When browsing Finish & Feast’s website I noticed they were now offering a “South Pacific BBQ Feast” by Mat Blak.  I hadn’t heard of Mat Blak but the menu looked very interesting, so I ordered the make-away box for just £60 plus £6 delivery.  The box arrived on schedule on 14th May ’21, with everything neatly packed into paper bags for each course, and a booklet of information and heating/plating guidelines.  That’s when I noticed a great deal of mystery and confusion around the nomenclature used.  The booklet was headed “KAI by Mat Blak”.  Google told me tat Kai is a Hawaiian word for ‘ocean’. Then I learned that the Kiwi chef behind this box is called Matt Burgess; so who is Mat Blak?!  And the box had been renamed “Smoke and BBQ Feast”, wisely, because the meal elements originated in Malaysia, and Thailand, which are not in the South Pacific!

There wasn’t a starter course, so my first task in preparing the main event was to boil a sealed bag of half a smoked chicken in a pan for 30 minutes. We removed the skin because the information book said it might have too much smoke for some palates, and because it wasn’t crispy. Then Mr A shredded it in the same way one might shred crispy duck.  Some fire-cooked broccoli was reheated in the oven for 15 minutes before being covered in “ketjap manis” a Malay sweet soy sauce.  Also in the oven, but for 10 minutes, was a coconut roti. Ten minutes was too long, because the roti ended up hard and crisp and I couldn’t taste its coconut, but there was a coconut relish to dip it into.  Another cold side dish was some pickled dill in mustard seeds, to refresh the palate between mouthfuls. These were very good.

There was a green lime curry to reheat in a pan. I couldn’t detect the lime element, but this was like a Thai vegetable curry, with French beans and cherry tomatoes. It packed a reasonable chilli punch, so when I added half of my shredded chicken to it I had a very tasty Thai chicken curry!

This course of food was very enjoyable and filling. The chicken had the perfect level of smokiness, it was tender and moist, the sticky rice and broccoli were delicious, and the green curry was very well balanced between sweet/spicy/aromatic.  10/10

For dessert the only reheating required was to warm up a salted caramel sauce. This was then added onto a slice of fudge brownie and a caramelised white chocolate crumb was scattered on top. The white chocolate crumb also contained a fair bit of salt (too much).  But this was a very tasty dessert: the brownie was ‘perfect’ – smooth and rich, a fine blend of chewy and gooey!  9/10

Mr A and I were very satisfied with this make-away box. With just two high scoring courses, I adjusted scores to reflect that it was just 2 courses, and came up with an overall score of 9/10.  But I wish they would sort out the nomenclature!