Dinner Time – dinner ingredients delivered in Abu Dhabi

Mexican rice salad as per Dinner Time recipe: so yummy!

I don’t know if it is just me, but when I go grocery shopping it is because our fridge is bare.
And I am usually mighty hungry too.
I also tend to make grandiose cooking plans for the week (Sunday: filet mignon, Tuesday: beef wellington, Friday: baked alaska…) and if you pair that with the fact that I tend to overestimate my cooking skills, it is easy to see why a week’s worth of groceries regularly ends up rotting in the fridge.

I really love cooking, but let’s be honest: sometimes it is a bit of a long winded process.
The worst thing? That sudden, horrible realisation, half-way through, that you are missing that one essential ingredient that will ruin the whole thing. (What? No ice cream left?! Goodbye, baked alaska).

Recently, however, I discovered Dinner Time.

Dinner Time is a service that delivers fresh groceries to your door, in enough quantity to cook four dinners (one vegetarian, one meat, one chicken, and one fish) for either two or four people. They also have a gluten-free version, and all the meals are prepared by experts nutritionists so they are healthy and well balanced.
(Here are their FAQ and dinner packages types) (Also: Facebook and Twitter pages)

The main difference with other companies is that they don’t deliver the food already cooked: they give you all the ingredients you need – in the quantity you need – together with four recipes which take less than 30 minutes to cook.

I ordered a 2 people box, which included four dinner meals.
What was delivered to me on the first day was a cardboard box full of vegetables and dry ingredients (plus a complimentary set of measuring spoons, which was a nice touch!), and a cold bag (with two ice packs) with the fresh meat, fish and cheeses.

Vegetables and dry ingredients, plus complementary measuring spoons!

The cold bag with ground beef, chicken, salmon, cream cheese and parmesan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My first impression was very good, as all the ingredients delivered were of great quality – even the pasta, for instance, which could have easily been a supermarket brand and I would not have complained, was instead an Italian gourmet brand.

The first meal we cooked was the Mexican rice salad.

The ingredients provided (we only had to use our own rice)

The delicious final result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me tell you: this is the best rice salad we have ever eaten in our life. It was SO nice that we told everyone we knew and passed the recipe to friends and colleagues. And W does not even like rice!!
With a mix of honey-covered hazelnuts, caramelised cherry tomatoes, spring onions, coriander, rocket salad and a squeeze of lime juice, it is basically heaven on a plate. I must confess, we re-cooked it just yesterday!

It mixed a lot of flavours we would have not necessarily though about mixing, but once all together… well, it was mouthwatering.

The second evening’s recipe was Spaghetti Bolognese with chard.

All the ingredients for this recipe were provided.

The final result!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As on the previous day, the recipe was very straight-forward to follow, and the result really healthy and yummy.
W said the sauce was lovely because it was a different take on the classic dish, with more aromatic and fresh notes. It worked well with the spring onions and the mushrooms.

The third evening was time for chicken, paired with a grain we never tried before: bulgur.

All ingredients were once again provided.

The final result!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We loved trying a new kind of grain which we had never really used before: it was very easy to cook, similar to cous-cous, and W loved the combination of cranberries, pumpkin, orange, honey, pumpkin seeds and chicken, for a yummy sweet and savoury combination.

The last evening, we cooked the salmon, mushroom and broccoli soup.

All the ingredients on our kitchen’s counter.

The final result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The combination of the fresh vegetables, the fresh salmon and the cream cheese worked really well. They even provided a garlic bread baguette to go with it!

To make a long story short, we just totally loved it. We got to cook new recipes without the hassle of going grocery shopping, we ate really yummy and healthy meals prepared in less than 30 minutes, and … nothing ended up rotting in the fridge, so no waste was made!!

We really loved this service, and we are planning to subscribe regularly. Especially in the summer, when the temperatures rise and we don’t really fancy spending too much time carrying heavy grocery bags, I think this will be a real treat.

Even better, if we subscribe for more than one box, it will cost less, going down to approximately £45 (British Pounds) a week, which considering that it includes 4 complete meals for the two of us, it is not only an easy and yummy solution, it is also very convenient.

Plus, we can check the menu in advance on the website, and if we don’t like what is planned next, we can skip a week and bring our credit forward.

In conclusion, we would totally recommend Dinner Time to anyone who loves eating well and would gladly do without the hassle of grocery shopping!

Right Bite – healthy lunch delivery in Abu Dhabi

My first lunch from Right Bite!

Unless you have a gourmet deli under your office, most work cafeterias – let’s face it – are kinda awful. I definitely prefer to cook at home and bring a packed lunch!
Shame is that I don’t always have the energy and the time to do it… so I often end up shoving into my work bag a sad, lonely banana while I am rushing through the door… and this always leaves me with a grumbling stomach and a grumpy face!

This is why I decided to try Right Bite (official website –  official facebook).
This company promises to prepare gourmet lunches based on your dietary needs, and to deliver them fresh to your work place every day. All you have to do is to open the package, warm up in the microwave, and that’s it: a complete, nutricious (and yummy) meal.

The Right Bite cool bag that contains your lunches.

I decided to try it for three days, just to see what kind of food they would deliver.
Upon booking, I had to fill in a form asking me about my details (weight, height, etc) and what kind of lifestyle I have (they did not have the option ‘couch potato’ so I had to go with ‘sedentary’). It felt straight away very professional, as they asked many medical history questions, to prepare a menu tailored to my needs.

Once I sent off the form, one of the very friendly company’s nutritionists called me to have a quick chat and explain me all the details.

Basically here is how it works: based on the information provided, they tailor a menu for you, then you get given several food options. You then log in into your account every week and choose what you want to eat for your next few days of delivery.

My lunches arrived in handy bags, delivered to the office early in the morning: all I had to do was to put them in the fridge until lunch time.

So, what did I eat?
Well, I need to specify that I am a vegetarian, so all my meals were meat-free and fish-free.

The first day I had a vegetarian nacho pizza as a main, and a side dish made with roasted eggplant, tomatoes and low-fat feta cheese. As a dessert I chose to try an Arabic delicacy: a wholemeal labneh fatayer.

Nacho pizza!

Eggplant, tomato and feta salad.

Labneh Fatayer

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pizza was very tasty, especially because it mixed flavours I had not eaten on a pizza before, such as the Mexican beans. It was very filling and I really enjoyed it.
The eggplant salad was really lovely – I love eggplant, so I might be biased, but the combination with the fresh salad tomatoes and Greek cheese worked really well for me.
I had never tried a sweet fatayer before, but it was really nice, sweet but not too much, with a spicy kick. I am surely not going to limit myself to the savoury ones from now on!

The second day I had a spinach and chickpea stew served with brown rice. As a side dish I had a beetroot salad and as a dessert I had a chocolate brownie.

My meal for the second day.

The rice was really well cooked and full of flavour, and also the spinach were really yummy. I am not a big fan of beetroot, I must admit, but this salad had it mixed with lettuce, so I surprisingly really liked the combination. The chocolate brownie was delicious, obviously!

The third day has been my favourite out of all the three. I had a veggie burger as a main, cucumber and fennel as a side salad and a raspberry cheesecake as a dessert.

My meal for the third day.

It is really hard to get a good veggie burger, but this one was really tasty, had lovely potatoes on the side and even a container with fresh salad and sauces to add once warmed up. I really liked it!

Side salad and sauces

The burger ready to be eaten!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fennel side salad had a lovely seasoning, but again, I love fennel and cucumbers! It came with a creamy dressing that was very nice.
The raspberry cheesecake had a bit which was slightly broken, so obviously I had to eat it quickly to put it out of its misery… and it was so delicious that I could have eaten another two of them.

Fennel and cucumber salad

Raspberry cheesecake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In conclusion, I was very happy with my trial.
This seems such a great idea to me. It is easy, yummy, and nutritionally balanced, so even if you have a cake, or chocolate, you don’t feel guilty because you know that the calories have been counted for you!

If this is not good enough, until the end of June part of the money you pay will go to charity!

I would really recommend this service to anyone which has a busy routine but still wants to eat properly, or to anyone who is keen to get in shape: who said that to be healthy you need to eat salad only? I am counting on cheesecakes from now on!

Yummy take away: Telepizza

• What did we order?

– Tandoori chicken pizza
– Margherita pizza
– Garlic mozzarella bread
– Potato wedges
– Two cans of soft drinks

• How much did it cost?  100 AED
  
  
• Where did we order from?

Telepizza – Al Raha Gardens Plaza, Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi
Telephone number: 02 5577002

• What did it look like? (click on images to enlarge)

Tandoori chicken pizza

Margherita pizza

Telepizza box

 

 

 

 

 

 

Potato wedges

Garlic mozzarella bread

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Why did we like it?

– Very friendly staff on the phone, easy to order and quick service.
– Super tasty pizza, just the right level of crunchy crust and full-of-flavour toppings.
– Very reasonably priced and lots of choices on the menu.

Yummy Take Away: Automatic

• What did we order?

– Meat Shawarma Plate with Hommous
– Lentil soup
– Fried Halloumi Cheese
– Grilled Halloumi Cheese
– Falafel Plate
– Cheese pastries
– Hommous
– French Fries
– Yoghurt with Cucumber

• How much did it cost?  131 AED
  
  
• Where did we order from?

Automatic restaurant – inside Al Mariah Mall – Tel: 02 676 9677
(But we actually ordered through FoodOnClick)

• What did it look like? (click on images to enlarge)

Grilled Halloumi

Shawarma

Lentil soup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Falafel plate

Cheese pastries

Fried Halloumi

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hummous

French fries

Yoghurt with cucumber

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salad platter

Flat bread (spoon for scale)

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Why did we like it?

– The food was really tasty and the portions were more than generous!
– Everything came with a lot of complimentary flat bread, a massive plate of veggies, more side veggies (not pictured) and two yummy dips.
– Ordering was easy, delivery was quick and staff friendly!

Yummy Take Away: Zaika

• What did we order?

– Paneer Tikka (Indian cottage cheese slices marinated in a red masala sauce)
– Paneer Paratha (Cheesy flatbread)
– Tandoori Chicken (Chicken marinated in Tandoori spices and chargrilled in a clay oven)
– Zaika Paneer Makhani (Pieces of Paneer in tomato gravy)
– Pav Bhaji (Potato-based curry with spices)
– Masala Dosa (A sort of Indian pancake stuffed with vegetables)
– Butter Naan (Traditional Indian bread)
– Strawberry Milkshake

• How much did it cost?  146 AED
  
  
• Where did we order from?

Zaika Restaurant – inside Khalidiya Mall – Tel: 050 3181515
(Orders also available from website FoodOnClick)

• What did it look like? (click on images to enlarge)

• Why did we like it?

– Well, the food was absolutely delicious!! Apart from the gorgeous Indian dishes, also the milkshake tasted lovely, with real pieces of fresh strawberry in it.
– We liked the fact that they added a lot of free dips and sauces to our order, and also some extra bread.
– Everything arrived quickly and staff were very friendly.

 

Yummy Take Away: Trattoria Olivella

• What did we order?

– Pizza Margherita (Tomatoes, Buffalo Mozzarella, Fresh Green Basil)
– Pizza Texicana (BBQ Sauce, Grilled Chicken, Mozzarella, Jalapenos, Red Onion)
– Fanta and Coke.

• How much did it cost?   102 AED

• Where did we order from?

 Trattoria Olivella – Fotouh Al Khair Centre, Marks & Spencer Complex – +971 2 622 5111

• What did it look like? (click on images to enlarge)

• Why did we like it?

– The delivery was very quick, it took less than 30 min.
– The delivery person wore a black bow tie! We loved the style touch.
– The pizza was tasty and arrived still hot and crunchy.
– The soft drinks came in glass bottles, which are so much nicer than cans!