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A Sublime Pasta Experience at Home – Allta Box Review

I have tried a good selection of the dine at home boxes on the market but Alltabox was one that was recommended to me on numerous occasions. Allta is a relatively new restaurant nestled on Setanta Place. The dine at home box costs €80 for two people with a bottle of wine. Vegetarian option is available at the same price.

First out of the gate is how cool the restaurant is. I can’t wait to try it out when things open back up. The boxes are very, very well branded and you feel like a lord carrying it out of the restaurant. 

Before we started, we had nibbles. They were delicious. A beautiful wild garlic sourdough and miso butter, to whet the appetite. Then came a lovely fennel salami with McNally farm leaves, smoked buttermilk dressing with pickled fennel. A really light, tasty set of nibbles. The entire meal is colour coded so you can easily find what belongs with each course and the instructions are really detailed which means no one, not even me can mess it up! 

Next up was the starter, gnocchi, soubise and mushrooms. I had to colour the gnocchi and the mushrooms in the pan, and then add to the oven to heat. The broccoli was blanched and the most delicious soubise (I didn’t know what that was before) served with some hazelnut miso dressing and pickled mushrooms. A bit of work, but a very tasty starter.

We weren’t too full from the starter, so cracked on with the main. The main was a smoked chicken casarecce (long thin pasta with a roll in the middle) with the most delicious homemade pasta and a chicken sauce to die for. Like, sublime. The chicken breadcrumbs were a super addition and something I will definitely be trying to recreate myself. There were a few pots and pans going for this course but again instructions were easy to follow. I thought there could have been more chicken provided but I was full after this so it was definitely a case of eyes bigger than belly. 

The dessert we kept as a treat for the following day. It was a sheep’s milk and blood orange panna cotta with fennel granita. I am a huge panna cotta fan and this did not disappoint. Light in texture, not too sweet and very tasty. The fennel granita was a lovely fresh addition to the dish. This was so simple to plate, and really would have rounded off the meal had we eaten it on the day. 

Overall I thought this was an excellent box of food. It really felt like I was eating out. I would highly recommend it. From presentation to the experience in the restaurant, to how it tasted on the plate. A little more work than a standard meal box, but still very good. Ordering opens on a Monday and I would get in early though, as it took me a few weeks to finally nab one as it sells out very quickly. Overall 8/10.

WRITTEN BY BRIAN BENNETT

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