The Italian job
With at-home boxes the new norm, chefs are upping their game and collaborating to deliver the best foodie kits, says our critic
Did you ever think the day would come when you’d be worked up about a fella with a mask and plastic gloves bringing a box to your doorstep? Him disappearing like lightning and you grabbing it as quickly as you can before retreating into your bunker in a state of panic. Well, neither did I! And no, it’s wasn’t the
Milk Tray Man calling, but my weekly dine-out at-home treat.
We’re almost a year into the pandemic and the box business has become a lifesaver for restaurants, and a bit of a ‘lucky dip’ for you and me. We’ve all become experts, and maybe a tad choosy. Will we ever be able to go back to the sweet and sour and a few spring rolls?
Choosiness aside, read the T&Cs of food boxes before you order and be clear on the important stuff. Will I be able to lash it on the table after a quick blast in the microwave or the oven, or will I have to get out the tweezers to assemble the finer details of a Michelin, or aspiring Michelin, meal?
Without leaving our doorsteps, we’ve trawled through the cuisines of Mexico, America, India, Thailand, China, Italy, France. The boxes have been every bit as imaginative and competitive as being in some of the restaurants in person. I may have been a bit bamboozled on a couple of occasions when faced with up to 18 little plastic containers of fixin’s and mixin’s, which, if used properly, would make each dish look picture-perfect. To be honest, I felt like throwing everything on to the plate willy-nilly, but, allowing for a little bit more patience on my part, I don’t think I’ve had a bad box yet. Some boxes are definitely for those looking to prove something to themselves — or, more likely, to their Insta audience — as they ‘wow praise’ themselves for managing a paint-by-numbers job.
As time has gone on, and chefs
look for new ideas to titillate the diner and stave off the competition, there have been various collaborations between chefs, such as Michelin-starred Mickael Viljanen who teamed up with the dynamo that is fishmonger Niall Sabongi; or there’s Galway’s Michelin man, JP McMahon, who worked with Temple Garner on the Back to Dine boxes.
The latest collab — which I hopped on like a flash, as it gave me the chance to try food from two restaurants — was between Sprezzatura, an Italian-style restaurant on Grantham Street, which opened last year, and the popular Platform Pizza in Bray, which I reviewed a few years ago. Sprezzatura is all about inexpensive pasta dishes and small plates, and it has proved so popular that they’ve recently opened a second location in Rathmines. Teaming up with Platform Pizza, their joint offering turned out to be a great-value DIY kit of two pastas and two pizzas at €34.99, plus a €7.50 delivery charge.
We went with the Classic Kit,
as it gave more variety than the veggie version. It provided the ingredients for a goat’s cheese pizza and a Margherita pizza, plus pasta dishes of pappardelle with fennel sausage sauce, and mafaldine with Cashel Blue sauce. I also ordered Margarita, Mai Tai and Sprezzatura Aperol Spritz cocktails (€8 each) to help encourage the kitchen team!
Bayveen assigned herself to the pizza station, meticulously following the very clear instructions to spread the tomato sauce “on the holey side” of the pizza bases. She topped one with chunks of the generous rondelle of goat’s cheese provided, before adding crisped pancetta, candied walnuts and maple syrup, and the other with mozzarella and fresh basil.
The pappardelle, with fennel sausage sauce in a vacuum pack, was extremely tasty, while long, luscious ribbons of ruffled mafaldine pasta were divine, coated with an included bottle of Cashel Blue sauce.
They didn’t skimp on ingredients, and it was great value. You can order these pizzas, ready to eat, from Platform Pizza and, as I write, Sprezzatura tell me they will have their new Pasta Club Box up and running by the 12th — in time for St Patrick’s Day.
Sprezzatura, 5/6 Camden Market, Dublin 8. sprezzatura.ie
Platform Pizza, 7 Strand Road, Bray, Co Wicklow. platformpizzabar.ie
lucindaosullivan.com