The best restaurant meal kits to try at home – in Greater Manchester and beyond
- Written by Louise Rhind-Tutt
- Last updated 3 years ago
- Food & Drink
While we can’t go to restaurants, meal kits have become the next best thing, offering a chance to eat a restaurant quality meal with most of the hard work done by the professionals.
Offering ready-prepared dishes or ingredients that only need basic cooking and assembly at home, restaurants have shown ingenuity in the face of adversity: kitchens being used, staff kept in employment and local suppliers supported. Plus, of course, it’s a chance for diners to support the industry.
While some takeaways and deliveries can be restricted to those living in the city centre or close by, other local restaurants can deliver their dishes across Greater Manchester, or even across the country.
And likewise, some London restaurants and national names are now also doing delivery across the UK, offering Manchester diners the chance to try something new.
Kala and Hispi
Missing that braised featherblade and Yorkshire parkin? Now you can recreate the Elite Bistros experience at home, with dishes such as octopus with sunflower seed puree (£7) or lamb rump with Wye Valley asparagus (£19) prepared by the chefs ready for you to finish at home. You can even order wine and beer alongside it.
Deliveries are on Fridays, with everything packaged in a cool bag to be used within 48 hours – so you have all weekend to have a go.
Check out Gary Usher’s videos on Instagram for top tips on all the dishes, and keep an eye on social media for when the menu is live – but get your order in quick, as the first batch sold out almost instantly.
Delivery: Nationwide. Delivery charge £12.95.
Erst
Ancoats restaurant Erst is all about simple seasonal food, natural wines and craft beers, with its confident and creative menus winning praise from The Sunday Times as well as locals.
Now, you can get a feast of dishes delivered to your door ready to heat, assemble and eat: spiced lamb kobeda kebabs with coal roasted onion (£12), feta cheese with sweet and sour onions (£7), grilled flatbreads, and crisp colourful salad with xa’atar. You can also get your hands on arguably Manchester’s best potato dish: crispy potatoes with yeast sauce (£4).
Deliveries take place Thursdays and Fridays in Greater Manchester and the surrounding area – check their online shop for when to order for your postcode.
Delivery: Greater Manchester and beyond – check online shop for postcodes covered. Delivery charge around £3.
Adam Reid’s Great British Menu
Adam Reid’s Great British Menu offers the chance to try the hit TV show menu showcasing the best of modern Manchester cookery, including the winning main course – ‘comfort food sounds good’ roast chicken.
The four courses are delivered chilled and separated into courses, with clear step-by-step instructions to recreate the experience at home – and you can get a matching wine order thanks to Gusbourne.
The menu costs £90 for two people, and can be delivered nationwide – but you’ll need to be quick when the next delivery slots go live, as it’s proving very popular.
Delivery: Nationwide. Free mainland UK shipping.
Hame by Adam Handling
I keep getting asked to create a home delivery menu of @frogbyah let me introduce ‘Hame’ our brand new delivery service!
Can't wait for you all to try it.
Hame – my restaurant food, prepared by me and served by you. 🎉#hamebyah https://t.co/DlkY3OytbV pic.twitter.com/0tSlukEZX5— Adam Handling Restaurants (@AHRestaurants) May 20, 2020
His Covent Garden restaurant Frog by Adam Handling was declared one of the “best restaurants in London” by Condé Nast Traveller – and now we can try it in Manchester.
Top chef Adam has created ‘Hame’ (the Scottish word for home), with national delivery on Fridays. Dishes range from Wagyu and tuna tartare with sourdough crisps (£29) to a whole lamb shoulder that will serve 4-6 (£80), followed by a whole truffled Tunworth cheese or sweet tarte tatin.
All dishes come with recipe cards, with QR codes that link to a step-by-step video of Adam finishing and plating the dishes, and you can even order matched wines and signature cocktails. Not cheap, but perhaps one to consider for a special occasion or date night.
Delivery: Nationwide. Delivery charge £25.
Patty & Bun burger kits
They’re some of the best burgers in London, in our opinion – and now you can try Patty & Bun’s creations at home with a DIY burger box delivered to your door.
For £25, you can try their two classics – the Ari Gold cheeseburger and the Smokey Robinson. You get all the ingredients – HG Walter beef patties, brioche buns, a mini squeezy bottle of Smokey P&B mayo, cheese slices and homemade pickled and smokey onions – and just need to add your own lettuce and tomato.
Vegan kits are available.
Delivery: Nationwide. Shipping calculated at checkout.
Wood at Home
MasterChef winner Simon Wood’s new delivery service offers everything you need to recreate a restaurant quality meal at home, with all the fiddly bits of prep done for you.
Delivery takes place on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with dishes ranging from cured salmon with horseradish buttermilk and asparagus (£7) to assiette of lamb with Jersey Royals (£27) and Simon’s signature tutti-frutti dessert (£5).
You can get three courses for £25 per person, or push the boat out with a huge tomahawk sharing steak as well as starters and puddings for £70 per couple.
Delivery: Greater Manchester. Minimum spend of £30 per order.
YaoYao Noodles ramen kits
This new Manchester venture launched by Omar Rodriguez, the former head chef of hugely acclaimed Japanese restaurant Umezushi, specializes in restaurant quality ramen kits whcih can be delivered across the country.
Each kit costs £18 and contains everything you need to make two huge bowls of ramen, from the slow-cooked stock and meat or veg to the handmade noodles and garnishes – and they only take a few minutes to prepare.
Kits include rich chicken and soy broth, which comes with garlic and soy sesame chicken and spicy Sichuanese chilli oil, and a creamy tonkotsu ramen kit which comes with chashu fatty pork and aromatic browned onion and garlic oil. There are also vegetarian and vegan options available.
Delivery: Nationwide. No delivery charge for orders of two kits or more, but there is a small fee of £2.50 for one kit.
Rudy’s Neapolitan pizza
If you’re missing your fix of Manchester’s best Neapolitan pizza, you can now get Rudy’s on your sofa thanks to their cook at home pizza kits.
Their cook at home pizzas cost from £6.50, with options including Calabrese with San Marzano tomatoes, parmesan, basil, fior di latte and spicy nduja sausage, and a vegetarian option with Portobello mushrooms.
Delivery: Nationwide chilled delivery, order by emailing [email protected]. Minimum order is four pizzas.
Great North Pies
Okay, they’re not technically meal kits, you just need to heat them in the oven, but the fact that you can get some of the UK’s best pies delivered to your door is worth shouting about.
Choose from 14-hour braised Swaledale grass fed beef and ale, Slow roasted chicken, baked ham and white wine cream, or Dewlay’s tasty Lancashire cheese and caramelised white onion.
You can get four pies for £16 or eight for £30, and they freeze well, too.
Delivery: Nationwide.
Sam’s Chop House
The secret to Sam’s famous corned beef hash is in the long brining in a secret recipe marinade – 10 days in all. But you don’t have to wait that long, as it can now be delivered ready prepped to just finish at home (£19, including dessert).
The online shop also offers the famous Chop House steak and kidney puddings, and Sunday roasts with all the trimmings. And you can choose a matching wine from Sam’s new Sommelier’s Selection Wine Shop (prices from £7.99 per bottle).
Delivery: Greater Manchester, £5 for up to seven miles. Contact them directly to discuss bespoke delivery further afield on 0161 834 3210.
Pizza Pilgrims
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They’ve become firm favourites in the capital since launching in Soho in 2012, and now you can try making your own version of Pizza Pilgrims’ Neapolitan pizza – in a frying pan.
Each kit is £15 and includes everything you need to make two pizzas: 48 hour proved dough with with caputo flour from Naples, marinara sauce, fior di latte cheese, extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil and Parmesan.
All you need is a frying pan and a screaming hot grill.
Delivery: Nationwide. Shipping cost calculated at checkout, with weekday delivery from £5.
Mughli
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You can get some of Manchester’s best curry and charcoal grilled meats delivered to the usual Deliveroo and Uber Eats locations – but they also offer a number of limited drops across Altrincham, Sale and Hale if you’re further afield.
Think perfectly spiced charred lamb chops (£12), addictive butter chicken (£11.80), gunpowder fries, and even a small mild korma option for little ones.
Delivery: Manchester locations via Deliveroo and Uber Eats plus drops in Altrincham, Sale and Hale. Email [email protected] for further details.
The Koffee Pot DIY breakfasts and burgers
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Missing The Koffee Pot’s massive breakfasts? Now they will delivery a kit with everything you need to make one, across Greater Manchester.
Choose from a massive fry-up for two (£20), a veggie breakfast kit (£20), or a kit with everything you need to make pancakes with bacon and sausage or even an Eggs Benedict (both £25). You can add on a litre of Bloody Mary (£7.50) to make it even more authentic.
They also do burger kits for £20 to make two cheeseburgers and two bacon cheeseburgers – or two whopping doubles.
Delivery: Greater Manchester. Minimum order £20.
Shoryu ramen kits
If you’re missing the Piccadilly restaurant, you can now order everything you need to make Shoryu’s signature Ganso Ramen at home.
Each £20 kit includes 12 hour tonkotsu soup, original ramen noodles, char siu BBQ pork belly, beni shoga red ginger, and spring onion and kikurage mushroom garnish to top the ramen.
They serve two people, and can be frozen for up to a month.
Delivery: Nationwide. Delivery £6.94. Maximum two kits per order.
Cote at Home
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Get Cote’s classic French bistro dishes delivered across the UK, with chilled meals including chicken and bacon parmentier (£10.95), roasted seabream with asparagus (£10.95), and chocolate mousse (£3.50).
Youc an also choose British steaks, pork, lamb and chicken from their butchery, artisan French cheeses and wines and champagnes.
Delivery: Nationwide. £4.95 delivery charge, and £40 minimum delivery. Free delivery on orders over £80.
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