Eating Out At Home: Chef Adam Handling, London

The Rise of At-Home Dining Experiences

It’s no surprise that several months of on-going lockdowns have had a deep impact on the British hospitality industry, both for restaurants and their suppliers. But, as always in times of uncertainty, the culinary world has risen to the challenge.

Recognising that diners still want to enjoy the experience of a gourmet meal, even if they’re unable to physically attend a venue, chefs up and down the country are pioneering a new trend in fine dining; the at-home experience.

There are two main types of experience; At Home Restaurant Experiences, and Ingredients Boxes. Both involve placing an order with your chosen restaurant or food supplier around a week in advance (although times vary), ready for athome delivery by courier directly to your front door.

Ingredients Boxes, such as those recently launched by James Wood of Totally Wild UK, feature all the freshlyforaged ingredients needed to create a meal, which you can then prepare and cook yourself at home, using the recipes and meal ideas included, also available are fresh British produce boxes and even coffee and spirits tasting solutions for at home enjoyment.

Northcote At Home menu

At Home Restaurant Experiences, on the other hand, aim to replicate the pleasure of dining out. They feature gourmet meals specially chosen from a restaurant’s menu, which are preprepared by their chefs on site and accompanied by written or video instructions. Early adopters of this new concept include Rick Stein with his Steins At Home, as well as Two Michelin Star Simon Rogan of L’Enclume in Cumbria, as well as Michelin Starred Andreas Antona of Simpsons Restaurant, Birmingham and The Cross Kenilworth with his Antonathome.co.uk, Northcote At Home in Lancashire, The Black Swan and Roots Restaurant owner Tommy Banks with his ‘Made in Oldstead’ from Yorkshire deliveries and Elite Bistro’s headed by Chef Gary Usher stretching across Cheshire and Manchester.

“Initially, I wasn’t sure how our food would fare being transported,” says Adam Handling of London’s Frog by Adam Handling. “But we’ve found the right packaging and Hame’s At-Home ‘Lobster Wagyu’

Image courtesy: ©Tim Green Photography

our team have worked hard to make sure our meal kits are as close as possible to an authentic experience at our restaurant. “All our customers need to do is scan the QR code on the recipe card, and they’ll be taken to a video of me talking them through all the components of putting the finishing touches to their meal. We even offer wine pairing recommendations for each of the main dishes in our kits.”

These ingenious concepts overcome a number of hurdles for the diner. Not only can we enjoy award-winning menus in the comfort of our own homes, but we’re now able to access and engage with restaurants and suppliers that factors like geography, childcare challenges or health concerns would’ve previously prevented.

If a restaurant chooses to simply carry on by providing a take-away service, for example, they’d be limited to serving diners in their immediate locality. With at-home experiences, however, the culinary world has become our oyster.

“But we’ve found the right packaging and our team have worked hard to make sure our meal kits are as close as possible to an authentic experience at our restaurant.”

Adam Handling

Chefs have, of course, had to overcome a number of hurdles to bring this concept to life; finding sustainable packaging and the right logistics partner, maintaining a focus on quality and seasonality, and creating kits that would still feel like a restaurant experience to the customer in the comfort of their kitchen or dining room have all presented challenges.

But for forward-thinking venues, there have been obvious benefits.

“Businesses have spent a lot of time, money and energy to create ‘at home’ models and it’s clearly been successful as a concept,” says Adam, who launched his At Home meal kit, Hame, in May 2020. (Hame is a Scottish word for ‘Home’)

“I’ve been really encouraged by how much support we’ve had for Hame, and it’s helped to subsidise some of the loss we saw from the closure of our restaurants, which we’re all thankful for.

“It’s also a model that can be scaled up or down depending on changing government restrictions, so going forward I think it’ll play an important part of how we maintain financial stability, keep our staff employed and reach guests

Images courtesy: ©Tim Green Photography

across the country who are unlikely to be able to visit for the foreseeable future.”

As chefs from the Michelin and gourmet worlds launch new meal kits every week, and changing restrictions and health concerns keep us from venturing far beyond home, it’s clear that the At Home dining market is set for unprecedented growth in 2021.

For a full interview with Chef Adam Handling, and to discover more about ‘At Home Experience’ dining, head to our website for an exclusive profiles of our favourite selection.

You can also find a host of other features, exclusive cook-alongvideos or purchase a box of your own, at:

gourmet-experiences.co.uk