Food review: Hawksmoor At Home delivers melt in the mouth deliciousness

This much we know. While restaurants might be open one week, the next they may be closed.

The system of tiers will see us through until vaccines are distributed, which may mean further disruption to restaurants until the spring. Having suffered a torrid year, not all will survive.

Hope springs, however, and there has been a rise in the number of at-home box meals. The likelihood is that they’ve accelerated a change in the way we eat out – or, should that be, eat in – that will become a permanent fixture.

As delivery becomes easier and as suppliers get to grips with the logistics involved in transporting perishable foods, the sector is only going to grow.

The costs of bricks-and-mortar restaurants will prove to be increasingly challenging for some and there’ll be a gradual shift as at-home boxes take a larger share of the market at the expense of conventional restaurants.

That doesn’t mean we should stop supporting local. On the contrary. Local restaurants need us now more than ever. Neither does it mean our heads should be turned by the convenience that at-home boxes provide.

As good as some of them are, nothing can replicate the bonhomie of a good service. The atmosphere you’ll find in an exceptional restaurant can’t be bottled or boxed, nor can the skills of an accomplished maitre d’ or eager front of house team. You can’t put warmth, empathy, kindness and personality into a cardboard box.

By the same token, not all box meals are worth the effort. There are pizzas delivered from different parts of the UK that aren’t as good as those you’d find in the supermarket, much less your local trattoria – though, acceptedly, there are some rank awful pizza joints that are even worse.

Similarly, there are those whose gourmet £80 boxes flatter only to deceive. You can pick up a meal for two with wine from a supermarket ‘best’ range for in the region of £30, which will knock the spots off some of the under-achievers out there. Restaurants that have a great reputation can’t always figure out what food travels well and what’s best left for restaurant-only guests.

Since March, there have been a handful of real standouts. Aktar Islam, at Birmingham’s Opheem, has created a number of different offerings and his £60 box of curries, which features 10 dishes, remains one of the UK’s best, both in terms of quality and cost.

Elite Bistros also provide stunning food that’s worth the money and that offers extraordinary flavours at a reasonable price. To that list, add Hawksmoor At Home; for my money the best on the market.

It’s steak and chips, before we go any further, with a sticky toffee pudding for dessert. That’s it. £80 sounds a lot for a simple dinner. And, in other hands, it would be – let’s go further, it would be a complete rip-off – but in the hands of Hawksmoor, it’s magnificent value.

Let’s turn to the money, first. While there are some who can polish off gargantuan portions of protein and carbs, with a side of sauce and veg, followed by something sweet and filling for dessert, most of us can’t. So the steak and chips for two is really steak and chips for three, or four, depending on the strength of your appetite. Three feels about right, in truth; four is a little stingy and two is for greedy-guts only. So when you’re looking at just over £25 a portion, it starts to represent pretty good value for money.

Then there’s the quality. Hawksmoor is an upmarket restaurant that has just under ten branches, mostly in London or other city centres, and offers exceptional meat.

Here’s what they have to say for their British-beef-is-best menu: “The reputation of British beef is returning to where it deserves to be after a couple of decades in the wilderness.

“It used to be the envy of the beef-producing world: the animals that produce the best beef in America and Argentina originate from British cattle and even the Japanese crossed their famed Wagyu with British breeds in the nineteenth century to improve flavour.”

They opened in Spitalfields in 2006, making a commitment to serve only the best that this country has to offer. Animal welfare and quality have been high on their agenda – and the results speak for themselves. The at-home experience doesn’t translate to all good restaurants; a number offer great value if you eat on their premises but their boxes are mired in mediocrity.

Hawksmoor has gone the extra mile to make sure their service is much more than the usual home delivery.

So, having ordered a rib eye steak with triple cooked beef fat chips, a side of creamed spinach and a bone marrow gravy, for two, we took to the kitchen.

The instructions were simple and our beef was cooked deliciously pink and perfectly rested. It was melt-in-the-mouth tender; great quality produce cooked by a chef who knows his way around the kitchen, if I dare say so.

The chips were fabulous; almost as good as the orgasmic triple cooked ones that Stephen Terry does at The Hardwick, in Abergavenny. Crunchy, cooked at a high temperature in extra beef fat, they were golden, so crunchy I thought I might break a tooth, and deliciously fluffy within.

The sides were terrific. Creamed spinach was faultless and easily warmed, while a bone marrow gravy came with two pre-split bones from which marrow was scooped and gently warmed, to make the sauce incredible smooth, silky and gelatinous. It was lip-smackingly good. The package came with a small tin of Maldon Salt. Perfect.

Pudding was great. A thrillingly light sticky toffee sponge was served with a buttery, rich and decadent toffee sauce and Rodda’s clotted cream. Again, faultless.

The delivery was on-time, tracked and stress-free.

Not all boxes are worth the faff; though a few, like Hawksmoor, will still be here long after the world has dealt with Covid. It is, in this reviewer’s estimation, the best on the market.

Rating: 5/5

Website: shop.thehawksmoor.com

Sample menu:

The Fillet Box, serves two (without alcohol £80, with alcohol £125)

• 2 x 300g British fillet steaks

• Matt Brown's Ultimate oven chips

• Creamed spinach

• Bone marrow & madeira jus (for bone marrow gravy)

• 1 x large sticky toffee pudding for two with clotted cream to dollop on top

• Sour Cherry Negrini for two

• 1 x bottle of Rosso Braida

• 2 x Hawksmoor Lagers