How to become a Michelin chef in 30 minutes: Indulge Dining meal kits can make anyone a master cook

Got a stack of cookbooks collecting dust? Fridge filled with 2-for-1 ready meals? If the extent of your culinary ambitions leaves something to be desired — or you simply want to level up your at-home meal times with the minimum of fuss, then Indulge Dining meal kits should be at the top of your shopping list.

A meal box service with a difference, Indulge Dining kits let anyone make Michelin-level meals at home, with no more skill required than understanding how to turn an oven or hob on. Almost entirely pre-prepared, pre-portioned and ready to warm through, it’s like the fanciest almost-ready meal you’ve ever eaten.

Indulge Dining: In Short…

• Fine dining kit that you can easily make at home
• Three courses for £55 per person
• Menus prepared by Michelin trained chefs
• No cooking experience needed
• Nationwide delivery
• Options to cater for many different dietary needs

We laid out our finest china, ordered the second-most affordable wine from our off license’s ‘menu’ and booked a table at our own kitchen to give Indulge Dining a taste test.

And it. Is. Delicious.

How Indulge Dining works, and the inspiration behind it

Indulge Dining offers five different kits, with menus that rotate each month. Unlike other meal delivery services, you’re not locked into a subscription, instead ordering the options as and when you fancy them. It’s usually a single main menu each month and, due to the quality of the ingredients used and the haute cuisine nature of the pre-prep involved for Indulge Dining, they’re more expensive than other options. A ‘Fine Dining’ meal kit for instance, including three courses, costs £55 per person — but as soon as the first bite hits your mouth you’ll see that price is justified.

It’s the brainchild of Andy Bowler; Founder and Executive Chef at Indulge Dining, Bowler earned his stripes at some of London’s finest Michelin Star restaurants, working for Michael Roux Jnr and training in modern French cuisine, before working for Simon Rogan in two of his London restaurants – Fera at Claridges and Roganic — and as Sous Chef at Gordon Ramsay’s Petrus. The Covid shutdown that rocked the restaurant industry kickstarted the idea of Indulge, letting customers bring the fine-dining experience home — and pick up some top-tier cooking skills at the same time.

Cooking up a storm

We tried the Fine Dining Meal Kit, which gives you an exquisite starter, main and dessert to prepare, but there’s also a Wellington Meal kit, a Sunday Roast kit and a ‘Build Your own BBQ’ kit that lets you pick from a selection of meats and sides. Indulge also offers cocktail sets, wines and cheeseboards if you really want to go the whole hog.

Here’s what was on our menu:

• Homemade bread & butter
• Starter: Chicken, sweetcorn, wild mushrooms & black garlic
• Main: Lamb rump, smoked aubergine, Isle of Wight tomatoes & harissa butterbeans
• Dessert: Chocolate, strawberry & pistachio
• Petit fours: Salted caramel truffles
• Veggie and vegan alternatives: Beetroot, goat's cheese, blackberry & mustard / Gnocchetti, heritage tomato, black olive & basil

At first glance the menu may seem simple enough, but as with all fine dining, the devil is in the details, and the presentation. That starter? Complete with edible flowers. The smoked aubergine? Puree’d and piped through an icing bag. Indulge takes all those fiddly fancy bits, pops it in a box for you, and gives you the DIY instructions to recreate its finest ideas.

And it is all easy to put together — meats may need to be cut, but they’ve already basically been cooked, so you just need to heat them through and char the edges. Likewise, even rouxs and sauces just need to be heated in a pan, and don’t need to be created from scratch.

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The end result? I’m a pretty average cook, but if I could insert a little *chef kiss* GIF here I totally would. While my presentation would probably get a hairdryer-rage-rant from Ramsey on a Kitchen Nightmares episode, the instructions were clear, the ingredients top quality, and the final meal itself was wonderful. Getting up and down between starter and main to cook up each course is a little removed from the Michelin chill you enjoy when being waited on hand and foot — but at least you know the entire tip (or lack of) is going to you at the end.

Whether it’s a special occasion, a little treat for yourself, or to cover your back after tall tales of culinary mastery to a new date, Indulge Dining is a lot of fun, and an absolute delight on the palate. For more info and to order a box of your own, visit the Indulge Dining website.

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