This year is going to be different. This year, I’m reaching out to Indulge Dining – an impeccably packed gourmet meal kit prepared by Michelin trained chefs who promise me no waste, no guesswork and an experience of indulgence. I could celebrate and survive the Christmas Day Dinner experience in peace and refinement. I could serve up Michelin style plates with minimum effort. I could enjoy the succulent freshness of the thoughtfully prepared food and taste the different levels of curated trimmings as though to the manor born. All this, in one box? I’m suspicious. Scarred by the tinsel traumas of The Ghost of Christmas Past, I was sure nothing could be that simple.
The Indulge Dining kit includes clear instructions and a Christmas-themed presentation. (Image: Newsquest)
It is. Absolutely everything is in that box – perfectly packaged ingredients in recyclable materials, everything portioned flawlessly with no waste and with each element ready to be transformed into something elegant but with little effort. It’s genius. It’s like the Three Wise Men finally arriving at the stable bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, myrrh and an even more precious box of Indulge fine dining ingredients.
The Beef Wellington from the Indulge Dining festive kit after heating – golden, crisp and ready to carve. (Image: Newsquest)
This beautifully curated festive box arrives as a gentle reminder that the season can be savoured rather than survived. Using the best of the best ingredients and with simple instructions, this isn’t a ‘cook from scratch’ dining experience – someone else has already done that for you – but a chance to heat up what a Michelin trained chef has already crafted and cooked for you. A bulleted, step by step, easy to follow set of sequences means you stay calm, more gracious, more in the Christmas spirit of peace, love and Let’s Not Get Stressed.
The full Indulge Dining Christmas menu, including Beef Wellington, roast potatoes, vegetables and trimmings. (Image: Newsquest)
As you sip on the seasonally aromatic minced pie infused Gin and Ginger cocktails, savour the cranberry, butternut squash and chestnut canapes and put the finishing touches to the salmon starter, everything seems so refined. It’s also fun. You snip the piping bag of fennel, apple and tarragon puree and can arrange the blobs and the pickled shallots over the five strips of rich salmon as if in a Masterchef final. Pretty, edible flowers finish the culinary display. It’s delicious. The substantially sized Beef Wellington with all the trimmings – exactly the right amount – is fit for one of the aforementioned kings without the ensuing feeling of bloatedness or over indulgence. It’s perfect and means you’ve left room for the chocolate, pear and pecan dessert which, again, you have only to ‘snip that bag’ and arrange on the plate and create your own piece of art in doing so.
Mince pie–infused gin and ginger cocktails prepared from the Indulge Dining Christmas kit. (Image: Newsquest)
At £90 pp, the Indulge box of Christmas delights is the accomplished way to reinvent your Christmas Day cooking. At last you can join in with the other diners and enjoy the product of someone else’s cooking while leisurely hosting and directing the talk around other Christmas chatter. A clink of champagne glasses; a toast to Indulge; a nod to the Ghost of Christmas Past; a welcome to the Ghost of Christmas Present and a promise to the Ghost of Christmas Future. Enjoy! I did.
Dining and Cooking