Four of the best Irish food boxes, delivered to your door

These flavour mavericks promise a food delivery of gourmet wines, meats, cheeses, vegetables, pastries and restaurant experiences to Irish doorsteps

Dinner from Allta Box

Previously mentioned on these pages, Allta Box comes from the clever and innovative folks behind what was Dublin’s hot-ticket restaurant before Covid-19 restrictions came into play. You can still get the Allta experience, however, in the shape of their delivered box of culinary tricks and treats.

How it works:

You visit their site and place your order, it gets delivered, it’s that simple. The Allta Box is €73 with paired wine, €55 without. Last week’s (now fully sold out) box included Ølands sourdough porridge bread, shiitake miso butter, fuet, spiced olives, Ballymakenny and smoked Gubbeen malfetti, cime de rapa and hazelnut miso, squid ink sopressini with cuttlefish ragu and foraged sea herbs, plus chocolate cake with salted caramel and espresso cream, and pecan and oat cookie dough … the wine pairing was Guy Allion Tourine Rosé ‘Le Sonnemot’ 2017, 100% Gamay.

Due to high demand, this weekly gastronomic ration runs out fairly lively, so fingers on buzzers, this, and every, Saturday at noon for a food delivery the following week.

Wine from The Bottle Project

Thoughtfully-curated wine selections. Delivered to your door. Oh, what a time to be alive! And here you were thinking it was all doom and gloom … The Bottle Project is a genius innovation from cult wine-on-tap merchants Winelab. The service offers a curated wine delivery straight to your front door. From “Everyday Heroes (€55), to “The Classics” (€70), to “The Good Stuff” (€90), the selection of everyday and high-end selections means the variety is great, while their experience in wine curation means the quality is superb. Winelab also carry canned spitzes from InTune and Ramona, if you feel like jumping on a trend.

Fruit and veg from Hussey’s Farm

Hussey’s Farm will deliver uncommonly good fruit and veg (and much else besides) to your doorstep free of charge on all orders over €25 – why isn’t everyone else doing that? Additional delivery charges on orders over €25 are dissuading many from your services, take note! From Cratloe Hills Sheeps Cheese to Wooded Pig charcuterie, to punnets of fresh Irish strawberries, there is much to linger over before you even order. Like many other farm suppliers, Hussey’s also provide readymade fruit and vegetable boxes, at €25 and €20 respectively.

Beef from Higgins Family Butcher

No relation, Higgins Family Butcher are renowned for their high-end aged beef. All of their beef is fed on a natural grass diet and is naturally marbled producing wonderful flavour. Higgins’ beef is also aged on the bone in their dry-aging chambers for up to 120 days employing their very own dry-aging methods. The result? Some of the best beef available on the island and a real treat for carnivores who’ve been missing their fix. There are three boxes available, ranging from €50-€140.“Steak Box 3” includes a time-stopping, 35 oz. Cote de Bouef that’s worthy of note. There’s also a very admirable €25 Breakfast Box, combining 500 grams rashers (smoked or pale), 12 breakfast sausages, one ring of white pudding and one ring of black. Meaty!

Read more: Want to grow your own food at home over the next few weeks? Here’s how to get started

Read more: 8 delicious dinners that you can make with minimal ingredients

Read more: Treat yourself to an inspiring cookbook from a legend of Irish hospitality, Maura O’Connell Foley