Seduce your love with a Michelin starred meal at home

Who doesn’t groan inwardly at the culinary expectations around Valentine’s Day? The hushed ranks of duos trying to be performatively romantic while eating out are enough to put anyone off their steak frites — as are the high restaurant prices.

But slaving over a hot stove to whip up a feast at home can end up meaning romance is the last thing on your mind. So, why not let your favourite chef or restaurant do all the prep and just take the credit this year?

Here are the best deliverable meal kits offering a restaurant-style, three-course menu for two for a Valentine’s to remember…

IDEAL FOR FOODIES

Indulge, £65 per person for three courses, plus canape, bread and petit fours (indulgedining.co.uk)

STARTER: Heritage carrot, radish, buttermilk and dill.

MAIN: Celeriac, turnip and leek with Montgomery cheddar sauce.

DESSERT: Vanilla cheesecake with apples and crystalised ginger.

TIME TO COOK: 30 minutes.

Andy Bowler set up Indulge Dining in lockdown after years working in top Michelin restaurants, including Gordon Ramsay’s Petrus.

I chose the vegetarian kit, although both veggie and meat menus start with a canape of mushroom wafers, topped with pickled enoki mushrooms and a wild garlic and mushroom cream that tasted exquisite and only required assembly.

Ditto the starters — the heritage carrots with radishes, buttermilk and dill oil were ready-prepared and only needed plating.

The dish looked pretty with the addition of micro shoots and flowers in their own separate container, with a moist cloth to keep them fresh.

I then reheated salt-baked celeriac in the oven for eight minutes, while warming the turnip puree and Montgomery cheddar cheese sauce in separate pans.

The finished dish was delicate, with good bite and reminded me of one I had eaten in a two-star Michelin restaurant.

Dinner finished on a high with citrus tart petit fours — a tiny crisp pastry case into which I piped bergamot cream, finished with tiny grapefruit segments and candied lemon zest. Perfect for foodies.4.5/5

LOBSTER & FRIES

Cote, £74.95 (coteathome.co.uk)

Cote’s lobster with onion soup for the starter

STARTER: Cheese souffle or French onion soup.

MAIN: Lobster thermidor, fries, peas à la Francaise.

DESSERT: Tarte au citron or almond financier.

TIME TO COOK: 25 minutes.

This is one of three Valentine’s Day kits from the restaurant chain’s Cote at Home arm.

The cheese souffle, made with cheddar and camembert, comes with plenty of grated Comte and a packet of leek and cheese sauce to spoon around while reheating for 20 minutes in the oven. There are no worries about it not rising, but it does sink quickly, so eat straight away.

The meal’s highlight, this was tasty, with a good sharp cheese piquancy and plenty of sauce.

But the lobster, although admirably sourced from East Anglia, was a little woolly. I’d have liked sweeter, more succulent flesh and the thermidor sauce was rather thin with muted flavour. It is reheated in the oven, with the sauce poured over in a supplied tray, alongside good chips, that could brown up a little more. We also reheated the peas à la francaise, with baby onions and, surprisingly, no bacon, in a pan with the supplied butter with good results.

Sadly, the lemon tart was a letdown, with soggy pastry and a filling like lemon curd.

But despite the so-so main, this felt worth the cost — lobster would easily cost more than this in a restaurant. 3/5

TASTE OF SPAIN

Jose Pizarro for Dishpatch, £99 (dishpatch.co.uk)

Jose Pizarro’s Castilian suckling lamb leg with crispy potatoes and yoghurt aioli

STARTER: Grilled red pepper escalivada and Gordal olives on coca flatbread.

MAIN: Castilian suckling lamb leg with crispy potatoes and yoghurt aioli, plus Little Gem lettuce with lemon vinaigrette.

DESSERT: Tres leches.

TIME TO COOK: 30 minutes.

Jose Pizarro is one of the darlings of Britain’s Spanish food scene with seven restaurants to his name.

The Catalan escalivada (roasted aubergines, tomatoes and peppers), served at room temperature, was superb topped with plump Gordal olives. It didn’t look spectacular, yet the taste was authentic.

The leg of lamb and potatoes were impressively tasty. The lamb sauce was added in the last five minutes of cooking to make the dish exceptionally succulent, and the lemon dressing was fantastic. It took 30 minutes to prep and reheat with no tricky juggling — just have some extra-virgin olive oil on hand. The tres leches, a light cake dessert, lacked the wow factor, but this was restaurant-level food with minimum fuss. Impressive. 4/5

SIMPLY PERFECT

Cafe Murano for Dishpatch, £110 (dishpatch.co.uk)

Angela Hartnett’s Murano Valentines menu

STARTER: Cannellini bean and pancetta bruschetta.

MAIN: Florentine-style steak with baked gnocchi, squash and cavolo nero.

DESSERT: Chocolate olive oil cake with pistachio cream.

TIME TO COOK: 35 minutes.

Known for her sophisticated yet simple Italian-inspired cooking, Angela Hartnett is chef-patron of Michelin-starred Murano, as well as three Cafe Murano brasseries.

Although the starter of cannellini beans sounded a little plain, it actually had a pleasing, earthy depth of flavour and was simple to assemble.

The squash and cavolo nero gnocchi were exceptional and just required a topping of pangrattato (breadcrumbs and herbs) before reheating in the oven. Slightly trickier, the superlative steak required searing on both sides, before finishing in the oven. Served with a punchy ready-made salsa verde and a rocket salad (dressed lightly, as suggested) this made for a memorable dinner.

The chocolate olive oil cake tasted sensational with the pistachio chantilly. The only quibble? We wanted more! 5/5