For those who’re worried about the hygiene of the final product while ordering in, DIY boxes are proving especially popular. They come with raw or half-cooked ingredients all measured out and a recipe to follow. They give a wannabe cook the feeling of putting together a meal without the hassle of the prep. Here are the people delivering in Delhi.
Diva
Italian and Asian
When chef Ritu Dalmia got locked down in Goa, she began to get messages around how much patrons of Diva missed the food. So she started Diva Casa, with meal kits that take no longer than 15 minutes to put together or cook. The ingredients, all chopped and ready to cook (some are half cooked), come with a recipe card and a video that you can access via a QR code, where the chef gives you little tips and tricks to make the dish even better. You can choose from out of 25-30 dishes on a menu that’s WhatsApp-ed to you. The food arrives, vacuum sealed, in refrigeration units that you take the packages out of, so there’s minimal contact. A mix of Italian (pizza, pasta, ravioli, risotto) and Asian (curries), there are also salads and desserts. From the garnish to the oil, you’ll have it all, so it’s convenient even for a no-cook option. Soon, the chef will introduce weekly specials, depending on the availability of ingredients.
Order 24 hours in advance; call Mohit Nagpal at 9582994095; ₹490 to 999;serves 1
Rosarte Chocolate
Baking
Radhika Gulati’s boxes, packaged by her mother and sister, since she moved to the UK, sound indulgent and are good for sweet lovers with certain dietary needs. There are eggless double chocolate cookies; no-bake raw, vegan, gluten-free brownies with jaggery that are good for children to dabble in making; eggless, gluten-free hazelnut cake. A step-by-step menu helps you through.
Order 24 hours in advance on Instagram @rosarte.chocolate; ₹2,800 + delivery; serves 4
Chicago Pizza
Fast food
Chicago Pizza
Choose between kits of three pizzas (feeds 3-5) or five (feeds 3-5). Each is 9 inches in diameter and you can pick two toppings per pizza. The base, toppings, condiments, and an instruction note come to you, and it doesn’t take more than 10 minutes to put together and bake. There are 17 toppings to choose from (chicken meatball, red paprika, pepperoni, mutton keema, pineapple, olive and more). The service serendipitously began six months ago.
Order three hours in advance or pre-book from 1 pm to 6 pm; at Chicagopizza.ecwid.com; ₹734 and ₹1,049
Being Chef
Indian, Chinese, Italian vegetarian
The six-year-old company promises you a vegetarian box that you can cook in five minutes and “eight easy steps”. As with all DIY kits, everything is cut and put into boxes, though they began the service at inception. You get a hairnet cap, a pair of gloves, and a sachet of sanitizer, for extra hygiene. They’ve seen that pasta is the most popular, and there are biryani, noodles and rice with a Chinese gravy, and an Indian gravy and bread combo.
Order 30 minutes in advance from Beingchef.com if you’re in Gurugram; ₹29 for a set of parathas to ₹559 for the biryani; serves 2 and 4
Anna Maya
Indian, Western, Asian
The restaurant at Andaz Delhi that follows a made-in-India concept, has a three-course meal box (appetizer, main, dessert) across a Western, Asian, and an Indian menu. The Asian menu, for instance, has a green mango, avocado, tomato salad, with a chilli lime dressing; a main course of Thai green vegetable curry or red chicken curry with jasmine rice; and a dessert of chilled sago pearls with fresh safeda mango, rose syrup.
Order 24 hours in advance; WhatsApp 7291060670; 8 am and 10 pm; ₹1,475; serves 2
