Christmas will be very different this year, to say the least. With various restrictions still placed on hospitality businesses and household mixing, we pick the best Christmas food delivery options for 2020.
With over 10 years’ experience in fine dining, providing meals to the private jet industry, Daniel Hulme launched One Fine Dine this year, with the hope of bringing fun back to high-quality meal preparation. Priding themselves on serving easy to prepare Michelin star quality food to homes and offices around London and the home counties, One Fine Dine have recently launched their Christmas menu, priced from £65 per head.
Offering a remarkably luxurious dining experience, One Fine Dine have the capacity to cater for large groups, able to schedule simultaneous multi-drops for ‘virtual’ parties and gatherings held via video call. Each meal kit is accompanied by expert step-by-step plating instructions, accompanied by all necessary garnishes to plate high-end restaurant quality food at home. On the Christmas food menu, starter choices include Scottish Balik smoked salmon topped with Oscietra caviar; compressed watermelon salad; and duck and chicken liver parfait. Mains feature individual Denham beef Wellingtons; turkey paupiette; or nut roast, all served with trimmings including cider-braised red cabbage, sauteed Brussels sprouts; and goose fat roast potatoes (a vegan option is also available). Finally, dessert includes a choice of individual Buche de Noel with clementine gel; coconut panna cotta; and Christmas Mess. A full drinks menu is also offered, including prestige wines, spirits, beers, and soft drinks.
Further information can be found here.
Alongside introducing gift vouchers and subscription packages, Wild Radish has launched a range of Christmas meal kits available for nationwide delivery. A new recipe box delivery service, Wild Radish works with top chefs on recipes championing great, seasonal ingredients. Co-founded by chef Anthea Stephenson (formerly The River Café and Polpetto) and entrepreneur James Bhardwaj, Wild Radish has been designed to share the participating chefs’ love of great ingredients, providing home cooks with easy-to-follow DIY recipes and tips to recreate exceptional restaurant quality dishes at home. Inspired by each chef’s work at celebrated UK restaurants, recipe boxes provide the ingredients and tips to make the dish at home, without spending hours in the kitchen, or searching for specialist ingredients. Instead, participating chefs source ingredients themselves, using their favourite artisan suppliers.
For the Christmas food boxes, collaborating chefs include the likes of Philip Howard, Dan Fletcher, and Marianna Leivaditaki. Each kit contains all necessary ingredients for a Christmas main course and dessert, plus a bottle of Champagne and some additional surprises. With a meat, fish, and vegetarian option, dishes include Philip Howard’s roasted tomahawk aged beef rump with a truffled walnut pesto, stuffed field mushrooms, stout glazed onions, crushed celeriac, hasselback potatoes, and cavolo nero; or Dan Fletcher’s herb-crusted salmon with wild mushrooms, spinach, creme fraiche and potato gratin. Marianna Leivaditaki’s vegetarian option comprises chestnut and baby onion stifado, potato and parsnip purée, parsnip crisps, and crispy kale. Orders must be place by midnight on Wednesday 16th December for deliveries between 21st – 23rd December.
Further information can be found here.
Ready to eat in 45 minutes, Jun Tanaka and his team at The Ninth have introduced a Michelin-starred Christmas dinner delivery, priced from £100 for two people. With every aspect of the dinner meticulously pre-prepared and ready to heat at home, the Christmas boxes are available for two, four, or six people. The Ninth Christmas Box comprises a choice of either turkey ballotine; beef fillet in a herb salt crust; or celeriac, potato and truffle pithivier, plus selection of trimmings and sauces. These include roasted cauliflower cheese topped with béchamel and shallot breadcrumbs; Jun’s signature crispy Belle de Fontenay potatoes; Delica pumpkin purée; braised red cabbage with pears; and Brussels sprouts with onion and smoked bacon. For dessert, panettone bread and butter pudding is available with crème fraiche. A selection of wines are also available to accompany. Orders must be placed before 12pm on Friday 11th December.
Further information can be found here.
Chris Leach, chef and co-founder of Manteca has introduced a selection of Christmas food boxes, available for nationwide delivery. A Soho restaurant renowned for its focus on nose-to-tail cooking, hand-rolled pastas, and fire-cooked cuts to share, the Manteca at Home Christmas boxes are available in three sizes. Priced at £50, the starter box contains a selection of house-made salumi; smoked cod’s roe; chicken liver parfait and date jam; Christmas pudding and amaretti; while the next box up features all of the above, plus goose, cranberry and pistachio sausage; grape mostarda; and pear and date chutney (£90). For £150, a luxury hamper is also available, featuring all of the aforementioned, plus tortellini in brodo; Porchetta with apple ketchup, and four brioche buns ready to be stuffed with leftover Porchetta trimmings.
Delivered via overnight courier, all items will arrive chilled and vacuum-packed for dispatch nationwide in a thermally insulated and recyclable box. Cooking and assembly instructions are included in each box where necessary. Orders must be made by Friday 18th December for Christmas delivery.
Further information can be found here.
Following the success of SMOKESTAK’s DIY smoked meats and bun boxes, chef and founder David Carter is offering Christmas specials for nationwide delivery throughout December. With meats carefully sourced from long-standing suppliers Philip Warren Butchers and Swaledale, smoked over kiln-dried English oak for up to 15 hours, options include the likes of whole smoked Devonshire bronze turkey; whole smoked Goosnargh duck; and treacle-cured smoked gammon. Christmas cocktails also include a spiced ginger old fashioned, and a blood orange Negroni, both bottled and ready to serve over ice. The restaurant’s core choice of smoked meats and DIY bun kits are also available in addition to Christmas food.
Delivered direct to homes via overnight courier, all meat will be fully-smoked / cooked before being chilled and vacuum-packed for dispatch nationwide in a thermally insulated box. Reheat and assembly instructions are included in each box. Christmas orders must be placed before 6pm on Monday 21st December.
Further information can be found here.
As well as introducing new Christmas dishes to the completely vegan menus at Club Mexicana’s Kingly Court and Seven Dials Market restaurants, founder Meriel Armitage and her team have launched a selection of festive feasts and DIY taco kits, available for nationwide delivery. Following the success of their sell-out DIY taco kits launched earlier this year, Club Mexicana has launched two new festive boxes to feed up to four or six people, plus a selection of New Year’s Eve boxes.
Easy to assemble at home, the ‘Xmas DIY Taco Kit’ is filled with ’turkey’ tacos, loaded with deep fried Brussels sprouts, pickled cabbage, crispy shallots, sage and onion mayo, and chipotle cranberry sauce. The ‘Club Mex-mas Festive Feast’, on the other hand, consists of four courses, beginning with Pozole Rojo (slow cooked Mexican-inspired tomato broth with four different types of dried chillis, roasted jackfruit and hominy), topped with radish, coriander and a squeeze of lime. Mains include ’turkey’ tacos and a side of Fully Loaded Nachos, topped with ground ‘beef’ made in-house using vegan burger mince, plus cheeze sauce, sour cream, guacamole, pickled pink onions, jalapeños, coriander, and hot sauce. To finish, dark chocolate orange mousse is served with candied orange and edible flowers. 500ml bottles of house-made cocktails can also be order to accompany, including Club Mexicana’s classic margarita, or coffee-infused tequila Negroni.
Club Mexicana’s Christmas Taco Kits can be ordered here.
Based at New Covent Garden Market, Nature’s Choice typically supplies high-end London restaurants, but during the first national lockdown the family-run business began to offer seasonal fruit and vegetable boxes for delivery to homes in London and the surrounding areas. Working closely with growers and farmers to deliver consistent innovation, Nature’s Choice is dedicated to sourcing only the finest and most sustainably grown produce.
For 2020, Nature’s Choice has launched a new Christmas Vegetable Box, filled with all vegetables needed to prepare Christmas dinner. Available in two sizes (priced from £35 – £65) the Christmas Veg Box contains British parsnips, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, potatoes, rainbow carrots, and various trimmings. The smaller box contains enough produce to feed 3-4 people, while the larger box feeds 6-8.
Further information can be found here.
While Christmas in France won’t be possible for Brits this year, a ‘French Christmas in a Box’ DIY recipe kit has launched alongside a selection of ‘heat-at-home’ dining experiences with a French twist (from restaurants such as Quo Vadis, The Laughing Heart, and Levan). In addition to all ingredients needed to cook the three-course meals at home, the DIY recipe kits also contain two bottles of expertly-paired wine from the Loire Valley. Centred around high quality seasonal French produce, the ‘French Christmas In A Box’ DIY recipe kits are available with meat, fish, and vegetarian options, ready to eat in under an hour.
The meat DIY kit, for instance, features starters of pork rillettes with pickled quince and crackers, and pear carpaccio with Roquefort and walnuts; joined by a bottle of Château Mauny 2016, Crémant de Loire. To follow, guinea fowl supreme is completely prepared and accompanied by simple cooking instructions, married with potato and chestnut puree, and candied chestnuts, washed down with crisp Sauvignon de Touraine, Jean-Christophe Mandard 2019. Finally, apple and almond galettes are offered to finish the luxurious French Christmas dinner.
‘Heat-at-home’ dining experiences can be ordered via Big Night (last orders before Christmas 20th December), while the ‘French Christmas In A Box’ DIY recipe kits are available from Kitchen Party (last Christmas orders 21st December).
This article was updated on Thursday 17th December, 2020.
