Food Review: A little taste of la dolce vita
Eat at home kits are here to stay if the delicious dishes delivered by The Little Pasta Company are anything to go by, writes Andy Richardson.
Restaurants are back. Covid restrictions are so 2021 and those that survived the pandemic are hurtling headlong to such money-spinning dates as Valentine’s and Mother’s Day.
We’re being encouraged to eat out to help out – though without Rishi splashing the cash – and with the impact of Brexit, the supply chain crisis, higher energy prices and an exodus of staff from hospitality, every lunch and dinner will help.
With restaurants in the spotlight, however, what will become of the brilliant at-home eating services that sprang up two years hence?
Are those companies who rushed to sate the nation’s hunger courtesy of the Friday night DPD delivery doomed?
Absolutely not.
The creation of a new style of eating was born of necessity. It’s also one that’s here to stay.
For while we’ve rushed headlong out of Covid restrictions to help those businesses that need it most, there remains a huge cohort of diners who won’t be visiting their local trattoria any time soon. People who are shielding, those who think we’re not quite ready to exit restrictions and those who simply enjoy the convenience of cooking restaurant-standard food without firing up their saloon car are among the many who’ll provide custom for such businesses. Home cook kits have proved a huge success, from those companies offering burgers or quick-and-easy plant-based options to the high flyers providing Michelin-level feasts.
One business that’s been at the forefront of such dining is The Little Pasta Company.
Offering a menu where mains cost around £7.50 to £10 per head and where quality is at a premium, it’s operating at a level that is far better than luxe supermarket offerings and which offers great value as well as great taste.
Meal kits contain fresh, handmade pasta, homemade sauces and are served with grated Grana Padano cheese, with a recipe card providing instructions on how to whip up supper in around five minutes.
Dishes are dispatched each Thursday for a Friday delivery and The Little Pasta Company uses quality ingredients to ensure the best flavours in each dish.
It’s been a recipe for success, if rave reviews in Vanity Fair, House & Garden, Hello! and more are to be believed.
And having enjoyed a multi-course dinner, we were dazzled.
The company is owned and run by husband and wife team, Daniel and Anouska. Everything they do, from Daniel’s 5am start each morning to make the fresh pasta and sauces, to packaging the boxes ready for delivery, is done by them in order to deliver an authentic and delicious product, with friendly and personable service.
The Little Pasta Company was founded out of a love for all things Italy and of course a constant hunger for delicious food.
Daniel’s mother lived in Italy for 10 years and he spent his childhood going on nostalgia trips, often left to explore the side streets of Italian cities, seeking out the most delicious places to eat.
The business is a small company that is passionate about what it does. It strives to deliver the best customer experience, friendly service and most of all, the most delicious pasta.
Our order arrived in good time and we began with a shared starter featuring 60g of sliced coppa ham and a salad of fresh burrata with rocket and pine nuts, smothered in a sweet and perfectly acidulated balsamic vinaigrette.
It was lip-smackingly good. The vinaigrette was heavenly, a well-balanced cover for the peppery leaves.
The burrata was fabulously fresh and light while the coppa was intensely flavoured and had beautiful texture.
The most important battle in creating good dinners is cooking with the best ingredients and those dispatched by The Little Pasta Company were suitably on point.
A side of olives with sun dried tomatoes underscored that point.
We ordered a smorgasbord of pasta dishes to taste and share. The pasta itself was silky smooth and fantastically fresh. Dressed in a little semolina to stop it sticking, it was cut into various shapes so as to best mop up a selection of sauces.
The helpful instructions ensured the pasta was cooked perfectly al dente, so that there was just the right amount of bite in each dish.
The sauces were sublime. The simplest was a white truffle butter that accompanied a splendid tagliatelle. The butter was melted in a pan with just a drop of emulsifying hot pasta water, before the tagliatelle was duly drenched. Rich, earthy and with a gentle heat, it was a magnificent and luxurious sauce.
The dish was topped with grated Grana Padano and made for fabulous eating.
A pappardelle with beef and red wine ragu was stunning. The beef was meltingly tender while the sauce was exceptional. Small dices of vegetables and a rich red wine gave it bags of flavour.
A spicy n’duja with rigatoni was the most memorable platter, with the peppery and hot n’djua standing out. The fatty, ground pork was filled with plenty of Calabrian chillies making it explode on the palette.
Finally, a spaghetti alla carbonara was creamy and rich while the good quality bacon dice added a sweet and salty edge.
We’d ordered a small portion of chocolates to finish but received the politest email in the world the following day explaining that they were out of stock so we’d be upgraded to a Dolce & Gabbana panettone.
Having imagined that the Italian fashion house was all about smart suits and dancing shoes, it turns out they also do a mean collaboration when it comes to Scilian orange pannetone.
Who knew? Light, sweet and a little fluffy, it provided a perfect ending to a brilliant selection of food from one of the UK’s best eat-at-home services.
There are plenty of reasons to look forward to the return of business as usual as restaurants reclaim their spots in our collective conscious in the months ahead.
There is, however, still room for great delivery services and The Little Pasta Company is foremost among them.
