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Fine dining takeaway: The restaurants delivering to your door during lockdown, from Nobu to Dishoom
Treat yourself to a posh delivery from these high-end haunts, as a second national lockdown begins
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Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, it’s become clear that restaurants and hospitality businesses have been the worst-affected, and now with the latest national lockdown, they’ve been forced to close their doors once more. But many restaurants have introduced delivery services to help them survive.
Let’s face it, a takeaway satisfies our cravings and saves us doing the cooking or washing up after another day spent working from home.
Some restaurants, such a Patty & Bun and Pizza Pilgrims, have created DIY kits to allow you to recreate dishes in your kitchen.
However, if you’re looking for a fine dining experience from a more upmarket restaurant, many started doing food delivery or collection during the first lockdown in March last year and are continuing to offer takeaways services throughout the second lockdown too.
You may have even intended to visit before lockdown and the tier system scuppered your plans, so now is your chance to enjoy it from home.
It’s perfect for date nights and celebrating special occasions like a birthday or anniversary.
From across the UK, ahead are 10 places we can’t wait to put an order in with.
You can trust our independent round-ups. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections. This revenue helps us to fund journalism across The Independent.
In Olstead, North Yorkshire, the Michelin-starred restaurant Black Swan is home to chef Tommy Banks. He launched food boxes with three-course menus during the first lockdown which allowed you to recreate a fine-dining experience at home, and he’s offering the same service this time round.
The boxes include dishes like glazed spring lamb shoulder, smoked ham hock terrine, prime salt-aged beef Wellington with dauphinoise potatoes or chicory-root tiramisu, and all come with a bottle of wine.
All the ingredients have been foraged or locally grown in Oldstead, and there’s also festive menus, in case you wanted to get ahead with your Christmas dinner orders.
Orders start from £21 a head and delivery is available across the UK.
Mayfair Indian restaurant Jamavar has re-launched its feasting menu for the second lockdown called "The Royal Kitchen".
It's a six-course menu, made up of a selection of its signature dishes from northern and southern India across starters, mains, sides and desserts, costing £125. Plates include potato tikki, spiced white peas, yoghurt, tamarind and mint chutney, prawn biryani and cottage cheese dumplings with rose fragranced syrup.
You can place an order through its website or Deliveroo for delivery anywhere within 40 minutes of the M25.
If a fancy Chinese takeaway whets your appetite, Hakkasan is available for delivery in London.
There is a catch, however, as it’s only available to order through the Deliveroo, Uber Eatsand Supper apps within two miles of the City of London and its Mayfair locations.
But it has also launched a Wine by Hakkasan service, delivering exclusive wines and champagnes curated by its expert sommeliers.
Treat yourself to dishes such as lobster, chicken and abalone dim sum, its signature Hakka noodles and grilled Chilean sea bass in honey.
On Deliveroo and Supper you’ll also find Nobu London, available for delivery from its Old Park Lane location. If you live close by, it will continue to offer a pick up service too.
From yellowtail sashimi, black cod miso and Wagyu beef steak to sake and champagne, its menu features a host of Japanese dishes that will make a change from all the pasta we’ve been eating.
It is pricey, however, with some main dishes costing as much £40, so we’d suggest saving this for a special occasion.
Before arriving in London in January 2020, innovative restaurant Six By Nico already had sites in Glasgow, Belfast, Liverpool and Manchester.
It offers a six-course tasting menu that centres around a location, memory or experience, and changes every six weeks. There’s always a vegetarian option too.
It launched its Home By Nico series during the first lockdown to bring its dining experience to your dinner table. It’s available to order through its website and costs £60 for two people with free delivery, offering four courses and a bottle of wine.
Currently, it is offering delivery nationwide and collection from its Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast venues, along with London, Manchester and Liverpool.
Everyone’s favourite Indian restaurant Dishoom has also begun offering home delivery, which means you can enjoy its signature dishes at home – something we could have all done with pre-lockdown before queueing for a table.
Available from its King’s Cross, Shoreditch and Kensington branches, through the new Dishoom to Your Door service on the Deliveroo app, you can enjoy your favourite dishes without leaving the house.
We’ll be ordering its chilli chicken and keema pau, biryanis, chicken ruby and mattar panee. Additionally, with every meal you order, the restaurant chain will be donating a meal to a child through Akshaya Patra, and Indian charity that provides free school meals.
Westminster and Battersea based sister restaurants, The Cinnamon Club and The Cinnamon Kitchen, first launched their home delivery service in June and will continue to offer it during the second lockdown.
The brainchild of Vivek Singh, an Indian British celebrity chef, the menu is bursting with modern Indian dishes such as Old Delhi style butter chicken or Rajasthani soola spiced paneer tikka.
You can place an order directly from its website or, if you live within the M25, from Deliveroo, Supper, Just Eat and Uber Eats for select London postcodes.
Liverpool steak restaurant Macello Meat House has reopened its doors to provide a takeout menu for customers missing its dishes.
You can pick your meal from a specially made lockdown menu here, there’s four options: family-style, romantic, special and sharing, starting from £30.
Dishes include slow-cooked lamb shoulder, beef ribs, creamy potatoes and garlic mushrooms. Orders can be placed through the Just Eat app or collected in person.
European restaurant and bar, Bluebird, has just launched an at-home delivery service from its Chelsea and White City sites, just in time for the second lockdown.
It’s offering a reduced menu with its most popular dishes. Available for customers in a 3km radius, you can place an order through Deliveroo or by calling Bluebird directly on 0203 503 0037.
Plates include a rotisserie Lancashire chicken with mixed leaf salad and garlic aioli, battered cod with chips, crushed peas and tartar sauce, a saku tuna poke bowl with avocado, quinoa, edamame beans and wakame or a “Bluebird burger” with melted cheese, house sauce and fries. View the full takeaway menu here.
For more tasty delivery options during lockdown, read our guide to the independent small food businesses doing home deliveries
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