Southern food in the UK gets a raw deal. It’s all big momma's Mac ’n’ Cheese and Po’Boys on brioche buns. When returning from living in the USA in 2013, founder Tom Browne set out to do something about it, and cook food for homesick Southerners, missing a taste of the real American South that he’d come to know and love. With a mission not to cook the same old tired staples and to bring some of the hospitality that the South is famous for to hungry Londoners, Decatur was born—and boy has it been a ride since.

There have been sell-out pop-ups, award-winning dishes, stolen vans, and pandemic-struck restaurants in seven years. But in 2020, Decatur returned to people's tables with acclaimed meal kits delivered nationwide. With a renewed energy, a pocket full of Shrimp Boilin’ spices, and a cold beer in hand, Decatur is here to look after Southern food in the UK. Serving up a signature dish from the deep south, this wholesome £35 shrimp boil kit is one of a kind in London. With potatoes, corn, a whole heap of prawns, and a generous bag of Cajun seasoning, diners can create Louisiana flavors in their living rooms—but an included playlist lets them conjure up the sounds too.

Delivery is available to SW, SE, N, and E postcodes, with a Mardi Gras special including the shrimp boil, together with chargrilled oyster kits and king cakes for one-time-only on offer right now. Delivery is London-only for a limited time and number of items. They ship their kits nationwide with a carbon-neutral chilled 24hr courier service through DPD or Packfleet, in London. Kits must be refrigerated upon arrival and last for 48 hours after delivery.

Google rating: 4.5/5

Phone: +44 20 7686 3212

Address: 428 Kingsland Rd, London E8 4AA, United Kingdom

Website: https://decaturlondon.com/

As far as meal kits go, this is easily the simplest to prepare. It’s also possibly the best value for money – and maybe even the tastiest. Aktar Islam is the chef behind Birmingham’s Michelin-starred restaurant Opheim. The fine-dining restaurant is famed for its boundary-pushing approach to Indian fare (take duck liver with pineapple, chili, and coconut, for example); but for his meal kit service, Aktar at Home, the pro chef has taken a simpler approach. It was definitely the right call. For £70, you get a selection of eight curries, plus fragrant spiced basmati rice, naan, and sheermal (Hyderabadi-style milk bread).

The first thing you’ll notice is that the servings are incredibly generous; it’s enough to serve four people twice (you can freeze it, don’t worry). The menu changes regularly, with a meat or vegan option available. Their objective is to provide you with a Michelin-starred chef's great home cuisine in the comfort of your own home, with a choice of Indian traditional curries or a classic British Sunday roast delivered directly to your door. It's as easy as that!

You may also enjoy a variety of world-class ingredients with the Tandoori BBQ Box, which has quality organically raised meats cooked in a variety of traditional regional tandoori marinades. For their delivery, they use WoolCool insulated packing. This award-winning solution is biodegradable, compostable, and guaranteed to keep your box deals, curry box, and weekly specials cold for at least 48 hours and longer, ensuring that your food remains safe even if your delivery is delayed. So why not have a Michelin-starred curry at home?

Google rating: 4.3/5

Gmail: aktar@aktarathome.co.uk

Address: B31JJ Birmingham, UK.

Website: https://aktarathome.co.uk/

The Arabica drew inspiration from a culinary kaleidoscope of delicacies discovered on their adventures to recreate the deliciousness that epitomises the breadth of flavours, colours and textures of one of the world’s most exciting food cultures.

Arabica loves to cook Middle Eastern inspired food with vibrant colours and big bold flavours, interweaving trusted family recipes with a modern sense of adventure. Their freshly prepared restaurant quality meal kits come with simple step-by-step instructions for you to finish at home. You'll find finish-at-home, restaurant quality meal kits, Middle Eastern family feasts, a range of their most popular fresh meze, ready-to-bake Börek and our signature Turkish-style Künefe, plus Lebanese wine, store cupboard essentials, Turkish delights and Baklava, all available for delivery nationwide every Tuesday and Friday.

Despite consisting of an initially daunting 21 numbered tubs and bags of ingredients, this £45 Middle Eastern meal kit for two is easy to assemble and totally delicious. The main course, a boil-in-the-bag beef short-rib stew with vermicelli rice, is rich and hearty, and the inclusion of some satisfyingly nutty baklava and a sprig of fresh mint to make tea with is a nice touch. This is one of the best London restaurant meal kits you should know.

Google rating: 4.3/5

Phone: +44 20 3747 4422

Address: 7 Lewis Cubitt Walk, London N1C 4DT, United Kingdom

Website: http://www.arabicalondon.com/

'Silk handkerchiefs' with walnut butter and confit egg yolk, Bancone's most renowned dish, isn't for travellers. But the West End pasta-slingers aren't simply selling fazzoletti. Its drool-inducing Plateaway assortment, delivered every Friday within the M25, comprises five different pasta dishes, as well as antipasti and desserts. The Bucatini cacio e pepe was as easy to make as you like; it was super-cheesy, robust with black pepper, and the small pasta hoses were so chewy and eggily wonderful that they didn't need the sauce. Then it was time for tagliatelle with wild-boar ragu and a sprinkling of pecorino: much-needed comfort food with a slight twist. Make sure you slacken the sauces with pasta water. And be aware: portions are billed as "for two," but if you’re ravenous you could probably polish one off singlehandedly, so think about bulking out the meal with some BYO salad or prosciutto.

Bancone is following suit by launching its own service, running within a five-mile radius of the Soho restaurant. Whilst they haven’t made one for their signature silk handkerchief dish, they have got bucatini cacio e pepe, spicy pork & nduja mafalde, spinach & ricotta mezzaluna ravioli with sage butter, and bucatino with pea puree, broad beans & asparagus.

You can also order burrata, cured meats, puds like coconut panna cotta with mango and passionfruit, and hazelnut chocolate mousse with strawberry tartare, and Italian wines. The dishes only need a few finishing touches, with the recipe cards telling you exactly what to do. Bancone is considered one of the best London restaurant meal kits you can't miss.

Google rating: 4.5/5

Phone: +44 20 7240 8786

Address: 39 William IV St, London WC2N 4DD, United Kingdom

Website: http://www.bancone.co.uk/

From steamed Bao to fall-apart pork shoulder, enjoy the food of your favorite London restaurants from the comfort of your home with these amazing meal kits. Although many of London's restaurants, cafés, and pubs are now battling to remain afloat, there are many fantastic ways to support your favorite local and independent food and drink enterprises while also satisfying your demand for a faff-free evening. All from the convenience of your own home.

Ordering takeout is one option, but they've discovered that not everything travels well when it's crammed into a plastic container and pushed around Brick Lane on the back of a fixie bike. One of the greatest ways to bring restaurant-quality cuisine into your own home is to purchase one of the many wonderful DIY meal kits available from London's leading restaurants.

From BAO’s signature steamed buns to fall-apart pork tacos from El Pastor, there’s a load of excellent cook-at-home options out there for you to enjoy. All you have to do is whack them in the oven, wait however long the instructions tell you and dive right in. It couldn’t be easier. Bao is said to be one of the best London restaurant meal kits.

Google rating: 4.3/5

Phone: 07769 627811

Address: 53 Lexington St, Carnaby, London W1F 9AS, United Kingdom

Website: http://www.baolondon.com/

This is it: the motherlode, a delicious gauntlet laid down by Soho Iranian spot Berenjak. Gormeh sabzi is a stew of lamb, herbs and beans, served with tahdig (crispy saffron rice), yoghurt-and-herb dip and a cucumber, tomato and onion salad. In terms of tradition, deliciousness, and sheer workload, it’s essentially the Iranian equivalent of a full Sunday roast.

To begin with, this is what you do not have to do: Fine-tune your mast o sabzi and seek out dried limes, fenugreek, and a clay stew kettle. Berenjak has kindly included all of that in the truly massive box, leaving you to simply rehydrate and fry a bunch of herbs; toss them in a pot with a bunch of other stuff; toss it all in the oven for four hours; to rinse loads of rice about seven times and steam-fry them on the hob for a perfect crunchy layer; to chop and dress your salad; and to get all the elements on the table.

It's time-consuming but well worth it, plus you get to retain the clay pot in case you ever want to try cooking the meal from scratch again. Berenjak's directions are epic but detailed (there's even a video), you'll get four to five servings, and the sensation of accomplishment from making something completely unexpected and extremely tough provided a buzz, at least for this dopamine-deprived caged monkey. For a ready-made Sunday afternoon, pair with a bottle of wine and the music of Iranian psych-rock master Kourosh Yaghmaei.

Google rating: 4.4/5
Phone: +44 20 3319 8120
Address: 27 Romilly St, London W1D 5AL, United Kingdom
Website: https://berenjaklondon.com/

Recreate the Burger & Beyond restaurant from the comfort of your own kitchen. Their best-selling dishes are delivered as DIY Kits, complete with high-quality ingredients and easy cooking guides. Considering you’ve got beef-fat onions, "marrownaise", pickled onions, and Burger & Beyond’s Steak 2.0 sauce in these burgers before you’ve even thought about meat or cheese, "bougie" is the perfect way to describe the contents of this kit. As well as the aforementioned ingredients, you get brioche buns, two types of American cheese and a 35-day aged minced-beef blend – enough for four burgs.

Essex-born and London-based, Burger & Beyond is a burger truck turned raved-about restaurant in the heart of Shoreditch. To find the perfect patty, they drew inspiration from burger joints all over the world, from London to Miami, Vegas to LA, Berlin to NYC. So they know a good burger when they bite one. They’re known for bringing some of the best burgers to the capital, using freshly ground dry aged beef made from choice cuts of meat. They first gained a fanbase trading from a Citroen H van, before opening sites at street food markets Kerb and Street Feast – and finally launching their very own restaurant in E1. Alongside the top chef-quality burgers that gave them their name, they serve American-style sides including Dirty Tots or Fries with bone marrow gravy, plus sauces such as our signature Burnt Butter Mayo, and a drinks list of cocktails, craft beers and wine.

Book a table at Burger & Beyond restaurant in Shoreditch visit their kiosk stall at Camden Market, find them on Deliveroo across multiple areas of London or order a DIY Kit to cook their food at home.

Google rating: 4.4/5

Phone: +44 20 3848 8860

Address: 147 Shoreditch High St, London E1 6JE, United Kingdom

Website: http://burgerandbeyond.co.uk/

When it comes to the best London restaurant meal kits, can't help but mention Burger & Lobster. It all started on a London rooftop ten years ago; four schoolmates came up with the simplest of ideas—a restaurant where the focus was just two ingredients—burger and lobster—done really well. From that first-ever Burger & Lobster, born in a small Irish pub in Mayfair, it’s fair to say we’ve grown – with nine restaurants located across London, as well as in New York, Dubai, Bangkok, Malaysia, Kuwait, and Singapore. What hasn’t changed, though, is our mission (some say obsession) to make the most of quality ingredients—whether that’s the Nebraskan family-farmed beef that goes into our prime burgers, the freshest Atlantic lobsters or the premium spirits for our tempting cocktails.

To make this opulent sandwich at home, all that is necessary is simple roll toasting and sauce heating. The large quantity of lobster flesh arrives pre-boiled and ready to be combined with the acidic sauce and packed into the brioches. The final dishes may be presented in the Burger & Lobster-branded hotdog-style packaging that comes with this £28 package for maximum authenticity—a great touch. But these babies aren't there to be gorgeous; they're there to be eaten, and what a delight that was: fresh lobster for Monday night dinner—luscious.

Google rating: 4.3/5

Phone: +44 20 7432 4800

Address: 36-38 Dean St, London W1D 4PS, United Kingdom

Website: https://www.burgerandlobster.com/

Butlers Wharf Chop House, renowned for its big sharing portions of quality meats and dedication to delivering excellent tasting British cuisine, has designed three substantial new meal packages available for home delivery. This three-course Côte de Boeuf for two is available for delivery every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and was created under the leadership of their new head chef, Behzad Gotla (who began his career working at Gordon Ramsey's Maze). It's the closest thing to a restaurant meal you can get without breaking into the establishment.

In the true style of Butlers Wharf Chop House, the kits will feature popular British classics laden with flavour, and all the ingredients to create the hearty but elegant dishes. Those who love a steak but are missing out a perfectly cooked restaurant quality meal should look no further and choose from the popular dishes on offer including: Steak & Ale pudding, Sirloin Steak and Côte de bœuf.

First thing's first. These guys have won the 'best chips of lockdown' contest. You might not have been aware of the contest. But it has been ongoing for an entire year. Butlers Wharf Chop House, with their triple cooked chips, won the whole thing at a canter. The best chips imaginable. The steak also was incredibly tasty, made extra good by the special butter sauce you fry it in. Was it hard? No. You rub it in butter and cook it a bit in the pan.

Google rating: 4.3/5

Phone: +44 20 7403 3403

Address: 36e Shad Thames, London SE1 2YE, United Kingdom

Website: http://www.chophouserestaurants.co.uk/