The coronavirus induced lockdown shifted our perspective towards food on a whole new level. Restaurants stayed shut for months, home cooking became a new trend, cloud kitchens popped up in Bangalore and food deliveries skyrocketed. With the coronavirus pandemic refusing to settle down and the advent of new covid variants, foodies prefer to order in while they Netflix and chill. So, in order to bridge the gap between a fine dining experience and order-in meal time, eateries are looking for innovative ways to give people a restaurant-style experience at home. Eco-friendly packaging, adorable soup bowls, chopsticks, cutlery, matka and cute sanitiser sachets are the new trends in the food delivery industry. Read on to know more.
Eco-Friendly Packaging Offers Foodies A Restaurant Style Dining Experience At Home
As the pandemic made most fine-diners diversify into home delivery of food, there ensued a proliferation of cloud kitchens as well as takeaways. However, what most still missed was the experience of eating out. Even as utmost care was being taken by chefs to recreate the same flavours for the patrons, it was hard to distinguish between a neighbourhood cook and five-star chef when it came to packaged food. It is to bridge this gap that high-end restaurants are focussing on packaging and presentation, says Gurugram-based Chef Bakshish Dean, Co-Founder at Culinary Quotient, a food consultancy. Dean says to The Indian Express, “While the first phase of lockdown made restaurants venture into food deliveries, the next phase made them sit up and think harder about how to ensure that the food – when it reaches the patrons’ dining table – looks good and tastes fresh.”
Also Read: 5 Hottest New Restaurants In Bangalore To Try In 2021
Restaurants Serve Biryani & Lassi In Earthen Pots For Hygiene & Dramatic Purposes
For instance, Biryani By Kilo – which has registered more than 100 per cent of their pre-Covid sales — uses earthen handis to dum cook and deliver their signature biryanis all across the country. Vishal Jindal, co-founder at BBK, says, “These handis are eco-friendly and reusable and are greatly appreciated by our customers for their hygiene quotient. Also, using the same handi to cook and deliver the food, without shifting contents to another container, enhances its authentic flavours. It also helps that the earthen pots are porus, so they can retain flavours better.” For each handi, BBK also delivers each — a tealight lamp set-up that keeps the food warm on your dining table while you eat. Kapoor’s Cafe In Bangalore also offers customers its signature Lassi in a matka glass to give the same feel.
Also Read: 5 Bangalore Restaurants That Have Turned Into Cloud Kitchens To Survive & Satiate Your Cravings
Sugar Cane Packaging & Potato Starch Spoons Replace Plastic Packaging
Eco-friendly, reusable, even edible has become the buzzword for the food delivery business. Parat by chef Harangad Singh – which delivers experimental Indian cuisine across the Capital – was among the many cloud kitchen that proliferated during the lockdown. Taking the packaging game to the next level, Parat uses sugarcane husk packaging and potato starch spoons. Singh says, “Indian cuisine is cooked at very high temperatures, so if you had to transfer the contents to a plastic container for delivery or to heat in a microwave, the flavours will change completely. So, we wanted to offer a substitute.” It also helps that the packaging is eco-friendly, and edible, if you will, adds the chef. If you wish to order food home, here’s how you can take utmost care and safety.