You can still celebrate in style and support a local restaurant
Meal boxes have been one of the biggest trends of the year but most people probably didn’t expect to be ordering one for New Year’s Eve. Nevertheless, here we are and the big guns are out with venison, bubbly and seafood in spades. The end of this godawful year is certainly worth celebrating and if you can do it in style, why not?
The early birds must have set their alarm clocks even earlier as New Years Eve kits from heavyweights like Lisa Allen, Simon Rogan and Tommy Banks have already sold out so we’ve hunted down some you might have missed. At time of writing, the following exciting looking packages are all still available. Don’t hang around though!
27/12/20 EDIT: Since publication, some of the below are now also sold out as amended below.
What: Adam Reid @ The French
How Much: £150 (serves two)
Delivery: Now sold out
When Adam Reid launched his cook at home boxes earlier in the year, they sold out immediately. As one of our favourite home deliveries of the year, we're sure this is going to be a good un from the Great British Menu favourite. There's Pollen sourdough, a whole Tunworth cheese to bake, baked Cornish brill, treacle cured beef fillet and a gooey hot chocolate cake for dessert. Stupendous!
What: Albert’s Schloss
How Much: £55 (serves two)
Delivery: Delivered on Wednesday 30th December
This Bavarian feast for two: a 3-course feast with booze and an exclusive NYE playlist curated by Schloss’s own Jonjo Williams (Maribou State Live & Bad Fun). The box includes 2 Haus pretzels with sweet mustard and gouda, 2 Schweinshaxe (Bavarian pork knuckle) with the famous oozy cheesy mashed potato aka Sformato, braised red cabbage and gravy. For afters, there are 2 haus-made tiramisus and the booze selection includes 2 espresso martinis, a growler of Paulaner Munich Growler and a bottle of Le Dolci Prosecco. The first 200 orders will also receive a free 1 litre Pilsner Urquell growler.
What: Blackhouse Grills
How Much: £85 (serves two)
Delivery: Nationwide or collection
Long a favourite in Manchester before the unfortunate closure of its venues earlier this year. If you’re missing it, despair not because Leeds Blackhouse has put together a 3-course NYE menu of menu favourites with an additional booze option. A new approach for them, a limited amount will go on sale this week and with boxes expected to sell out quickly. Choose from two different fancy steaks as your main course served with dripping glaze butter mash and veggies as well as porcini mushroom popcorn to start and sticky toffee pudding for dessert. Expect more meal boxes from Blackhouse in 2021.
What: Grub E Mart
How much: Various prices
Delivery: Limited slots to your door available, or click and collect
Normally a bustling pop up food and drink market, Grub launched Grub-E-Mart as a response to the ever-changing pandemic landscape as a way to keep its street food traders afloat. Today the webshop will open in the evening for New Year’s Eve orders including party platters from Tikka Chance On Me, vegan kebabs from Seitan’s Kebab and fried brekkie recovery boxes from The Koffee Pot. One of our faves from earlier in the year.
What: Home X by Nico
How much: £75 (serves two)
Delivery: Nationwide
Another hero of lockdown meal kits, Six By Nico levelled up to offer even more luxurious kits under the name Home X. This one's a surf and turf fit for a big NYE celebration with chateaubriand, king prawns, lobster bisque, aged comté, potato & winter truffle gratin and a bottle of Cote Du Rhones Villages.
What: Malmaison
How Much: £175 (serves six)
Delivery: Collect from the Mal hotel near you on 30th or 31st Dec
If you have a large household, Malmaison to the rescue, as the chain of hotels has put together some festive boxes that serve six people. Their NYE box features five courses including treacle cured salmon, crème fraiche Normandie & lemon gel, beef wellington, dauphinois potatoes, celeriac puree, rosemary & garlic roasted root vegetables, truffle & Madeira jus, sticky toffee pudding and a cheese platter. Not bad at all.
What: Mana
How Much: £195 (serves three)
Delivery: EDIT: now sold out
Manchester’s only Michelin star restaurant has had to cancel bookings for the festive season and isn’t planning to reopen until the 27th at the earliest. The kitchen team has put together an extremely limited number of reheatable Michelin-style meal kits for NYE. Kits will contain canapés and a couple of more substantial servings to assemble and reheat at home. To purchase a Mana NYE kit email info@manarestaurant.co.uk, with your name, quantity, contact number and delivery address. They'll contact you for payment. Bizarrely, Mana will also be offering burgers, tacos and, er, caviar fried chicken (!) for takeaway in January. The kitchen team say they don’t eat langoustines and oysters at home so they want to share some slightly elevated comfort food for a change.
What: Tast
How much: £150 (serves two)
Delivery: Limited, or collect
We had one of the best meals of the year at Tast back in January when everything felt so different. The top-notch Catalan restaurant's NYE box feels suitably celebratory with sourdough, charcuterie, razor clams & mini vegetables 'escabeche' shrimp 'salpicón' & cocktail sauce, chicken canelón, slow-cooked lamb leg, cheese board, Xuixo de Crema & chocolate sauce, Catalan nougat and a Bottle of Cava.
What: Wood
How Much: £150 (serves two)
Delivery: collection only
Masterchef winner Simon Wood has worked hard in and out of lockdown offering meticulously prepared cook at home kits when he wasn’t able to open his First Street restaurant. Simon’s New Years Eve kits for home delivery are now sold out but if you can get to the restaurant on the 31st, there are a small number still available for collection only on the day. The kits include a five-course menu including salt baked celeriac, fillet steak and an After Eight inspired dessert. There’s also a breakfast kit with everything you need for a massive fry up and a couple of Bloody Marys. The essential fizz - in the form of a bottle of Prosecco - is included but you can also add on an extra bottle of wine for £15. Oh and a veggie option is also available.
What: Yu and You
How Much: £110 (serves two)
Delivery: National next day or collect
If you fancy a Yu Year’s Eve, Yu and You has put together a special version of its cook at home kits for NYE. Available for Collection on Wednesday 30th December 2020 or National DPD Next Day Delivery. It’s a veritable Chinese feast with chicken and sweetcorn soup, a selection of dim sum faves including honey roast char sui pastries and prawn & lobster wontons, crispy duck and multiple mains including Champagne miso black cod and 30 day aged Bowland ribeye in black bean and chilli. Dessert is strawberry samosas and there are two mini bottles of Tribaut Champagne too. To order email craig@yurestaurants.co.uk
