I’ll begin with a little background: I’ve enjoyed Tom Aikens’ food for several years, but I haven’t been impressed by the three make-away boxes ordered during the pandemic (with scores ranging from just 3 to 6.5).  So you might be surprised that I ordered another of Tom’s make-away boxes, for delivery on 30th April ’21, through the Finish & Feast website. I was attracted to this box because it featured Beef Wellington; something Mr A and I have seen on TV, but we’ve never seen it on a restaurant menu. Beef Wellington is a symbol of 20th Century British cuisine, which Mr A was keen to sample, but it seems to be confined to the history books nowadays, so I took this chance to buy/make/eat it.  This special Beef Wellington box didn’t include bread, canapés, or a starter, which helped its price point to below the usual Tom Aikens boxes, at £90, though this is still higher than some other boxes which do have more courses.

The Wellington was placed in the oven for 11 minutes, turned and given another 11 minutes, before resting for 10 minutes.  Slices of butternut squash and onion were pan fried and then (very fresh) spinach wilted into them, and a walnut dressing was added.  On the plate, parmesan shavings were added to these vegetables, which sat next to the carved Wellington.  A red wine sauce finished things off.

The beef was very lean, but it didn’t have much flavour and was a touch chewy. The pastry was pretty good, but would have been improved with a little longer in the oven, but that would have overcooked the meat. I thought the Wellington need more mushroom duxelles around it.  I liked the vegetables and the sauce was probably the best part of the dish. 8.5/10

Our Cacao, carob and hazelnut tart dessert didn’t need to be reheated, just assembled.  I piped coconut and cardamon cream, white chocolate and pumpkin ganache, and pumpkin mousse into the chocolate pastry tart, and decorated it with cacao nibs and toasted coconut shards.

This dessert looked very good; pretty and sophisticated. It wasn’t too sweet, but I would have liked more acidity, and I thought the tart pastry could have been thinner and crispier. But overall it was a pleasant dessert. 8/10

Overall this make-away was very easy to finish and serve. Flavours were good and portions adequate.  But the Wellington didn’t overwhelm us. 8/10