Kick off 2021 with artisan cheese, French regional cuisine or a Veganuary feast
We’re just about ready to slam the door on 2020 and give it a good boot up the arse on the way out. What about you?
The new year beckons and while it’s not starting on the most positive note (mutant strain anyone?) we are grateful that this nightmare of a year will be disappearing in the rearview soon enough.
The Green Haus box comprises eight globally-influenced vegan sharing plates
It does look like restrictions on our social lives will remain in place though, so we were pleased to receive news of a fresh range of food boxes from HOME-X.
Six By Nico knows how to keep people interested with its reasonably priced, 6-weekly changing, themed six-course menus. We enjoyed the first incarnation of lockdown boxes (which we reviewed for Manchester and Liverpool) and were intrigued when the brand launched HOME-X, a sleeker, classier and more expansive new model. Read our review of the Bangkok edition.
The second series of HOME-X has been announced with ch-ch-ch-changes to the set menu box (Home By Nico), The Cheese Club and Chateau X as well as new, improved vegan brand Green Haus - the artist formerly known as 24 Carrot. Are you keeping up?
If like us, you’ve been drinking copiously perfecting your wine tasting skills with all that extra at-home time this year, you'll agree that the new menu from Home By Nico looks like a juicy one.
Inspired by the French city of Burgundy, the four-courses in this brand new edition include a starter of Jamon Persillé - ham hough with parsley & Dijon mustard and beef bourguignon with roasted shallot, confit garlic, mushroom & lardons for the main, with pommel boulangère and sautéed Jerusalem artichokes on the side.
Dessert is a blackcurrant Charlotte Russe (one for Bake Off fans) with vanilla & Chablis creme diplomat, cassis jelly & savoiardi (aka ladies fingers).
No French meal is complete without cheese - although does it come before or after the dessert? Either way, it’s Langres Petit cheese with spiced apple chutney and water crackers. Not sure if the budget will stretch to a bottle of Gevrey Chambertin but there will be a perfectly suitable bottle of red wine included. The whole shebang costs £60 including UK delivery.
With Veganuary on the horizon, many high profile stars - including Johnny Marr and John Bishop - are encouraging people to get involved this January and urging people to cut out meat and dairy to save the planet.
So Green Haus, HOME-X’s newest vegan box, will be very welcome. The box comprises eight globally-influenced vegan sharing plates: Korean gochujang carrots with edamame bean and kimchi in a sesame & ginger dressing, Levantine Muhammara, butterbean, walnut & basil salad with crispbreads, Chipotle five bean estofado & toasted farro tabbouleh, Cantonese veggie huo fun with rice noodle, beansprout, ginger & soy, Goan Xacuti Masala with smoked potato, spinach, snow peas & Kashmiri chilli and coconut chutney, crispy tofu with fennel & pineapple salad, and - deep breath - a pumpkin & orange cake with coconut frosting. This one will set you back £55 and includes a bottle of vegan wine.
ICYMI, HOME-X also recently launched a cheese club and the new edit includes five artisan cheeses - a whole kilo - with crackers, chutney and a half bottle of sweet white port. Cheeses include Morbier, Oxford Blue, Clara Ashed, Baron Bigod and Lincolnshire Poacher and this one is £50 including delivery.
There was also a souped-up version of the Chateau-X Chateaubriand box with seafood added for a retro surf n' turf vibe. We thought it was perfect for NYE so we included it in our round-up of delivery options. Sadly, this limited edition is now sold out. With this in mind, you should probably get cracking if you don't want to miss out on any of the above.
Green Haus, Home By Nico, and The Cheese Club boxes are now available to pre-order from HOME-X. Delivery is available from January 5th to January 31st. HOME-X experiences can be ordered up to 12 months in advance with the new themed menus announced at the beginning of every month.
