Prepared Meal Services: Shef

The tastiest ready-to-heat meal service I’ve found so far.

Updated in September, 2024. Scroll down for a review of my local shefs and dishes.

If you are on Facebook, chances are that you’ve seen ads for Shef*. It’s a ready-to-heat meal delivery system, where the catch is that the meals are individually made by home cooks in their own homes, rather than in large industrial facilities. That can have both pros and cons, but it’s quickly become my favorite of the ready-to-heat meal services (I’ve also tried Locale, CookUnity, Thistle and Freshly) .

How it works

Shef allows you to order meals individually or subscribe to a weekly service. Their website, however, is very clunky – though they are improving it. In order to use it, you need to enter your zip code. You are them prompted to create your personal profile by choosing the type of cuisines you prefer (I recommend you select “all cuisines”) and how many meals you want to get a week (between 3 and 10). You then choose your delivery date, at which point you can create an account or (now) browse the offerings available for that date from shefs in your area. You can then select as many meals as you signed up for, from as many shefs (home cooks) as you want. The website allows you to look at the profile of each shef, including a photo and some biographical information. After you choose your meals you are prompted to select side dishes, limited to rice and Indian breads (at least for me).

You can also order meals without subscribing to a weekly plan, which each meal priced independently.

Cost

Meals cost around $10-11 per meal, depending on how many you order. Side dishes – rice or Indian breads – are $3. There is also a shipping fee which seems to average $7-8. A typical order of 8 meals and 1 side is about $93, or about $11.50 per meal. That is equivalent to what Locale charges and what the regular discounted price of meals at CookUnity are. They also prompt you for a tip.

Packaging & Delivery

One of the things I love about Shef is that the food is delivered in reusable cold bags with frozen water bottles instead of freezer packs – I always end up throwing away the latter in the garbage as disposing of them is such a pain. As far as I can tell, the bottles are sealed so you can drink them. Dishes do come in plastic containers (the same type used for take out food), though one of my shefs uses compostable containers (but plastic lids). Of all the services I’ve used, I’d say this is the greenest one.

You will get e-mails and texts the day your order will be delivered mentioning the time period (something like 3 hours) where the meals will arrive. So far, all of mine have arrived within the promised time.

Type of food available

Shefs are local to you, and what they offer will thus depend on where you live – and also, for which day you schedule your delivery. Below, you can see my reviews of the shefs and dishes that were available to me in San Leandro – a small city in the San Francisco East Bay. Shef has made a particular effort to recruit immigrant cooks – and originally, immigrant women cooks, thus the name . They have been particularly successful with Indian and other Asian cooks. If you love Indian and/or Asian cuisine, Shef is definitely the service for you. If you don’t, this is your opportunity to learn to love it. There are a few other cuisines represented, though not many, at least in my area.

How long the food keeps

While dishes from other subscription services are cooked in commercial kitchens and professionally packaged, the ones from Shef are cooked in home kitchens and cooled down in home refrigerators. This means you should treat them as leftovers and consume them within 2-3 days at most. I have frozen dishes I wasn’t going to consume in time in the containers they came in – just popped them in the freezer – with no issues whatsoever, however. I just defrosted them before microwaving them.

Making changes & cancelling

Unfortunately, once you subscribe, Shef does not offer you much flexibility for subsequent orders. You can change what dishes you will get in subsequent weeks and you can skip a delivery, but that’s about it. If you want to change the delivery day (e.g. from a Monday to a Wednesday), the number of dishes you order or even the number of side dishes you want for the week, you have to cancel your subscription and then re-subscribe. Fortunately, cancelling and re-subscribing is painless. Shef saves all your information so you don’t have to re-enter it. I’ve now done it multiple times – practically very week, really, as my needs change from week to week.

Problems and Customer Service

Shef’s main issue is its very clunky website, which makes it hard to search for what shefs are available on which days without having to re-enter all your preferences, and makes it impossible to make changes to your subscription. But I’ve also had some other annoying problems.

I’ve had a few orders had missing meals, though this hasn’t happened for a while. I contacted customer service and they said they’d give me a refund. They did the first time, but not the second time so you need to keep track of whether they do in your credit card statement.

Twice, one of my meals had a missing item – and a key one. Customer service gave me a discount code for a future purchase, but those don’t work for subscriptions, so they are sort of useless. In a couple of occasions, a meal wasn’t properly sealed – while the food didn’t spill, I’m concerned about contamination.

More problematically, one week I was charged five times for my order – Shef has indicated they are refunding the duplicate charges, but if I was operating close to my credit card limit having an extra $400 charge would have been quite problematic.

Another issue is that Shef seems to have an issue keeping home cooks. Five or six of the shefs I ordered from, including the one non-vegetarian Ethiopian shef they had locally, whose food is amazing, are no longer working for them.

Reviews

The Shef website now allows you to review individual dishes. Before, you could only review your whole order at once. I wouldn’t trust the scores for each dish, but I’d read the reviews to think what people thought of them.

The following are my reviews of most of the dishes we’ve had from Shef so far. They are organized by the shef who makes them. I’ve boldened the names of active shefs whose dishes we’ve liked.

Shef AEJUNG S. – Korean

This shef doesn’t seem to be listed anymore.

Bulgogi Korean Ribeye Beef With Rice

I was very disappointed on this dish. I love bulgogi. I make bulgogi frequently (at least, when I’m cooking). It’s a pain to cut the meat (though you can buy shaved beef, and this is clearly what Shef Aejung has done), but it’s otherwise not too laborious to make. You let it marinade and can pan fry it as you go – or just cook it all at once and then reheat it. But the secret, the basis of bulgogi is the marinade – and this marinade just wasn’t there. The beef barely had any flavor. It also had barely any veggies – some shredded carrots but maybe a couple of onion strips. It wouldn’t take much to improve things, as either the marinade he used was flavorless or, more likely, they were not marinated for very long. The portion had a fair amount of meat and it came with white rice, but without any sauce, there was little point to it. I wouldn’t order it again and neither should you – just your make your own bulgogi or buy the amazing frozen bulgogi at Trader Joe’s.

Shef AMIT R. – Indian · Himalayan · Indo-Chinese · Southeast Asian · North Indian · Chinese ✔

Shef Amit provides a great introduction to Himalayan/Pahadi food. Most of what we’ve had has been delicious.

Pahadi Chicken Curry ✔

This was a nice curry. It tasted like your regular Indian curry – made from spices, not curry powder. It didn’t have any sweet notes, so given a choice, I’d go for a korma or a tikka masala (or a pasanda!). But as far as regular curries goes, this is a good as you can get in a restaurant. It was very mildly spiced.

Pahadi Fried Chicken ✔

My husband loved this dish and would “absolutely” want it again. I had a couple of piece and thought it was nice, the chicken was extremely moist and soft. The flavor was unusual, with some hints of sweetness and of peanuts (!), and some spiciness. I think it could become addictive.

One problem: the container wasn’t fully sealed and it leaked a little bit in the bag and over the other containers. Just in case, it was the first dish we heated.

Pahadi Fried Chicken Momo ✔

These were delicious. The filling of the momos was fragrant, with strong notes of cumin. The dumpling dough was on point, moist and chewy. I wasn’t a super fan of the sauce they came with, but it wasn’t needed.

Pahadi Grilled Chicken

This dish was OK, though we wouldn’t order it again. The chicken itself felt like was marinated in a wet, ground masala. It came with a sauce which was rather good, but there wasn’t enough of it.

Shef ANAND A. – Indian · Tandoori · BBQ · Clean · Low Carb · Low Sodium · Contemporary

Mutton Rogan Josh (Goat Curry)

I think this was a good curry. I say I think because it was so spicy that I couldn’t really taste it. My tongue and lips were burning too much to taste anything at all. Underneath the burn, I think the flavors were good and balanced. The meat was quite tender. And I did manage to eat the small amount I had served myself. But clearly, this is not for me. It was advertised as being non-spicy, btw (and rogan josh doesn’t need to be), which makes me reluctant to order anything else from this shef. My husband didn’t find it as spicy and he liked it, except for the bones.

Shef ANU S. – Punjabi · North Indian

Butter Chicken ✔

Shef Anu’s butter chicken curry was all you want it to be: perfectly balanced, only slightly spicy, brimming with umami and absolutely delicious. It’s definitely restaurant quality. The chicken itself, however, left much to be desired. It was a little bit tough, a bit under-seasoned, and mostly it tasted like it had been cooked by itself, shredded, and only then incorporated into the curry. I understand that can be a time saving method, but it really fails here. Still, the curry was sooooo good, that I imagine I’ll order it again.

Shef AYSHA S. – Indian · Kerala · South Indian · Halal

Kerala Style Chicken Stew ✔

My husband found this pretty tasty, but once again he disliked that the it consisted of chopped up bone-in chicken, which forces you to pick up the small pieces and eat them with your hands. The sauce was tasty and not at all spicy. He’d probably have this again.

Shef BALIHAR S. – North Indian · Punjabi ✔

We’ve gotten three dishes from this shef so far and they all showed a very sophisticated use of whole spices in his cooking. He is now one of my favorite shefs.

Butter Chicken (Boneless) ✔

This butter chicken was a bit different from others, but still very yummy. It was on the spicy side, and mostly lacked sweetness, but the spices, tasted fresh and were very forward. It felt like a mixture between a butter chicken and a chicken curry, but very well balanced. My one complaint was that the chicken cubes were dry. The bowl was enough as a meal without rice, but could have been extended with it. My husband would definitely want it again.

Punjabi Style Kadai Chicken ✔

This is the third winner from shef Balihar S. This was a rich, complex, deep, wonderful curry. It was perfectly seasoned, and had achieved that perfect umami state that you so much want from a curry. The small pieces of bone-in chicken were a pain to eat, but it was worth it. And this is another curry in which you can taste Kadai’s mastery of cooking with fresh spices. It’s definitely restaurant quality. The curry was so thick that it does not need rice.

Tari Wala Chicken

I haven’t had this Punjabi chicken curry before, so I can’t make any comparisons, but it tastes like a pretty generic Indian curry. It’s clearly made with whole spices, rather than garam masala or another such mix, and I appreciated the balance and fresh flavor of the sauce. I’m less fond of the bone-in chicken. It was on the lower side of medium spicy, which meant that it had some heat but I could deal with it. Still, I wouldn’t order it again, simply because I prefer sweeter, creamier curries. But this one is perfectly well made.

Shef D C. – Mediterranean · Italian · American · Comfort · Baked Goods · Vegetarian · Irish ✔ ✔

This is an awesome shef who understands his craft, I just wish he would expand his repertoire.

Beef Osso Buco ✔

Another winner from Shef D C. The osso buco meat was extremely tender and the dish was very flavorful. It was, perhaps, too intense, but I had frozen it previously and was heating it up from a semi-frozen stage and overheated it a bit. The sauce really needs a starch to absorb it, so plan on eating this with something.

Chicken Cacciatora ✔

This chicken cacciatora tasted exactly what you expect chicken cacciatora to taste. It came with both a chicken thigh and a leg, but I was still a bit hungry after eating these and needed something to soak up the sauce – I heated up some frozen naan and it worked well. I was afraid the chicken would be dry – often the case with chicken stews – but this one was pretty moist. It needed some extra seasoning, but it brightened up after I added salt. All in all, it was what I expected and I enjoyed it. I’d have it again.

Irish Guinness Beef Stew ✔

This was a good, basic beef stew. Not as good as a tomato based stew, but that’s not the chef’s fault. The meat was tender but a little chalky (typical for beef stews). I’d order it again.

Pollo Al Ajillo – Spanish Garlic Chicken ✔✔

This was a delicious, homey dish. It consisted of three drumsticks, deliciously garlicy, in what I think was a sauce that was thickened with flour, giving it a smooth texture. Not that there is much of a sauce, but whatever remains from it. I ordered it again and enjoyed it just as much.

Shef ERENDIRA E R. – Mediterranean · Californian · Italian ✔

This shef mostly serves pastas, including handmade ones. Her food is very good and authentic.

Almond Pesto With Fresh Garganelli Pasta

My daughter had this dish and she liked it overall, the pasa was well cooked and the almost pesto was very tasty. However, there was an overwhelming amount of peas – more than shown in this photo. None of us are huge fans of peas, so we probably wouldn’t get this again. Great pesto, though.

Baked Penne

My daughter wasn’t a great fan of this dish, again because it had corn and peas. They were less abundant than in other of Erendira’s dishes, but she wouldn’t want it again.

Bolognese Fresh Pappardelle Pasta ✔

This was a pretty tasty Bolognese. The thick noodles were soft and the Bolognese sauce tasted exactly like you expect Bolognese sauce to taste. The portion was sufficient for a meal. My daughter, who ate it, wouldn’t want it again – but she’s not that great a fan of bolognese. I, however, would order it for myself.

Bolognese Penne Pasta ✔

Similar to the dish above but with penne instead of thick noodles. My daughter actually liked this a lot and would want it again. I guess the noodles made a difference.

Cheese Orecchiette Pasta ✔

This was another winner. I missed the suppleness of the homemade pasta, but the cheese sauce was very good. The bacon bread crumbs were too salty, however. Next time I’ll try to brush some off before heating it up. But I’d definitely order it again.

Lasagna ✔

My daughter had it. At first she thought it was just OK – not quite meeting her Stouffers frozen pizza standards – but she appreciated the fresh ingredients the more she ate of it and concluded she’d had it again. I had what she didn’t eat and I thought it was great. It tasted fresh and home made. The pasta was soft – though apparently the sides had gotten crispy – and chewy, the cheese melty and the sauce light enough to allow the other flavors to shine. Basically, a very good, home made tasting lasagna. I’ll order it again for myself.

Orecchiette Italian Sausage

I didn’t really like this dish. First, I’ve realized that orecchiette is not a particularly successful pasta. It’s thicker than other shapes and it can feel heavier. But the real problem was the sauce. It was just blah. It tasted a lot of tomato paste, was too acidic, thick and heavy. The only thing that livened it a little were the olives, but I’m not a huge fan of them. Adding Parmesan cheese helped a little with flavor, but not enough. I did like the small pieces of Italian sausage, but there were really very few of them. I would not order it again.

Vegetarian Fresh Fettuccine Pasta

This was a dish of fresh pasta with a tomato sauce and a lot of veggies. My daughter liked it overall, particularly after we added extra Parmesan, but she felt there was too much corn. She probably wouldn’t want it again.

Shef FRANCISCO G. – Latin American, Argentinian ✔

Francisco sells mostly empanadas. The portion has only two, but they are larger than usual and overfilled. After trying two of his offerings, I think he’s good enough to open an empanada shop in Argentina. I’ll keep trying his other varieties.

Chicken Empanada Salteña ✔

These empanadas were good, but probably my least favorite of all of Francisco’s empanadas. That’s because the chicken was ultimately dry. The flavor was great, for chicken. I would get them again, because they were good, but I’d prioritize the other ones. These ones are slightly spicy. I also think these might be less filling than the other empanadas. Or maybe I’m just really hungry.

Mushroom Empanda ✔

These were two very large and overfilled empanadas, with a very tasty mushroom filling. The mushrooms were only slightly gummy after I reheated them in the microwave (it’s recommended that you reheat them in the oven), but the flavor was there. Another winner by Shef Francisco.

Sausage Empanada ✔

The steak empanadas were so good that I decided to give the sausage empanadas a try. Once again, the portion consisted of only two empanadas, but they were on the larger side. The empanadas had Argentinian pork sausage (no idea where he gets it), provolone and mozzarella cheeses, hard boiled eggs and raisins. They were super cheesy and the sausage was also very tasty. There wasn’t much in the way of eggs and raisins which was great, as I don’t like eggs and my husband doesn’t like raisins. We’d both order them again.

Steak Empanada Salteña ✔

Empanadas salteñas refer to the type of empanadas typical of the Argentinian province of Salta, in the northwest of the country. They are considered among the best in Argentina and differ from standard beef empanadas because they contain knife-chopped beef (instead of machine ground), potatoes and green onions.

Francisco also only includes two empanadas in the meal, but I decided to get them because I thought they might be somewhat larger than usual – and because while I can easily make empanadas myself, knife-cutting beef and chopping potatoes is a pain. This ended up being a good decision. These empanadas are delicious – as good as mine, but without my trick of adding spaghetti sauce to make them seem moister. There was a perfect combination of ingredients and they were well seasoned. They came with a little pot of chimichurri, and while it’s not traditional to dip your empanadas in chimichurri and these one definitely didn’t need it, the chimichurri itself was also delicious.

The only issue is that empanadas need to be reheated in the oven for the empanada shell to keep its crispness. It’s the middle of the summer, so I was not going to do that and I reheated them in the microwave (30 seconds for 1). That, of course, softened the shell, which is not ideal but c’est la vie.

I liked them enough that I’d order them again, and I do think they’re larger than the standard.

Shef FREHIWOT K. – Ethiopian

This shef seems to no longer be cooking for Shef, which is unfortunate as her Ethiopian food was awesome.

Beef Stew (kay Sega Wot) ✔✔

After getting the combo twice, I decided to go for the kay sega wot by itself. It was delicious, but spicier than the meat combo. I actually think I prefer it mixed in with the chicken. This one did remind me far more to the Ethiopian food you get at restaurants. It was sooo good

Meat Combo ✔✔

This plate of food was absolutely delicious. It didn’t taste that much like the Ethiopian food I’ve had at restaurants or cooked myself, perhaps because I asked for “mild” (and yes, everything was mild) – but it was very, very good and addictive. So much so that I had it again the next week.

Shef GEETWANI R. – Fusion · Indo-Chinese · Indian · Comfort · East Indian · Hakka ✔

Butter Chicken ✔

Our second attempt at butter chicken was more successful than the first. This was a spicy dish, what one would normally call “medium” at a restaurant. Mike ate it and liked it, though he didn’t think it was restaurant quality but he’d have it again.

Pompano Curry In Mustard Sauce ✔

I didn’t actually order this dish, but I’m glad I got it. The pompano was well cooked and the sauce was quite good, vibrant with the flavors from the chilis but only lightly spiced. My husband liked it, sans the bones. I’ve made this dish before, so I was happy to see it measured up against the real thing.

Shef GRACHIK P. – Mediterranean · Middle Eastern · Ukrainian · Armenian · Georgian · Russian · Belarussian

I’m a big fan of Caucasian and Eastern European food, so I was excited to try Shef Grachik’s dishes. Unfortunately I didn’t like any of the three I tried, so I think I’m done ordering from him. It’s a pity because he is often the only shef cooking these cuisines in my area.

Beef Meatballs In Tomato Sauce ☹

This was once of the worse dishes I’ve gotten from Shef. The meatballs has an OK, though perhaps overly soft, consistency but they managed to be both bland and somewhat spicy, and taste completely of some green – bell pepper, according to the ingredients listed. There was no beef flavor whatsoever. The sauce tasted exactly the same. The portion was generous, four meatballs plus rice, but so unappetizing.

Pan-Fried Chicken Cutlets With Creamy Mashed Potatoes

My youngest daughter loves milanesas, and this was the closest thing I could find in Shef. It was OK, but she wouldn’t have it again. The flavor was a little strange, I think it has a spice that is not disclosed in the description. I couldn’t quite identify it – maybe dill? In any case, she wouldn’t order it again. She did like the mashed potatoes and there were a lot of them, one could say, too much of them.

Scrambled Eggs With Tomato Sauce (Shakshuka)

The description of this dish as “scrambled eggs with tomato sauce” is far more accurate than that of shakshuka. This basically was an omelet with some tomato sauce added to it. My daughter thought it was fine, but she didn’t like that it had bell peppers and wouldn’t get it again.

Shef ISSARA T. – Southeast Asian · Asian · Thai

Massaman Curry

Massaman curry is my favorite Thai curry, pretty much the only thing I order at Thai restaurants. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with this one. It just lacked flavor. It came with a lot of sauce, so maybe reducing it would help, but I couldn’t even start to tasting hints of spices. On the plus side, combined with an extra side of rice (and there was plenty of sauce for it), this was a large meal. It includes a full chicken leg as well as a few pieces of potato and some occasional peanut.

Panang Curry Pork With Rice ✔

My husband liked this dish. It was an average panang, which is not a bad thing. The portion of pork was fine, but there was way too much rice. Still, he’d have it again.

Shef IZABELA P. – Polish ✔

Beef Stew (Polish Goulash) ✔

This beef stew tasted exactly what you expect beef stew to taste. It was meaty and rich and very homey. The meat was a little chalky, but I have the same results when I make stew, so I’m not going to blame the cook for this. The portion was fine, though it could have used a couple more pieces of meat. There was a lot of sauce, so get some rice to soak it up. I’d order this again.

Shef JOINA L. – Latin American · Asian · Fusion · Brazilian · Korean · Chinese ✔

This is another amazing shef. As a Taiwanese-Brazilian she grew up exposed to a lot of diverse cuisines and knows how to make both traditional and fusion dishes. Unfortunately, her portions are skimpy.

Arroz Con Pollo ✔

We’ve gotten this dish twice. It consists of a chicken thigh and Spanish rice. The chicken was bursting with flavor, was slightly spicy and yet still very much chicken. It was quite moist. The rice was also nicely spiced, though it could have used a tad more flavor. I did like the tomato and sausage. Definitely had a homemade taste. The portion is on the small side, so it’s probably best for lunch or those with smaller appetites.

Beef Steak With Onions And Tomatoes ✔

When I was a young teen, I spent a year living with a maiden aunt who suddenly found herself in the role of substitute mother – a role that involved cooking for a picky teenager. I had gotten tired of eating plain steak and my aunt had devised a piquant tomato sauce to put on it that I became quite devoted to. It’s of that dish that I thought when I saw Shef Joina’s beef steak with onions and tomato. It wasn’t quite what my aunt prepared – really nothing like it at all – but it was quite good. The sweet onions and the tomatoes merged beautifully, achieving that umami sensation, and the beef went well with it. The beef was a tad in the chalky side – but you really don’t want to ruin good meat with a sauce anyway. It was an adequate portion, though I wish I’d had some rice or bread to soak up the remaining sauce (the rice side dish I had ordered was missing this week).

Brazilian Chicken Pie ✔✔

My husband thought this was delicious and enough for two servings for himself (but he tends to only eat half a meal at the time). The crust didn’t maintain too well, it got sort of mushy, but the flavor was amazing.

Brazilian Chicken Stew Galinhada

I had high hopes for this chicken stew but I liked it less than I hoped. It was just underseasoned, and while I added salt to it, it really needed it during the cooking process to bring up the umami in the sauce and get into the chicken. On the plus side, it was a large portion, which included both a plump drumstick and thigh as well as a couple of large pieces of potatoes and carrots.

Cilantro Chicken

I got this dish thinking I was getting the Roasted chicken with cilantro garlic crema reviewed below – my mistake. I thought it was pretty tasty, but my daughter liked it far less than the aforementioned one. She wouldn’t want it again. The sauce in this one was very watery and it seemed more like a soup.

Roasted Chicken With Cilantro Garlic Crema ✔

This was another very tasty dish. The chicken was moist and nicely seasoned, and the accompanying crema was absolutely delicious. Alas, the portion was also skimpy and not enough to fill you up for dinner. They really need to add an extra chicken piece.

I ordered this chicken again, but it came without the cilantro crema. The chicken was very good. The chicken had a garlicky/cinnamon flavor. My daughter liked it but missed the crema.

Shef KELLY L – Greek · Mediterranean · Street Food · Comfort · American

This shef seems to no longer be cooking for Shef.

Salmon Caesar Salad

My husband overall liked this salad. It wasn’t made with iceberg lettuce but with another leaf, and he was a bit iffy about it, and it had tomatoes he doesn’t like, but otherwise it was just a Caesar’s salad. The very top of the salmon was sort of crusty and it seemed dried out, but when you got past that, it was fine. He’d have it again, but it might be better to just buy a Caesar salad at the supermarket and add some salmon – it’s not like grilling some salmon takes any time.

Shef MAK M. – Chinese · Hong Kong · Asian · Fusion · Low Carb · Comfort

This shef seems to no longer be cooking for Shef.

Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice Bowl ✔

This was really a very simple dish, just ground (or maybe chopped) pork on a bed of white rice, but boy, was it delicious. The pork had been braised in a delicious sauce (though none of it was in the dish), and it had a very intense, well balanced flavor. I couldn’t really distinguish any of the flavors (soy? five spice?), but it was just good. The flavor was intense enough that it married very well with the plain rice. I’d order this again.

Shef MANDIRA D. – Bangladeshi · North Indian · East Indian · Bengali · Halal ✔

Shef Mandira makes amazing, flavorful and new-to-me curries, but she uses bone-in meats which make them annoying to eat.

Bengali Duck Egg Curry

I got this for Mike – as I don’t like eggs – and he was a bit disappointed. It came in an 8-oz container and included just two duck eggs, two pieces of potatoes and the curry. The eggs were eggs – I mean, they are eggs, I’m not sure what else one can expect from them – and the curry itself was a good, solid curry. But there was nothing out of this world to it. He’d have it again, but wouldn’t seek it out. He did feel it needed something else, maybe some some sliced meat?

Chicken Malai Curry ✔

As a curry, this was delicious. Made with a combination of malai – a thick Bengali cream – and coconut cream, it’s basically an Indian curry with hints of coconut. The flavors do work very well together. The problem was the chicken. It was bone-in chicken cut into pieces. That made it super difficult to eat, as you basically have to use your hands if you want to get the meat off the bones, or transfer it to a plate, wipe away the curry, and try to cut it off. Now, having traveled throughout India I know that this standard for curries in the subcontinent, but it’s still annoying. We’re not sure if we’d have this again, though I’m giving it a tentative check mark. The curry was delicious but it’s soooo annoying to have to deal with the bones.

Murgir Mangsher Jhol (Bengali Chicken Curry)

I was very disappointed on this curry. It had the mildest of flavors, almost none at all. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t. Granted, I had frozen and then defrosted this dish, but that shouldn’t have interfered with the flavor radically. In all, I wouldn’t order it again though I might try Bengali chicken curry from another shef.

Rui Macher Kalia (Rohu Fish Curry)

My husband loved he taste of the curry, it was delicious. However, the fish had too many bones, making it vey difficult to eat. For that reason, he probably wouldn’t get it again.

Shef MANIDA T. – Thai · Southeast Asian · Korean ✔

Lychee Red Curry Chicken ✔✔

Another winner from Shef Manida, this is another delicious Thai curry and one I hadn’t tried before. I loved the curry itself, with was fragrant, and the lychees in it. The thinly sliced chicken was a bit dry, but it served as a conduit for the chicken as anything else. I’ll order it again and my husband thinks this is his favorite so far.

Massaman Braised Beef Stew Curry ✔

Massaman curry is my favorite Thai curry. This was a competent version of it, though not as good as that of my favorite restaurants. I can’t quite tell what was missing. Maybe more intense flavor? Though it was saltier than many. One welcome surprise is that it had small pieces of pineapple. The portion was very large, with lots of beef and potatoes. I’ll get this again.

Red BBQ Chicken

This was an interesting dish, though not one I’m sure I’d order again. The boneless chicken was tender and supple. It was dusted with a rub based on red pepper, that was a bit too salty and only slightly sweet. It had a peppery flavor as well. It wasn’t bad, and all in all I enjoyed it, but I wasn’t completely won by it.

Roasted Duck Curry (Kaeng Phed Ped Yang) ✔✔

This was another winner by Shef Manida. The curry was light and rich, very fragrant (abundant with kaffir lime leaves), somewhere between mild and medium spicy and full of flavor. The portion is generous, if you add rice it should be enough for two people for lunch. There are only a few pieces of duck, but it’s abundant in veggies. I’d definitely get this again.

Yellow Curry ✔

My husband loved this dish of boneless chicken, potatoes, carrots and onions in a very thin yellow curry. I liked it too, but I felt the curry was too thin, it would have benefited from boiling it off some and concentrating the flavors. Still, there was plenty of chicken and plenty of curry for rice. We’ll order it again.

Shef MASANORI T. – Japanese

Karaage Don – Japanese Fried Chicken Over Rice ☹

This was the fourth time I ordered this dish from Shef Masanori – and the first time I got it. I really shouldn’t have tried so hard, but I was curious about what Japanese fried chicken would be like. The answer, not great. It consisted of boneless strips of chicken in a very soggy breading. Extremely soggy. When you have nightmares about soggy friend chicken, it’s about this dish. Now, I realize that I microwaved it, but I microwave fried chicken all the time without this issue. The breading softens but it doesn’t disintegrate into mush as it did here.

The flavor was OK – though the white rice was sort of a waste who wants to eat white rice without a sauce? I definitely wouldnt order it again and I’m left with the doubt if this is how karaage don is all the time, or just how this shef cooked it.

Shef PHUOC V. – Southeast Asian, Vietnamese

Garlic Honey Glazed Grilled Chicken And Garlic Rice ✔

This was a pretty basic dish, but very homey and tasty. The flavors were not gourmet, but they were pleasant, and garlic rice is addictive. I’d have it again.

Shef QUYNH SOPHIE – Middle Eastern · Lebanese · Mexican · Vietnamese

Kafta Potato Stew ✔

This was a very homey dish, just kofta and large chunks of potatoes in a thin tomato based sauce. It was good and very satisfying. Not something you’d have at a restaurant, but that’s the point of Shef – homefood. I’d get it again.

Shefs RUBEN & NUCHA G. – Latin American · Argentinian

This Argentine couple makes good empanadas, but the meal consists of only two, which is not sufficient and makes them more expensive than those at local empanada restaurants.

Mushroom & Gorgonzola Empanadas

As an Argentinian who loves to make empanadas myself, I’m particularly picky about empanadas, so you shouldn’t be surprised about how critical I am of these ones. The main problem was how small the portion was. You only get 2 empanadas, which is fine as a snack, but not enough for lunch, much less dinner. As a child, I used to get 3 empanadas for lunch – you need at least 3 or 4 for an adult, particularly when they have a light filling such as mushrooms and gorgonzola. The filling was actually pretty good, not great, but good enough. The shells, however, needed more salt. They came with a little tub of chimichurri, which was good by itself, but didn’t compliment the flavor of the empanadas. I wouldn’t get them again.

Traditional Beef Empanadas

I had the same issue with these empanadas than the ones above. Two empanadas are just not enough and the shells are not that great. I did like the knife-cut beef, which was nicely flavored. It had that briny undertone of olives and a note of sweetness – though I didn’t see any raisins. I also loved that it didn’t have any hardboiled egg. But I wouldn’t order them again, mostly because they are a poor value.

Shef RUMEE S. – North Indian · Lucknowi · Delhi · Mumbai

Chicken Malai ✔

Chicken Mali is quickly becoming one of our favorite curries. My husband had it this time and enjoyed it a lot. It was well balanced, flavorful and just tasty. However, this curry suffered from the same issue as the last one we got (from a different Shef): bone-in cut up chicken. It’s impossible to get the meat from the small pieces of chicken using a fork and knife, so you have to pick it up with your hands, which is a mess given that the chicken is in the curry.

As usual, I understand that it’s authentic, but using boneless chicken – or even full thighs and legs – would be much more convenient.

Shef SARJO B. – Senegalese · African · Gambian · West African ✔ ✔

Another excellent Shef, her dishes are little more spicy than I like, but all very flavorful.

Jollof Rice With Beef ✔

This is another winner by Shef Sarjo. Both the beef and the rice were great, though a little more beef would have been better. They were very nicely spiced and better than any jollof rice I’ve had.

Jollof Rice With Chicken ✔

Another good meal. Loved the rice, the chicken was flavorful. I’ll definitely order again for myself. My daughter didn’t like it, which I’m noting to remind myself.

Peanut Butter Stew (Domoda) ✔

Mike liked it. He thought the sauce was very peanut buttery and the meat was tender and moist. He’d have it again. I just tasted the sauce and I felt the one I’d made was better, this one was missing some umami flavor.

Yassa Bone-in Chicken ✔

This dish was absolutely delicious. Yassa is one of my favorite dishes, and I have made it many, many times since I first started cooking over three decades ago – but this one was far better than any of mine. I don’t know what the secret is, though I did think I distinguished some mustard notes, and when I make it again I’ll see about adding some mustard. In any case, I really enjoyed it. There were a few problems, however.

First, as you can see from the photo, the chicken wasn’t cooked through. While chickens today are safer than in the past, there is always the risk of salmonella, and home cooks, as well as professional ones, should make sure the chicken is fully cooked. Second, the portion only came with one chicken drumstick – that was definitely not enough protein for a meal, even a lunch. The cook should add a second drumstick or a thigh. Third, the dish was too spicy for my taste. At an Indian, Thai or BBQ restaurant, this dish would be characterized as “medium spicy” and it’s just at the edge of what I can stand. To eat the onions – and boy, were the onions delicious – I had to add some rice. So when I order it again (and I will, despite these caveats), I’ll have to make sure I either order a side of rice or that one of the other meals comes with some.

Shef SHILPA P. -West Indian · Maharashtrian · Malvani · Marathi

This shef seems to no longer be cooking for Shef.

Kolhapuri Sukka Chicken

This was a very garam masala forward dish, slightly spicy – in the way garam masala is – but not particularly complex. The chicken was tender but also very bony, so a pain to eat. I’ve made Kolhapuri lamb before, and this dish reminded me of that. Mike liked it, though he also wished the chicken was boneless. I’m not huge on garam masala, so I wouldn’t order it again. Mike probably wouldn’t either.

Shef STACY L. – Southern · Soul Food · American · Comfort · Asian · Fusion

Fried Bbq Chicken Plate

I was intrigued by the idea of both frying and bbq’ing chicken. As it turned out, the extra step of frying was unnecessary. The chicken was moist, so there is that, and it had a nice flavor – but nothing to write home about. It was just a little bit spicy. It came with overly salted mash potatoes and corn. I don’t think we’d order it again.

Southern Fried Chicken

Shef screwed up for me this week and sent me two dishes I didn’t order instead of two I did. One of these was what I presume is Shef Stacy L.’s Crispy Southern Fried Chicken. It came with mashed potatoes and corn.

The dish didn’t work for me. I found the chicken was nice and crispy but the piece of chicken I ate had a disconcerting sour taste. I’m not sure if it’d gone bad (I didn’t have intestinal problems later, so I’m going to guess it didn’t), or if it’s something in the ingredients. In any case, I wouldn’t want to eat it again. My husband had the other piece and didn’t find it sour.

I was hoping that the mashed potatoes would be the saving grace, but they were impossibly salty. My husband agreed. The corn was just corn. I would definitely not order this again, as you can get better fried chicken at the supermarket for less.

Shef SUKHDEEP K. – North Indian · Punjabi · Clean · Desserts · Comfort · Vegetarian ✔

Butter Chicken ✔

Our third Shef butter chicken was the winner among those Shef has sent us. While the sauce was on the thin side and the dish could have used a little more chicken, it was very tasty – almost restaurant quality. It was mildly spiced. You definitely need rice to eat this with. Most importantly, my daughter liked it and would want it again

Shef THAZIN H. – Burmese · Southeast Asian ✔

Burmese Style Lamb Curry With Potatoes ✔

This was a fairly generic meat and potatoes stew. I wouldn’t call it a “curry” per se, in the sense of the spices and flavor profile that the word “curry” usually alludes to. However, according to my notes from when I cooked this dish myself years ago, this is precisely what it’s supposed to taste like: homey. As someone who likes meat and potato stews, I was pretty happy with it. The portion was generous.

Shef THEINT E. – Burmese · Southeast Asian

Basil’s Lemongrass Chicken

This dish was OK. I enjoyed eating it, though I don’t see myself craving it. I think it might be better at a different time of year when basil is brighter/fresher – as it had a slightly bitter taste. It could have used a tad more sweetness, but the spiciness level was good, medium-mild, I’d say. It was an adequate portion. I might order this again.

Shef VANITA YADAV M.– Indian

This shef doesn’t seem to be listed anymore.

Andhra Chicken Curry (Kodi Kura) ✔

I gave this curry the old college try, but after a few bites, I just had to abandon it. It was way, way too spicy for me. In a restaurant, it would probably be described as somewhere between medium and hot. This is a pity, because the curry was very good. The chicken was so moist and tender that I actually thought it was lamb, and there were lots of it. I tend to prefer sweeter curries, this definitely was not that, but the flavor was complex and developed. It did not taste of curry powder, garam masala or anything of the sort. In all, a very successful dish even if I couldn’t eat it.

Shef VICTOR S. – Chinese · Caribbean · Japanese

Chicken Adobo With Pickled Leeks With Jasmine Rice ✔

My husband really liked the chicken, it was very tasty and it didn’t have the skin on, which is a plus for him.

Chinese Cured Pork Belly And Sausage With Jasmine Rice

This dish was OK. Half of the tray was cabbage, which is not my thing. The sausage and pork belly were fine, not exciting, and there was something crunchy, brown and weird that neither I nor the dog liked. I wouldn’t order it again.

Shef VICTORIA S. – International · Southeast Asian · Vietnamese ✔

Caramelized Spare Ribs ✔

This dish came in several containers, and I didn’t realize that I was supposed to put them together into one until after I had eaten the actual spare ribs and looked at the picture of the dish online. Basically, it comes with a tub of spare ribs, one of sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, another with two hard boiled eggs and a final one of rice (white, not seasoned as in the website photo), and you are supposed to put it together into a plate. Together, they form a substantial plate of food – the ribs alone might be too little for a meal, though they are so rich, that I wouldn’t have been able to eat any more of them.

The ribs were very tender and tasty, but only slightly sweet and they had a tad too much fish sauce. Each bite is mostly bones or tendons which makes it a bit difficult to eat. But the flavor was there. Mike, in particular, really liked them and would want to order them again.

Shef WAYNE F. – North Indian · Indo-Chinese · Fusion · Indian

Butter Chicken ☹

This plate came in a 16 oz container, which is the container size you get at most local Indian restaurants when you order take out. The dish, however, contained relatively little chicken – it was mostly sauce. The chicken came in large chunks, but was tender enough that it came apart when cut with the fork. Unfortunately, the chicken itself lacked seasoning.

The sauce was just OK – somewhat better than jarred butter chicken sauce or the ones that come in frozen entrees, but not nearly as good as the best butter chicken sauces from our favorite Indian restaurants. It had some disconcerting bitter notes, that I couldn’t quite place, and it was a bit too acidic. It was only slightly spicy, which was to my taste. I wouldn’t order it again, but I didn’t mind eating it.

While I’d say there is only enough chicken for one meal, there is enough sauce for another half-meal if you eat it with rice or naan bread. For the price, I think I’d order it at a restaurant instead.
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