The thing I miss most about restaurants is that kid-at-Christmas-style moment. For those of us who live to eat and love food as much as they love their families, certain restaurant dishes induce a child-like excitement that isn’t quite the same when you’re eating your tried-and-tested bolognese recipe at home. Not that that isn’t a joyous moment in itself, but I believe one of the reasons we eat out is to experience those dishes we feel we would struggle to recreate at home. The ones that took the chefs years to perfect, perhaps still take three days to properly prepare, and those that require experience and skill to arrive at a table at the right temperature, looking beautiful and tasting delicious. 

Our restaurant industry is doing incredible things in this time of confusion and uncertainty brought on by the COVID-19 global pandemic. So many have pivoted their businesses to bring us the food we love at home, changing eating out to eating in to make lockdown and isolation feel slightly less mundane. Many offer takeaways in the traditional sense, with food arriving hot and ready to eat, but a few have come out with a ‘finish at home’ option that aims to involve you in creating restaurant-style food in your own kitchen.

Daunting? Yes, perhaps. And when Merivale at Home launched their menus last week, I confidently selected from Dan Hong’s infamous Mr. Wong. In the few days I waited for delivery, ordering Monday for delivery Thursday, I questioned my decision a number of times; the reason I love eating at Mr. Wong is because those are the dishes I don’t believe I could adequately replicate without a lot of practice. And, being someone who – in normal circumstances – eats out a lot, that practice would take time I never felt I could dedicate. Especially when I could just visit the restaurant, enjoy a vibrant atmosphere with friends, wonderful service and – you guessed it – no washing up (anyone else totally sick of washing up now?).

But alas, I was excited at the prospect of indulging in those Cantonese-style flavours I have so been craving, so when the delivery arrived I approached it with gusto. And with gusto I mean the first thing I did was crack open the Jasper Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley and pour a glass – for Dutch courage, of course.

The food arrives in a large box, all very clearly labelled. The recipes are online so I set up my laptop in the kitchen and got to work. The dishes are designed to prepare in a specific order, serving the entree first, followed by mains. The entree of king prawn wontons in supreme broth gave me a confidence boost – I simply had to boil the wontons for a few minutes and heat the broth, then serve together with a little sliced green shallot and coriander (also provided). While I have made wontons before, the supreme broth was full of flavour that I imagine takes more work behind-the-scenes than the minute or so it took for me to heat it up. Dish one, a success. I congratulate myself with another splash of wine.

Next up, special fried rice, kung pao chicken, snow peas and broccoli with garlic and rice wine and steamed barramundi fillets with white soy, ginger and shallots. Wow, I think, that’s a lot of things happening at the same time. I wish for a sous chef and a much bigger kitchen.

Being the self-aware kind of person I am, I decide I’m probably not going to achieve all four dishes at once, so I split the main course and set upon the fried rice and chicken. The fried rice is a simple reheat (if you have a microwave, this would help you to achieve the full main course at once – only since lockdown have I wished for a microwave), adding some spring onion at the end. The kung pao chicken – a favourite of mine – is a case of caramelising the chicken then adding garlic, seasoning sauce, spring onion and crispy chilli oil with peanuts. I really don’t want to mess this up – shallow breathing as I add in the components – but the chicken takes on this beautiful golden colour and my apartment fills with an aromatic fragrance and I begin to feel confident again. And I was right to – the chicken was a stand-out and so easy to prepare. It tasted just like a dish you’d expect to see plated up for you at Mr. Wong (the presentation at home needs work, I confess).

I don’t want to get cocky so I re-read the instructions for the steamed barramundi and the veg about 15 times before I take a deep breath and steam (iso puns are necessary) ahead. I also – naturally – pour another wine. This wine is perfect with the food and can be bought alongside it with the Mr. Wong beverage pack – the aforementioned sauv blanc, a Mac & The Somms Pinot Noir, and two Tsingtao beers for $65.

Back to the food. The snow peas and broccoli get a quick boil, then return to the pan to stir-fry once you’ve sauteed some garlic with the prepared vegetable sauce – too easy for even me to find challenging. The barramundi fillets go into the supplied steamer basket over simmering water for just five minutes, then you heat up the white soy dressing with ginger oil and pour over. Garnish with spring onion and coriander, and you’re done.

The barramundi dish is so beautifully light and fragrant, and the vegetables crisp and flavoursome. And that was so much easier than I thought that if I did it again, I would indeed approach cooking all four main dishes together. Even so, I just served a three-course meal that – presentation aside – was worthy of Mr. Wong, even though the decor and music at mine was perhaps slightly more questionable.

I do notice I have a tub of dried chilli with Sichuan pepper left over, and on checking the recipe I think it’s been forgotten. However, with the recipes living online this is easily updated and I am sure they will find their rightful place (in the kung pao chicken, I expect). Apart from this, the instructions are incredibly easy to follow with useful tips on appearance to know you’re on the right track, slicing techniques and even maximising the use of one pan over many.

I change into my loungewear (read: sweatpants) and find my place on the couch to eat dessert – such are the benefits of a meal at home. The chocolate mousse is rich and decadent, and the crisp crumb is the perfect foil for the creamy mousse.

I have loved embracing home cooking during this time (and with the incredible recipes on this site it has been a complete joy to do so), but a restaurant-quality meal of this standard was just what the doctor ordered. If you’re in need of a treat and fancy creating your own Mr. Wong pop-up at home, you need not be daunted – this is the way to do it.

Mr. Wong at Home is $95 to serve two and can be ordered at merivaleathome.com along with menus from Bert’s Bar & Brasserie, Totti’s, Fred’s and Vinnie’s Pizza, plus a number of drinks packages. 

Related: Merivale at Home brings Totti’s, Bert’s, Fred’s, Vinnie’s and Mr Wong to your table