No matter what else is going on in your life, you've got to eat, and a good meal can lift your heart and soothe your soul. But getting dinner on the table is more easily said than done if you're a working parent. You're stuck in traffic and you're late home. You're starving. Your spouse is starving. The kids are starving. The au pair's starving. The fridge is bare and the freezer is full of frozen lumps that seemed like a good idea when you froze them, but now look like a crystallised mess. So you do the sensible thing. You get a take-away. But there are take-aways - as in "take them away, please" - and there are takeaways. Ready meals are the new growth area of catering and the best taste just like home-cooked food - better, even, if you dare to admit it - and are a good alternative to the pizzas, the Indians, and the Chineses.
Ooh, gorgeous!
The Douglas Food Company, 53 Donnybrook Road, Dublin 4, phone 012694066 scored top marks all around for a superb family meal and wonderful variety. People regularly pass off food from there as their own cooking at dinner parties. Working parents can be seen on mobile phones in the foyer of this emporium, consulting those at home about the menu. (Staff have observed that men are more likely to phone home and check on what to buy than women are.)
We tried three main dishes: a lusty and memorable lamb korma, a classic beef casserole and lasagne Bolognese for the kids. My partner declared the lamb korma (generous single portion £4.85; large portion of white and wild rice, £1.95) to be "the best take-away I've ever eaten - better even than Indian restaurants". I went, originally, to pick up just main courses, but everything was so beautifully displayed (they pack it only when you buy it) that I could not resist getting a starter (gravad lax - beautiful) and desserts as well. My beef casserole au poivre (£4.95 ) was gorgeous - tasty and creamy with succulent beef and lovely, juicy mushrooms which tasted newly cooked and sweet, not rubbery and old like they can get after even a day in the fridge.
A huge portion of divine Gratin Dauphinoise potatoes (£2.35) was a meal in itself and the potato croquettes (OK, so we pigged out) were gorgeous and fresh-tasting (£1.25 for two).
The lasagne (£3.85) was very meaty, and while it was tomatoey and rich, the kids would have preferred a higher proportion of pasta to filling and more general cheesiness - but we always think this about lasagne, coming more from an Italian-American cooking tradition.
The tarts (chocolate and pecan for him, baked cheesecake for me, £1.95 a slice) were luscious. There is no better takeaway in Dublin, and they sell salads, vegetarian dishes, wine, breads and cheese too. Don't miss the Guinness brack, flavoured with apricots and ginger (£3.95).
So, the Douglas Food Company had turned out to be the gold standard: could the rest match up?
'Ello chicken!
Lenard's Poultry Shops, Donaghmede Shopping Centre, phone 01-8670863, and Nutgrove Shopping Centre
certainly tries. Lenard's is the first franchise in Europe of an Australian company which offers more than 150 variations on fresh chicken. They include: chicken honey macadamia roll; chicken cordon bleu; chicken filo florentine; chicken sausages; chicken Kiev; and chicken enchilada - all at very reasonable prices. In fact, value for money is where Lenard's is really on a winner - its main courses were the cheapest and certainly among the best quality readymeals. We tried chicken filo florentine (£1.69) and chicken Madagascar which we heated in the oven for about 35 minutes (the chicken was fresh). Both dishes consisted of plump and juicy chicken breasts (all the chicken is sourced in this country) which were wrapped in filo pastry which, in both cases, was crisp and flaky with not a trace of sogginess. The florentine had a pleasant filling of spinach on top of the chicken, while the Madagascar had a kind of roast pepper puree with peppercorns on top of the pastry. This was gentle, not very daring food, but it was very good quality and, because of its subtle taste, the kids loved it.
There is definitely a market for this kind of sensible food. We also tried the chicken enchilada (£1.39) and found it spicy, delicious and full of beans - so more challenging tastes are obviously available if you look for them. This is an ideal freezer stock-up shop, since the packaging is designed so that you can put it straight into the freezer without repacking. The preparation is a bit more time-consuming, since most dishes must be fully cooked at home. The formula seems to appeal to Irish tastes: Lenard's is already so successful that it is planning to expand to further locations, including Bloomfield's food hall in Dun Laoghaire.
What sauce!
The matrons of the south side regularly stock up their freezers from
The Butler's Pantry, 53 Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, phone 01-2885505 and 97b Morehampton Road, Donnybrook, phone 01-6608490.
The Butler's Pantry fare includes soups, chicken, fish, lamp, pork and beef dishes, as well as savoury tarts and good desserts. The day I called in, most of what was on offer consisted of boneless chicken breasts in various creamy sauces at £4.95 for a portion, all contained in cartons in the fridge. I was on a low-fat kick at the time, so I chose chicken breast in spicy lentil salsa (£4.95). (The shop features a few low cholesterol dishes, which is a great idea). A shop assistant said the chicken is cooked separately and the sauces are then added, which may explain the awkward duality of the dish. The chicken was bland and tasteless, while the light, spicy tomato-based sauce with Puy lentils was delicious, if a bit watery. Honestly, we wished to ditch the chicken and have far more of the lentil salsa on rice. The chicken came across as no more than a convenient protein source. You could say that we ate this dish dutifully, but joylessly. A loaf of brown soda bread (£1.50), made on the premises, was good.
They were huge!
Tex Mex, Enniscorthy, available at Bloomfield's Food Hall, Dun Laoghaire. Bloomfield's, run by the Tesco/Quinnsworth chain, has a large range of Irish-made ready prepared foods - stir-fries, pastas, curries and so on. The burrittos (£2.99) were irresistible because they were huge and looked like the real thing and they were so different from the run-of-the-mill ready-prepared chicken breast. And indeed, they were terrific - a jumpy salsa, chewy bread and scrummy bean filling with the chicken. They tasted great coming out of the microwave with the cheese melting all over them. We'll definitely be buying these again.
Some like it hot!
What's For Dinner? at Superquinn Blackrock, Northside, Lucan and Carlow. Fergal Quinn has devoted an entire section of certain stores to ready-prepared foods aimed at busy parents who have families to feed. Curries must be really popular because Fergal offers many. The chicken korma (£3.95 including rice) was rich in coconut flavour but not much else. The sauce was globby and rich, but lacked body and complexity. This was marketed as the mildest dish, so you can imagine that they're probably wary of making it too tingly. The chicken madras (£3.95 with rice) had a better all-round flavour and was adequate if uninspiring. My partner found the portion too small.
No more, thanks!
At Swift Fine Foods, Francis St, Dublin 8, phone 01-4732497
the food is vacuum-packed in plastic bags, which you then pop into a pot of boiling water for times specified on the bag. The advantage is that they keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge, so you don't have to freeze and then defrost them. We tried chicken in orange and pepper sauce (£3.95 a portion) and mixed vegetables with potato (£1.90 for a double portion). While there was nothing wrong with this, the food was bland and looked better than it tasted, like a French film lost in translation. This was well-prepared food and there was nothing wrong with it but we wouldn't be anxious to try it again.