Eating Out with the Phoenician Trader: Marks and Spencer
Created | Updated Jun 20, 2011
Marks and Spencers, Dine in for 2 for £10.
My work life is busy. Walking down Threadneedle St and watching the hoards descending to gaping holes punctured in the earth around Bank Station at 7 or 8pm at night, makes me realise that I am nothing special in this regard.
Actually I am special, because I live close enough to where I work that I am one of the very, very few Londoners that does not have to destroy their love of life by using the tube or one of the commuter services. I get to walk home in the fresh air. However, many nights I still get home very late.
One modern feature of London is the proliferation of the Marks and Spencer Simply Food convenience store. There is one at every major train terminus and at a great number of central tube stations. They sell fresh, fully prepared main courses, chopped veggies in bags, bowls of things in sauces, packets of this and that ready for the oven and, very importantly, desserts portioned up and ready for eating. There are ranges of wine to suit every impulse purchase budget. Very frequently sets of these things are bundled together into a 'Dine in For £10 for 2' special deal where you get a main, side, dessert and a bottle of wine for £10. The food is all cooked at home in the metal trays in which it is bought.
For research purposes only, I have experimented with these deals.
The mains vary but for the evening in question my glamorous dining companion and I chose chicken breasts in a salsa sauce, mixed roasted vegetables and an apple pie, keeping with an oven theme. Our resources at home extended to a good range of vegetables including carrot, courgette, pumpkin, cauliflower and broccoli.
On arrival at our dining destination one of us took coats and hung them up while the other dived into the kitchen turned on the oven, put water into the steamer and read the heating instructions and calculated the countdown as to when things should be put into the oven. After the first thing's in, next is quickly to prepare all of the steaming veggies from the home collection (dishes used limited to a knife, a chopping board and the steamer). Once that's done it's chef's turn to go and get changed and generally transform from tired office bunny into fine diner.
Within half an hour the silverware is on the table, the crystal wine glasses set, the candles are lit and our letter box's contents opened and (largely) filed or binned. Cooking effort is remarkably easy with a few tops and tails from the veggies (now in the bin) and the recycling box a little fuller (Marks and Spencer are very good about recyclable packaging). No effort apart from the first five minutes has been required except pulling the cork from the wine. Black tie is a realistic option for the evening dress code – cooking is very clean.
After laying the food on the plates while the other refills wine, both my dining companion and I get to clink glasses and sample the food. The chicken is beautifully cooked and the spicy salsa adds piquancy without overwhelming the flavours. Some of the roasted veggies are a little overcooked but others are fine – we suspect the kitchen is unaware that not all things cook at the same speed and thus that the one tray method may not be ideal. The steamed veggies are wonderful, leading us to believe that chef follows the 8min/5min rule for hard (carrots, cauliflower) and soft vegetables (greens) in the steamer.
Conversation is easy as the venue is quiet without too much noise from other diners. The space also feels familiar which reduces the sense of formality that can kill free speech in other venues. The wine, although pretty rough, is quite slurpable and value for money. Fortunately the kitchen staff keep it stashed in the fridge between refilling the diners' glasses which keeps it cold and takes the corners off it.
The dessert is a highlight. The pie is hot and the pastry very light and crisp. The apples are quite sour and retain their texture so that the whole has a really nice mouth feel – unlike some apple pies that are mush cooked in a bright yellow floury crust. The wine's roughness comes into its own, not being at all overpowered by the food.
At the end of dinner, cleaning up is quick with only the plates and cutlery we used plus the board, chopping knife and steamer. We wash the throw away baking trays because we believe we should. There is half a pie left over meaning somebody has a treat for the following days' work lunches.
Getting There: Take the restaurant food to the home.
Who should eat there: Who ever eats at your place normally.
Dining Style As posh as you make it or in front of the telly.
Price: £5 each with plonk.
Quality: Not bad.
Would I go Back: Unfortunately sometimes you have to.
