DIY meal kits, new craze among foodies

The exclusively-curated DIY boxes have all the necessary ready-to-cook ingredients for the dish and an easy-to-follow instructions note from the chef.

The first group to give Chennaiites the satisfaction of creating a gourmet meal at home was Chefathon, which curates food-based experiences. Lekhamithra, who runs Chefathon along with Sundar Kannan, says, “We started sending out Chefathon Kitchenette - DIY meal kits a couple of days before the lockdown was announced. Making a gourmet meal with family is an interesting experience. Every week, we change the cuisine — we have done the Mediterranean and Mexican menu so far. This week, we have introduced Asian meal kits with a variety of popular Asian delicacies. Each kit is a wholesome menu that has an appetiser, main course and a dessert and this will be for one person. We will be adding more varieties in the coming days,” says Lekhamithra.

There was an overwhelming response when Novotel Chennai Chamiers Road introduced their DIY boxes like gnocchi box, wholewheat pasta box, pizza box, soba noodles box, pad Thai box, ravioli box, etc. “We have 10 DIY dishes in which two are desserts. You just have to follow the instructions given by our chef and in 10-15 minutes you can prepare the dish of your choice. We source our raw materials very carefully to make sure that we provide the best for our guests. Also, the hotel follows all the hygiene procedures that are required,” shares Supreet, the general manager at Novotel Chennai Chamiers Road.

After getting a lot of requests from burger lovers, Sunil Cherian the CEO of BurgerMan decided to sell DIY burger kits. “The idea of a DIY grill box has always been on our to-do list and now just seemed like the perfect time to execute it. So, we curated the grill to thrill burger kits. The kit contains fresh veggies, patties, brown buns and our secret sauce,” says Sunil.