RESTUARANT REVIEW: Coco Catering, Sharrow
Stressed-out cooks can call on a Sheffield couple who have turned their kitchen into a cottage industry.
SO… the cake is iced, the bird is stuffed and you've spent the last six hours up to the elbows in mincemeat, flour and mulling spice.
The house is sparkling with festive cheer, ready for the annual invasion of aunts and in-laws, and you're ready to drop. In fact the last thing you feel like doing is heading back to the kitchen to rustle up a hasty supper.
But, in traditional pantomime style, there's a happy ending to this seasonal story – thanks to fairy godmother Blanche Duggleby and her partner Richard Spataro.
For a small fee they will wave their magic wand and conjure up a home-cooked feast guaranteed to get festivities off to a flying start.
In the guise of Coco Catering, they are offering a service that could be the best present of the year for stressed-out cooks in households the length and breadth of Sheffield. And not just at Christmas.
The pair have turned the kitchen of their Sharrow home into a cottage industry, producing mouthwatering delights for every occasion. At one end of the scale are weddings and corporate events, at the other are dinner parties and family meals for hard-pressed housewives.
Blanche and Richard met at Liverpool University, where she was studying marketing and he was embarking on a career as an architect. But Richard had always been a keen cook and midway through his course he realised he had taken the wrong direction.
On graduating the couple moved back to Sheffield and set up their own catering company.
"We had to learn through trial and error but we've never had a complaint and we've always had really good feedback," says Blanche.
A year on, Coco Catering has established a reputation for good food and reliable service, specialising in British and Italian cuisine made from fresh, seasonal ingredients. Prices range from 5 to 20 per person.
Word has spread and demand has grown to such an extent that both Blanche and Richard now work full time for the business. And they are constantly looking for ways of extending their offer.
Recent jobs have included packed lunches for 600 university students, a wedding buffet and barbecue for 200 and business lunch for six. One bride wanted a Yorkshire produce menu, another wanted a Swiss theme: in both cases the couple were happy to oblige.
They pride themselves on providing exactly what the customer wants, no matter how unusual the request, although a range of suggested menus is available. They will deliver the order ready to reheat or lay on chefs and waiters to run the entire event in your own home or office.
They also offer a frozen meal home delivery service, available in individual portions for those who cannot, or will not, cook, or family portions for busy working parents.
In fact Blanche and Richard are happy to help with just about any catering conundrum their customers serve up. Want to host a dinner party but lack the time (or the skill)? Coco Catering has the answer – which is where we came in.
We decide to put their service to the test with a cosy candlelit dinner for two, chez nous.
The website lists a dinner party option, with a choice of two set menus for each season, designed for groups of ten or more. There are just the two of us so we go for the home delivery service, with a choice of eight starters, ten main courses and 13 desserts.
Starters are 3 (9 for a family-size serving of four portions), main courses 5 (14 for four) and desserts 10 for an entire tart, cheesecake or gateau. Vegetarian and gluten-free dishes are included and the menu is the kind of thing you'd expect to find in a decent wine bar or bistro.
We call to place our order and Blanche arranges to drop it off the following Monday afternoon. The bags duly arrive, at 3pm as promised, bulging with carefully-packed boxes and tubs, complete with heating instructions.
We don't have a microwave but we set the table, light the candles and crack open a bottle of decent red while the gas hob does its work and in a matter of minutes dinner is ready to serve.
Roasted butternut squash soup (topped with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, as instructed) is beautifully thick and velvety smooth – more like pure than broth. The flavour is fresh and sweet, with an agreeable citrus tang. It definitely has the home-made touch – and no-one would guess I'd done no more than reheat it.
Blanche had recommended the aubergine rolls with pecorino and tomato sauce but my beloved is a hot-blooded carnivore and this is supposed to be a romantic meal, so we'd opted for Italian beef stew.
It is sensational. Beautifully tender chunks of steak, cooked long and slow with carrots, celery, potato, tomato, onion, herbs and rich gravy.
We hadn't eaten the crusty granary rolls with our soup, so we tear into them with the main course. My beloved's sole complaint is about the rock-hard butter – my only contribution to the meal. So much for romance!
Finally there are Granny Smith apple turnovers: a whisper of pastry, crisp and light, folded over a deliciously moist apple filling and dusted with icing sugar.
It's a delightful meal. The only thing left to do is shove the plates in the dishwasher and put the coffee on; and the total cost is a bargain 13 each. It also means I don't have to hide my notebook under my napkin – and neither of us has to drive home afterwards!
Verdict: The lazy host's dream dinner party, the gourmet answer to meals-on-wheels, or just a good excuse for a cook's night off
Available: Deliveries throughout the Sheffield, north Derbyshire and Peak District area, by arrangement.
Coco Catering, Sharrow, Sheffield (0114) 258 4983 or 07505 648 160; email enquiries@cococatering.org.uk or visit www.cococatering.org.uk
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Weather for Sheffield
Wednesday 23 May 2012
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