Finish-at-Home meal kits have become a bit of a craze over the last 12 months, the devastating impact of Covid-19 on the hospitality industy being one of the biggest drivers. There is something very exciting about being able to enjoy your favourite restaurants from home and by preparing some of it yourself, you retain the freshness you'd get if you were really there!
When I heard about the LEON LOVe Burger and Fries kit for 2, i knew I had to try it. This is a vegan meal kit and as someone very inexperienced in most vegan food - I thought this would be a gentle way to ease myself in!
I ordered the kit from their site, using the WinesDirect discount code 'WINESDIRECT' saving 10%.
The cost of the meal kit is only £18 usually - so it comes down to £16.20 with the code. It's really great value for money (you'll see exactly how much food you get in some of my pictures!), and if two of you were to eat out at a restaurant in normal circumstances you would certainly spend much more.
There is a flat delivery fee of £5, which is very typical for any meal kits such as this one. It reflects the fact that the meals have to be stored and transported in the correct conditions and are couried to you on a specicfic guaranteed date so I felt this was justified.
The food arrived at Midday on Friday (my chosen date, you can choose delivery on a Wednesday or a Friday and it will keep 2 days in the fridge), and I kept it refrigerated until Saturday evening.
The food was incredibly well packaged, with biodegrable materials meaning nothing was damaged and everything could be recycled. The first thing that crossed my mind... this was quite a lot of food!
They include (as well as the burgers and buns), a pack of smoked gouda style cheese slices, 1 jar of LEON Burger Sauce, 1 jar of LEON Aioli, a whole bag of seasoned waffle fries AND 2 Coconut Collaborative Chocolate pots (Choc pots only included if you order for delivery by this Friday 12th Feb).
There were detailed cooking instructions and overall, it was very easy to prepare! Once the fries were in the oven we set to work frying the burgers. These burgers are designed to replicate the smoky, chargrilled flavour of a meat burger and overall they succeed in this! We were particularly pleased with how the cheese slices melted over the top. I wasn't sure what to expect of a cheese subsitute - but the smoked slices were great. We ate some on its own (you get 10 slices!) to get a true judgement, and if I shut my eyes I wouldn't have been able to tell!
One of my favourite parts of this kit, was the LEON branded burger paper and fries container. This was a really nice touch and made it feel as if we were chefs in our own restaurant!
As meat substitues go, this was a roaring success. It all came out tasting AND looking great. The seasoned waffle fries are delicious, and having the jars of sauce on hand (as well as spreading some in the burger) meant we had lots for dipping.
I know you're all keen to know how the burger tasted... and I will be as honest as I can. Apart from a more crumbly texture - the burger was reminiscent of a smoky meat burger. It was dense and with the combination of the sauce, cheese and letttuce, was a truly delicious patty. We slightly over fried the burger, which gave it a bit of a crispy edge - this actually worked quite well!
I can't forget the Chocolate pots - of which I consumed BOTH (and am not sorry), these were fantastic. Imagine a rich, chocolate ganache with a hint of coconut flavour. Silky smooth, rich - I am completely converted and looking forward to trial more of the Coconut Collaborative brand.
My rating
- Delivery: 5/5
- Packaging: 5/5
- Quality of ingredients: 5/5
- Ease of preparation: 5/5
- Taste: 4/5
by
Erin Tynan,
9th February 2021