REVIEW : EAT - Cooking Bangkok, Home by Nico
It’s nearly 6000 miles from the UK to Bangkok, but Home by Nico can have you transported there and fed within the hour.
How do they do that you might ask? Here’s how - they deliver an amazing Bangkok Street Food Experience straight into your home, thats how!
Enter the Home by Nico, Cooking Bangkok Thai Street Food At Home Box. A cleverly thought out chill box containing some absolute classic thai street food that is so simple to turn into a delicious 4 course dining extravaganza.
Set the scene. Bamboo placemats, sides of extra lime, sliced chilli and spring onion, chopsticks and beautiful plates. Wine chilled and we’re ready to go.
REVIEW - COOKING BANGKOK FROM HOME BY NICE AND HOME-X
The box is professionally laid out and you can tell that Six by Nico and Home-X have spent some time perfecting this. I like that you can see every dish clearly laid out as well as all the accompaniments and the wine.
Two sleek pieces of literature are included in the box; one a menu and the other an instruction manual detailing equipment that you will require, how to cook each dish and how to plate it all exquisitely photographed.
STARTERS - HOT AND SOUR TOM YUM SOUP with prawn dumplings.
This requires very little effort. Simply empty the soup from the packaging into a saucepan and heat through. Serve up and top with some thai herbs (provided).
The soup was lovely. A tiny wee bit of heat at the back but otherwise the fish sauce came to the fore giving it a good tang. The prawn dumplings were packed well and didn’t fall apart when heated.
MAINS - PANANG RED CURRY with slow roasted chicken, sweet potato, baby corn and pak choi topped with toasted peanut, crispy onion and thai herbs.
At first glance this appears meager but when you add the sides it soon bulks out to a decent sized main course.
For the chicken, you decant into a saucepan and pop it in the over for 20 minutes until the skin crisps and its well cooked. Sauce and vegetables are heated as well as sides, then you’re ready to rock the Thai street food market.
The chicken was succulent and tender and I managed to crisp the skin up well. I served the sauce on the side as it was a wee bit thin but had a nice heat to it.
SIDES - CRISPY PORK PAD THAI with prik nam pla dressing, mooli and rice noodles and
JASMINE RICE with lemon grass, lime leaf, green chilli and coriander.
Both sides were seriously tasty. I could have easily have hoarded the pad thai to myself. The flavours were vibrant and fresh. The rice was light and fluffy with a good amount of zing and heat.
DESSERT - CARDAMOM AND TOASTED COCONUT RICE PUDDING with salted bean curd caramel and exotic fruit compote.
This dish torn me in half. The cardamom rice pudding I could have eaten a bucket load of but I didn’t enjoy the strands of coconut as they were chewy. I love coconut in anything but on this occasion, I think I would rather have my coconut finely shredded. The salted bean curd caramel is sensational but it doesn’t go well with the rice pudding, overpowering the delicate gorgeous tastes of the cardamom. However, the fruit compote compliments the rice pudding extremely well; so skip the caramel (eat this on its own later) and spoon the compote over the top of your rice pudding.
CHEESE COURSE - Landana cheese with pineapple and nigella chutney and water crackers.
The cheese is strong and well matured. The chutney was a lovely addition but found that I needed grapes to add a little sweetness to the cheese course.
The bottle of Le Sentier Blanc Wine went down a treat. You can see why they chose if for this food experience. It’s zingy, tropical and you’ll pick up basil leaves, lemons, limes and pineapple. Quite dry but quaffable and with each course it picks up on the fruity flavours.
Home by Nico is by far one of the best At Home boxes out there. Super simple to follow cooking instructions, very little washing up to do, the flavours and textures are lovely and bring some Thai food into the heart of your home. A vegetarian option is also available.
This box costs £60 for two including wine and is a great value for money. If At Home boxes is your thing, then you will most definitely want to try this one out.
Home by Nico, Nationwide Delivery ordered from Home-X. www.home-x.com/pages/home-by-nico
My Spoon Award : Gold Spoon 9/10
As a Home-X brand ambassador, I have been gifted this box. The review and contents are all my own