AT EXACTLY 15:10 on Thursday a text arrives containing this simple message: Martha’s Food Delivery left behind storm door. Oh, and one of those yellow thumbs ups that has turned us all into a nation of cheery builders.
My first thought? Eh? Such is the lag between ordering quality meals and actual delivery these days, the limited number of slots available, the scramble to get one and the undeniable fact I have the attention span of a goldfish – that three times this week food that I only vaguely remember internet-ordering will magic itself onto the doorstep.
Behind those storm doors a quality paper carrier bag will shiver until hours later when everyone is home from work and school, coats dumped, bags scattered, dog calmed, fire being raked, fridge being scanned for something for tea (not sausages again) and I will suddenly remember it’s out there. Hurrah. High fives all round? Not yet.
One thing covid has taught us is this: beware of attractive paper carrier bags containing loads of waxed card pots and pretty little fully compostable tubs.
They can also include many bewildering and separate components, require multiple heating temperatures, stab-in-the dark cooking times and demand more effort than one of those Ikea flatpacks that contain some screws, a saw and a tree.
So picture this: the tubs are unpacked, the lids are popped, those instructions are scanned (put rice on plate first lol) while we stand back round the table somewhat suspiciously until, hurrah, this can all be pinged in the microwave.
Of course we won’t yet be entirely sure what we’ve ordered – such places strangely always assume you’ll remember – but stage two of the instructions helpfully says: put meat on top of rice. Hurrah again.
By the time we have passed stage three (dressing or sauce on next) and Stage Four (final garnish, beetroot salad, kimchi) this is looking appetising.
Yes the rice is brown, the Martha’s thing moderately and earnestly planet-saving, but look what’s on the table. Red dragon pork, Korean beef, sweet potato falafels. The pork is marinated in, wait for it, secret spices. For 14 hours apparently, slow roasted also with sesame, chilli, ginger and spring onion and served with a zingy Asian slaw. It is succulent. Cheek slappingly flavoured, plentiful and draped with the contents of a fiery sauce pepped with chill flakes (that may or may not be going on the right dish) and overall pretty delicious.
There’s a huge hunk of Scottish brisket too which flakes under the fork and is heaped with another fresh and crisp salad, this time called Seoul crunch, and a cucumber kimchi and then ladled with just about everything else that’s available.
Spiced sweet potato falafel are being picked up and dipped here, there and everywhere.
Quinoa tabbouleh, beetroot salad and cucumber and radish raita are called into action in ways that were probably not envisaged by their creator – ie fired onto every plate. It’s a dip, fork, taste, pause, ooh that’s good, kinda casual meal. There’s a lightness and a freshness to it too and an unctuous silkiness to the meats.
Clever, of course, to make the main dishes all slow cooked items whose flavours can only benefit from the resting that’s involved with the home delivery gig.
It’s kind of like a Friday night sit-down from the nearest take-away except by the time we finish we’ll be saying: that was really good.
Now, Martha’s was once a sit-down or take-away place in the town that tried to be a little bit more transparent about ingredients and sourcing and a little bit more right-on about flavours. It was going to be a game changer. It traded for about six years. Then shut. This is a rebirth, a delivery or pick-up only venture.
If they, along with other quality restaurants dipping toes into this market, could cater for those of us who impulse order and want our food in an hour max this would be a genuine game changer.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here