Our pro says...

The excitement was palpable as me and my lockdown bubble got ready for Friday night with our kit. The process of ordering it online is straightforward – you select the dishes you want from the shortlist of options, then proceeded to checkout.

The box arrived with each dish individually packaged, and a couple of them even came with cookware – the seafood and chicken arroz came with a paella pan, the Basque cheesecake with a terracotta dish. A sheet of paper filled with QR codes for each dish takes you to a YouTube video featuring the charismatic José taking you through the steps of how to prepare the dish. You’ll either find this helpful, or wish that they printed the recipes in full on paper.

After just 20 minutes or so of cooking, the resulting dishes were either good, such as the padrón peppers, or heavenly, namely the squid ink and prawn croquetas: a fried breadcrumb exterior gives way to a silky squid-ink flavoured, béchamel-style interior with chunks of prawn. The patatas bravas was moreish, especially when combined with the spicy tomato-based salsa brava and the garlicky aïoli. The acorn-fed ibérico ham was so tender that it melted in your mouth.

The two mains fell into the ‘good’ category – a piece of hake, perfectly cooked in its own bag, came out bathed in a rich white sauce. The seafood and chicken arroz didn’t wow us, but we liked the homely flavours.

Finally, we delved into the American-style Basque cheesecake, with a custard-like texture in the middle. The lavender honey provided an aromatic edge – it’s a showstealer at Pizarro’s restaurant.