Peter Hayward Puts Daniel Hulme’s One Fine Dine to the Taste Test

Daniel Hulme’s One Fine Dine service was created to allow homes and boardrooms across the country to experience fine dining in the comfort of their own surroundings. Peter Hayward, puts his home-schooled food preparation skills to the test with one of Daniel’s expertly curated meal kits.

In the ten years to 2020, Daniel Hulme’s company On Air Dining had risen to become the leader of executive and private jet in-flight haute-cuisine. But then Covid came on the scene and kick-started a new idea for absolutely anyone to prepare the finest restaurant menus simply in their own home.

Daniel had been looking to expand for three or four years and came up with the idea of using his company’s expertise in preparing top quality meals for the air industry to launch into the home market.

He told me, “I knew lockdown was coming because of what was happening in Spain, where I live for part of the year.”

“I was sure our products would make fine dining at home a new and easy experience because the customer doesn’t have to do any cooking. Everything is pre-prepared ready for heating and plating.”

He went on to explain that the system he had developed for private jets allowed flight attendants with little training to recreate dishes to the same standards as a chef even in a tiny aircraft kitchen.

“That’s what makes us different from everyone else in the market. We’ve been doing it for ten years, and we’re the market leader in aircraft food because when I put our meals on the market, there was no-one else out there.

What I learned over those ten years, refining and perfecting has enabled me to scale up to fine dining at home very quickly.

Anyone can do it. And with our preparation and detailed instructions, they can present dishes to the very highest restaurant standard.”

One Fine Dine has already found a ready gap in the market, and Daniel said it was doing so well that he now needed to take on another 12 employees to keep up with demand.

Basically then, One Fine Dine provides a chilled kit of parts to be assembled at home. Putting it together should be fun – and very easy – with no cooking involved, simply heating where necessary and arranging the plates.

Now, I have written before of my minuscule culinary knowledge, which is occasionally called upon for scrambled eggs or biscuits and cheese, or even fish and chips a la Tesco.

So surely, I was the ideal candidate to try one of One Fine Dine’s large mother’s day boxes.

It sounded and looked divine, with an amuse-bouche, starters, main and desserts accompanied by a lovely Spanish Bardos tempranillo.

And to my amazement, it worked!! While my fumbled and butterfingered attempts at plating up were occasionally rather unlike the photos provided with each dish, One Fine Dine’s heating instructions were excellent, and with a weather eye on the clock and/or timer, one course followed another in perfect order.

The amuse bouche was a delicious goat’s cheese fondant with beetroot ketchup and green grape halves, and we had chosen two different starters – Scottish Balik smoked salmon and duck and chicken liver parfait.

The lightly smoked salmon was served with a little Oscietra caviar, compressed apple, creme fraiche and panna cotta, which produced the most marvellous meld of flavours and was a favourite with my wife and me.

But the parfait was also delicious, served with redcurrant gel, pickled cucumber slices, shallots and crisp flatbread.

Now we come to the main – a succulent stuffed saddle of Lake District lamb to be shared between two.

The heating instructions, resting time etc., were all very clear, and it tasted divine. It was served with rosemary, red wine jus, butter braised Hispi cabbage, steamed Jersey Royal potatoes, and roasted baby vegetables. What a feast for the senses!

Finally came the finale – a dessert of either a marvellously light orange and honey steamed sponge with thyme crumble and custard or a citrus tart with raspberry puree and fresh raspberries.

Every One Fine Dine course tasted wonderful, and the instructions were logical and sensibly laid out, with photos to help – and there are even videos available online. Also, we are all trying to do our best to be green, and almost all the containers used for the various parts of the meal are recyclable.

One Fine Dine has found a niche that many will envy, and if you would like to experience the true restaurant experience at home, I’d thoroughly recommend giving it a try.

Daniel Hulme and One Fine Dine – Where and how?

Heat, Plate, And Serve Like A MasterChef is Daniel Hulme’s and One Fine Dine’s mantra, and as you can see from the words above, Peter Hayward, a self-professed beginner in the kitchen, was able to do just that.

For a full list of One Fine Dine’s available options and to place an order, visit their website www.onefinedine.com.

Read more at-home meal kit reviews by Peter Hayward along with news and culinary guides here.