Chapter One at Home
During these trying times it is restaurants I miss the most, and fair to say they miss us too. My local fine dining restaurant, Chapter One, like a lot of favourites, are doing what they can to survive. Enter the Dinner Dates meal box, available for collection if you live nearby, and now UK wide delivery. Not only do I get a night off cooking (almost), quality food, and get to support my local!
The menu changes frequently, there is also a Deli box to take home. Recently added are a choice of two Dinner Dates. Check out the menus here.
Chapter One at Home is a perfect way to treat yourself until you can visit the real thing, and to complete the experience there are Spotify playlists for music you would hear in the bar or the restaurant!
Step 1 - What’s in the box?
The box has a premium feel, from the branding, to the recipe cards to the recyclable cardboard
Starting with focaccia bread, olives and spiced nuts to nibble
Followed by a rich and creamy wild mushroom risotto
Beef Wellington, rich potato mash and red cabbage are the main event
Finishing with a New York style cheesecake with berry compote
Step 2 - Preparing and cooking
The kit comes with full instructions including QR codes to watch a video of the chef preparing the dish
The risotto rice comes part cooked, you heat the stock to bring the rice back to life, tip in wild mushrooms, and finish with parmesan and creme fraiche
The Beef Wellington is ready to go, just bring it to room temperature before cooking, and a meat thermometer is a must for the perfect rare
Creamy mashed potato, red cabbage and a rich sauce compliment it perfectly
Finishing with a simple plating job - New York style cheesecake with fruit compote
Step 3 - But first, a drink…
The optional cocktail pack contains two pre-mixed drinks
The innovative drinks pouches contained a blood orange Negroni as an aperitif, and a Bakewell Tart sour to end the meal
Chill down, serve over ice, and garnish with the provided citrus and cherry!
Is it worth it? Yes! This is real restaurant quality food, and enough of a ‘cook’ to feel like you have earned the meal. Some of the ingredients you would have to spend a lot of money on, the rich mushroom sauce for the risotto, the veal reduction for the main, the quality of the beef fillet. You certainly will not be hungry by the end of the meal, the portions are very generous, and definitely a good representation of what you would receive when you dine in, but without the wonderful team looking after you of course!
