If you haven’t already heard about the innovative food delivery platform – &Dine, it’s an online food marketplace connecting passionate makers and independent food businesses with customers by delivering authentic (and delicious) handmade food. &Dine seeks to encourage foodies to start their own food businesses, whilst enhancing a sense of community through the platform.

The easy to navigate site offers a great search function, allowing users to filter by food type or the date they would like there food delivered. An impressive range that also features non-meal dishes such as spreads and raw bars, we were excited to try out &Dine for a fuss-free Friday night dinner. Scrolling through the pages of options, we were delighted to see that each vendor page included an image and photo of the chef, really bringing home the personalisation of &Dine. Finding it hard to choose, we opted for vegan delights from Hungry Buddhas. Chef Suki’s menu is proudly Afro-Asian cuisine inspired by both her and her husband’s backgrounds and travels, we went for the Callaloo Dumplings and Vegan Soy & Hot Honey Glazed Aubergine.

In the morning I was sent an email notification with a 3-hour delivery window which was very handy. The meal was delivered in a cold bag with ice packs included so it was still refrigerator-cold when we received it. When it came to dinner time, we scanned a handy QR code on the recyclable packaging for cooking instructions and got to it.

I was so pleased by how it all turned out, despite my kitchen being far from professional the meal was cooked to perfection. I was a bit worried about the dumplings as there was a steaming process involved but they were super straightforward and came accompanied by a delicious salty-sweet sauce to finish it all off. The aubergine was equally as easy to cook and garnished extravagantly with roasted peanuts and tropical mango slaw, and a honey soy chili sauce.

With the whole meal coming to under £20 plus £7 for a bottle of red from the local off-license, we enjoyed a restaurant-quality meal at the fraction of the price, from the comfort of our own home.

Pricing: Callaloo Dumplings (6x) £5.50, Vegan Soy & Hot Honey Glazed Aubergine £13.00
Food Vendor: Hungry Buddhas

Website: www.anddine.co.uk

Written by Jordan Crowley
Photography courtesy Hungry Buddahs