With restaurant reopenings still a few months away and the tedium of cooking setting in, it’s more tempting than ever to order a cheeky takeaway. We all have our local favourite, but there sare so many exciting new kitchens to order from.
Whether you’re in the mood for traditional siu mei, pork pibil tacos or a top notch Neapolitan pizza, here are a few spots to add to your takeout list…
Giz N Green’s Pizza Pies
Remember when Pizza Hut brought out the stuffed crust pizza in the mid-nineties and how mad it was at the time? While many of us have been fixating on the rules of authentic Neapolitan pizza, Gizzi Erskine and Professor Green have had their eyes on Chicago. They’ve taken the much-loved deep dish pizza and added their own spin with Giz N Green’s Pizza Pies.
Starting as a Monday night fakeaway and a pop-up at Passo on Old Street, Giz N Green’s now brings the pizza party home, delivering from Bethnal Green and Olympia through Deliveroo and UberEats.
We ordered a Meatball Marinara to share and when it was handed over we couldn’t believe the weight of it – an actual monster! Made with organic biga sourdough, the base was super-thin and crispy while the crust was pillowy and blistered, stuffed with British organic fior di latte. The pizza was smothered with lots of herby marinara sauce, loaded with an obscene amount of cheese and finished with a plump meatball on every slice.
This pizza is seriously indulgent, so bring your appetite, get the beers in and let the cheese coma take hold.
Three Uncles
Three Uncles specialises in siu mei (traditional Cantonese roast meats) and operates from a slick canteen at Liverpool Street, offering a takeaway and delivery service.
Run by three friends, it’s inspired by the bustling markets of Wan Chai in 1970s Hong Kong, where they would watch the roasting masters chop up slow-cooked meats. Three Uncles similarly uses the time-honoured 48-hour, six-step technique. Meats are marinate on the inside, rubbed on the outside, hung and fan-dried overnight, then roasted, rested and served. While it’s an everyday staple in Hong Kong, this is one of the few places to offer authentic siu mei outside of Chinatown in London.
You can choose from four different roasted meats served with pak choi, steamed jasmine rice and punchy sauces, as well as lo mein noodles and a tempting selection of dim sum. We chose the combo of three meats with Crispy pork belly, Char Siu barbecue pork and Hainan chicken. The meats were tender and richly-marinated and were made even more scrumptious with the soy and rock sugar sauce and aromatic ginger and spring onion sauce.
Unaware of the generous portion sizes, we also ordered the fantastic Roast duck and Char Siu Lo Mein noodles, fluffy and sweet Char Siu Bao and delicate Wontons in extremely hot chilli oil. Everything was absolutely delicious and while some of the meats can be on the fattier side, the marinade and sauces are irresistable.
Napoli Gang
Big Mamma – the group behind hit London restaurants Gloria and Circolo Popolare and Pink Mamma in Paris – was quick to respond to lockdown and launched Napoli Gang, its socially-conscious delivery service in partnership with Uber Eats last summer. Now with kitchens in Bethnal Green, Kentish Town, Wandsworth and Wood Green, feasting on truffle pasta and popping arancini in your PJs is a reality.
Napoli Gang works with small Italian producers to source the best ingredients, so it’s worth starting with some Puglian Burrata, Prosciutto di Parma and Sicilian olives. Its Neapolitan pizza with creative toppings is one of the best in town and another must-try dish is the indulgent Amori al tartufo – a luxurious pasta gratin wtih parmesan, fresh truffle, black truffle cream, mascarpone and caciocavallo.
Round it all off with the Insta-famous Lemon Pie XXL – you won’t regret it!
Motu Indian Kitchen
If you’ve missed indulgent dinners at the likes of Trishna, Gymkhana, Brigadiers and Berenjak, then you need to know about Motu Indian Kitchen, the popular home delivery service by JKS Restaurants.
Motu offers home-style Indian dishes and pays homage to both the tiffin meals delivered to workers by dhabbawalas in India and “the British love of a classic Indian takeaway”. The menu is well-edited with a focus on well-known crowdpleasers and there are plenty of vegetarian and vegan options.
The best way to try a a few dishes is the Feast Box for two – a generously-sized set menu with your choice of two mains, one dal, one rice and two naan, plus popadoms, raita and mango chutney.
Motu’s Chicken Curry has aromatic complexity with plenty of cinnamon while Chicken Tikka Masala is deliciously smoky and creamy with tender tandoori chicken thigh. Dal Makhani is incredibly moreish with slow-cooked garlic and ginger and the Pilau rice topped with crispy onions is exemplary.
DF TACOS
It’s hard to beat Taco Tuesday with a few beers in a dimly-lit bar, but it’s also pretty cool to have tacos delivered straight to your sofa. DF TACOS in Shoreditch is the way to go if you’re in the mood to try lots of different fillings like chile beef, habanero chicken and sweet plantain, and load up on nachos and sides.
Go for a Taco Board with three fillings and six tacos to share, a crispy fried buttermilk chicken torta with red slaw and chipotle mayo or an enormous pork pibil burrito with avocado mojo salsa, crema and pink pickled onions.
Have you tried any of these take-aways during lockdown? Where is your favourite place to order from?
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