When lockdown hit and the world was turned upside down, we weren’t too sure how the experience industry would cope. In the past year, we’ve seen so many people transform and adapt to fit a whole new way of living. We’ve watched at-home experiences pop up all over the place, from cooking lessons held over Zoom to afternoon tea delivered to your door.
However, this raises the question of what exactly counts as an at-home experience; when does something become an experience and when is it just getting food delivered on a Friday night?
‘Finish at home’ meal kits have become massive in the past year, as people desperately try to recreate that much-missed restaurant experience without leaving the house, and we wanted to test out if they manage to do the job, and most of all, if we think they count as an experience.
So, obviously we ordered from one of the biggest names in the business: Home by Nico, started by the renowned Six by Nico restaurant in London, and sold through Home-x. Here’s how we got on.
The Arrival
Each month is centred around a different theme, and different region. We ordered the March box, which happened to be titled ‘Tuscany’. This was a brilliant showcase of Italian food being so much more than pizza and spaghetti.
The arrival of the delivery itself was honestly one of the most exciting parts of the experience. The sheer grandness of this box was completely unexpected, and it made the arrival and opening of it all the more thrilling.
As we opened the box, we were presented with a QR code to scan, which took us to an online PDF with cooking instructions, and everything we’d need in terms of equipment and serving suggestions. Next to this were two very cute, identical printed menus.
The Cooking
This was my first ever finish at home experience, and I’ll admit that I was not expecting it to be as time consuming to cook - although with a five-course menu, I’m not sure what I was expecting! We opted to eat ours at lunch time, as the sun was shining on a warm day in March, and we wanted to pretend we really were lost in a hillside town in Tuscany.
The Food
Overall, the food was really enjoyable, tasty and definitely worth the mass of washing up it created. The attention-to-detail with separate pots of walnut and basil pesto to dress your roasted tenderstem broccoli, croutons and dragonchello salsa to add an extra kick and crunch to your soup, and freshly made pasta (that is incomparable to the dried stuff), really levelled up the meal.
These are little details that would take ages if you wanted to make them to the same standard yourself, and let’s face it, when you’re trying to celebrate a special occasion, you don’t want to be sweating away in the kitchen for hours.
Criticisms: The bread was a little hard and did not seem like it had been made the same day as delivery, and the pastry of the bomboloni was similar.
Is it an Experience?
I’m going to give one of those annoying indecisive answers here… Because right now, when we haven’t been allowed out the house in months, when I haven’t eaten at a restaurant since last year and I’m starting to forget the joy it brings me, 100% this is an experience. It gave me something to do that was different to my every day, gave me something to look forward to and to enjoy.
However, fast forward to summer when - if everything goes to plan - we’ll hopefully be back eating at the real thing, I wouldn’t give this box a second thought.
That being said, this is £60 for 2 people, and that includes five courses and a decent bottle of wine. Personally, I think that’s reasonably priced, and while lockdown continues, these boxes are helping to conquer the nations boredom, one dish at a time.
