Valentine’s Day at home: The best fine dining deliveries in London
Plan an evening to remember with capital’s best at-home dining options
Let’s be honest, when it comes to doing Valentine’s Day at home, recreating the romance of a favourite restaurant or dimly-lit bar isn’t going to be easy. And, while we’d usually be all for digging out the recipe books and attempting to whip up something special in the kitchen, we’ve all had enough home-cooked meals in the past couple of years to know special occasions are best left to the experts.
Which is where London’s top restaurants come in. From Mayfair’s Michelin-starred dining rooms to centuries-old culinary institutions, many of the capital’s savvy chefs have adapted their usual Valentine’s offerings into simple finish-at-home kits that promise restaurant-worthy dining in lockdown.
Arros QD
Expertly curated by the team at Fitzrovia’s Arros QD, with input from five Michelin-star holder Quique Dacosta, Arros QD has developed a taste of the Mediterranean with its Finish at Home menu. Dishes include Iberian classics such as cheese stones with parmesan and cocoa butter, blue belly prawn quisquillas, eel and cherry rice and Basque cheesecake. The kit also includes a bottle of Möet & Chandon for a real celebratory feel and is available for delivery on 6 or 13 February.
Park Chinois
As one of London’s most romantic restaurants, you can rest assured that Chinese fine dining eatery Park Chinois has put some serious thought into its Valentine’s offering. Available on 13 and 14 February through the Park Chinois website, and via Supper and Deliveroo, the special Love Chinois at Home Valentine’s menu for two includes a range of the restaurant’s signature Chinese dishes created by Executive Chef Lee Che Liang. Start with wasabi prawns and crispy chilli chicken before moving on to Cantonese roast ducked rib-eye steak with black pepper. The evening is completed with a rose-inspired dessert, two pre-bottled cocktails, two elegant Park Chinois fish chopstick holders and a calligraphy notecard.
One Fine Dine
Not technically a restaurant, One Fine Dine launched in early 2020 as a response to the closure of hospitality venues and has amassed a wealth of experience in helping Londoners mark special moments at home. Its Valentine’s offering is a sumptuous three-course meal with all the trimmings needed to create a romantic night in. There are three starters, mains and desserts to choose from, including confit duck roulade with duck liver bon bon, roast cannon of Langley Chase lamb and buttermilk and vanilla panna cotta, served alongside petit fours and a bottle of specially paired wine. Bon appetit.
Sketch
Mourad Mazouz and Pierre Garnier created London’s most eccentric pleasuredome in three Michelin-starred Sketch and its at-home experience is just as lavish as you’d expect. For Valentine’s Day, the restaurant has devised a decadent four-course meal for two, including treats such as wrapped beef fillet with root vegetable purée, and haddock soufflé with leek fondue. Seasonal and fresh ingredients are at the core of each recipe and each course comes with an optional 100ml sommelier-chosen wine pairing.
Jean-Georges at The Connaught
Want to make Valentine’s Day that extra bit special? May we recommend ordering Michelin-magnet Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s exceptional cuisine to enjoy in your own dining room. Fresh from the kitchens of his eponymous restaurant at The Connaught, dishes are carefully crafted using fresh-from-the-market ingredients and farm-to-table produce, including his signature black truffle pizza – reworked in a heart shape for Valentine’s Day – and bluefin tuna tartare. Alongside the a la carte menu, which includes cocktails and wine, there’s also a five-course Valentine’s set menu featuring caviar, truffle-crusted turbot, lemon millefeuille and much more.
£90 for two, Jean-Georges at The Connaught
Bocca di Lupo
Undisputedly one of the best Italian restaurants in Soho, Bocca di Lupo is putting together a greatest-hits Valentine’s Menu with which to spoil your partner. Its San Valentino meal for two is designed to take diners on a culinary tour of Italy, kicking off with a Venetian white peach bellini as an aperitivo. The meals then moves to Sardinia with nibbles of pane carasau and pecorino cream followed by spaghetti with bottarga (the golden bullion of the sea), then onto a Florentine tagliata and, to finish, a crowd-pleasing tiramisù.
Orrery
Orrery’s DIY date nights have already proven very popular with London’s fine dining aficionados and it’s pulling out all the stops to make Valentine’s Day special. Offering a four-course at-home kit packed with culinary French classics, all amateur chefs need do is add the finishing touches to seabass gravlax with lime and elderflower, Tournedos Rossini with celeriac purée, and the always-popular chocolate fondant with orange crème fraiche. Now, that’s an evening to remember.
Lobster Inc.
Nothing says true love like a beet-red crustacean. Lobster Inc’s box includes two whole lobsters served with a Vietnamese dressing, plus a choice of two side dishes, including warm Parmentier potatoes, and an Asian-style noodle salad with cucumber, chilli and coriander. Of course, no date night is complete without a bottle of fizz and Lobster Inc has paired its meal with a Montresor Prosecco Millesimato Extra Dry from Veneto.
Wiltons
With more than 275 years experience under its belt, Wiltons on Jermyn Street knows a thing or two about creating a spectacular Valentine’s Day. With its doors closed for the first time, Wiltons has put together an incredible array of luxury treats to be delivered to your door and enjoyed at leisure. Choose from Imperial Caviar (with the requisite horn spoon, of course), smoked salmon, Sicilian honey, Amadei chocolate spread, marzipan fruits, an Amadei selection chocolate box and an Abahna candle, as well as Wiltons chablis, burgundy and champagne.
Mortimer House
Following the recent launch of its finish-at-home and DIY delivery kits, Mortimer House’s head chef Antonio ‘Lello’ Favuzzi has put together an extra-special Valentine’s Day meal, inspired by his childhood in Sardinia. It includes an aubergine parmigiana to start, a porchetta roast with rosemary potatoes and purple sprouting broccoli, a tiramisu for dessert and a bottle of pear-and-white-tea fizzy cocktail by Black Lines Drinks. Full of Mediterranean generosity, portions are so large that it also comes with ciabatta rolls and onion jam for the leftovers.
Coya
Coya has created a Peruvian Valentine’s feast in partnership with luxury scent brand Byredo. Designed as a sensory experience that takes in taste, smell and sight, the evening starts with a rose-infused cocktail followed by Veuve Clicquot Rosé champagne to pair with your meal. A finish-at-home sharing menu bursting with South American flavours includes Chilean wagyu sirloin steak, ceviche, tuna tostadas and lobster, as well as a rose-shaped lychee and raspberry mousse, and is finished with a gift from the Byredo Rose collection.
Innerplace is London’s specialist Lifestyle Management & Concierge: innerplace.co.uk