beef from our local independent butcher isn't great, whereas top quality English Longhorn isn't cheap either. Ordering two x 250g fillets from the Ginger Ping, for example, is £42 (therefore £50 for two x 300g). If you forgo the booze and go for their £85 menu... it's still outrageously expensive but now slightly less so with the dessert thrown in...
 
Have considered it a few times, but never got around to it.
As said for stuff like Ramen I can see it being useful, but most other dishes can be made similarly for less cash by following a recipe.
Convenience is nice though i guess!
 
akaFonzie said:
Convenience is nice though i guess!
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I think it boils down to this. I know I could spend a Saturday afternoon cooking something new and interesting, sourcing all the ingredients etc (in fact I just did a massive shop at mex grocer to try a chili verde recipe), but maybe I want the convenience of having it all for me. I'm going to do some research and give one a go. Maybe a bao kit...

Edit: I'd go for the Hawksmoor one if they included a Shakey Pete. Best. Cocktail. Ever. :p
 
We got an offer of a free trial for hello fresh, not quite a restaurant kit as such, but similar enough I guess. It was... just ok. Portions were fine, and the choice of meals was quite good actually, but some of the veg was definitely not quite fresh especially towards the end of the week as we got 5 meals. I don't think it's worth the usual price of £40 for 5 meals for 2 people, but as it was free I can't really complain.
 
Have had the Patty & Bun burger box a couple of times, and have another arriving tomorrow. The pattys came from HG Walter who are a good butcher, and they tasted great. Along with the P&B sauces, they were lovely.
 
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