Home dining sees a facelift during the pandemic

Doorstep gourmet food delivery is seeing a rise. From five star hotels to all big brands are taking this route. Let’s raise a toast to this amazing gourmet experiences at the comfort of our home.

How about making your own steak exactly the way you love or calling for a fancy meal at the comfort of home. This isn’t a far-fetched dream. As the world deals with lockdown, F&B brands have taken the food delivery route to give us a break from the kitchen chores. This change is already visible as high-end restaurants that traditionally did not deliver too have entered the game plan.

All-time favourite Smoke House Deli DIY kit is all about acing up your cooking skills as it gives a wholesome and whimsical take on the traditional European fare. The kits are packed with fresh ingredients and recipes so that you cook their spiced mushroom & roast pepper tarts, rustic minestrone with basil pesto or even SHD grilled vegetable lasagne or the chilli crusted cobbler at your home kitchen. Jaydeep Mukherjee, Brand Head of Smoke House Deli, says, "The kits are now being delivered across Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, New Delhi and Chandigarh. Our kits have a wholesome range of pre-prepped fresh ingredients and recipes that’s easy cooking without going through the trouble of procuring the ingredients”.

With offices being closed and more and more people staying indoors and practising social distancing, brands have opted to have their creativity boxed up in DIY kits. Brands like Sly Granny are curating a special section in the menu featuring 'Granny's Deli' bringing you freshly marinated meats and grilled vegetables. Be it your 4 pm snacks or your favourite earth bowl, tzatziki and garlic labneh and pickles Sly Ganny slays it on the table. “We are focusing more on offering different varieties of meals; while the “Do it Yourself” kits see ingredients that will be done to a certain extent along with instructions for you to complete the dish.” “Granny special gourmet meal comes at your home comfort” adds Rahul Khanna and Kabir Suri, Co-Founders of Azure Hospitality.

Application friendly luxury dining

With equations of going out and dining changed, the struggle for the F&B industry has been immense. This also saw the entry of five-star luxury dining to our home. ITC and Taj have launched their in-house apps. Qmin, a repertoire of culinary experiences that brings signature dishes from its iconic restaurants along with ITC F&B App for home delivery of gourmet offerings respectively; while JW Marriott Kolkata started “Marriott on Wheels” whose wellness menu comes with nutritional components and calories detailed under each dish.

New priorities have brought the “new normal”. With responsible luxury and sustainability resonating hand in hand, ITC hotels bring handcrafted dining experience handled with utmost hygiene at the comfort of your home. “Service does not have to get commoditised; it does not have to get contaminated. We have just got to touch the heart but find different ways of doing it. Our warmth will reach you while being safely distant. Be it at our hotels or at your home through our food offerings” – Nakul Anand, ED of ITC Ltd. Both these luxury brand has absolutely made sure that their packaging of the meals is eco-friendly, well sanitised with all safety standards in consideration along with using bio-degradable materials, and with customized insulation boxes to preserve the food whilst being delivered. It’s time to dig into some of their favourite signature preparations with all fresh ingredients to give that holistic dining experience. Taking the experience a step ahead “Bring Marriott Home” program even allows guests to invite chefs to cook in their home kitchens for a special occasion. That’s something really tempting.

No less than a Masterchef

KNOCK KNOCK.jpg — With the DIY kit you get to experience freshly cooked food with a luxury blend to it ©Knock Knock

Tres who is delivering across Delhi NCR takes a step ahead with their 3-course meal where you get to cook with a virtual chef. Chef Jatin Mallick says “our DIY kit sees exotic ingredients like a salad of goat cheese, tenderloin tournedos along with truffle sauce and more. We have added a special section for the little munchkins too”. These DIY kits have given people ready to experiment with their food. Arjun Abbi, the founder of Knock Knock says, “I personally feel DIY is way better because freshly cooked food always tastes better. Each dish on our menu has been well planned. With DIY kits, you actually see all the ingredients including the vegetables or meats before preparing the dish.”

With fine dining coming home, the nature of the dining business going to change forever as one gets creative enough to showcase their innovative culinary skills.

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