Looking for a way to have a restaurant-level dinner without having to worry about getting the kids to sit down or not blow bubbles in their drink?
SHAREDINE （シェアダイン） – 食の専門家による出張シェフサービス
The platform matches you with professional chefs that will come to your home and cook for you. You’ll need to pick the cuisine, the chef, and go back and forth with them to decide on what will be cooked. You can decide to do the shopping yourself or have the chef do it. Then, there are three main approaches – course dinners, party food, and pre-made dishes. If you go with the last one, you’ll have food for the next few days. This approach is always the most cost-effective, but you might not get to eat everything hot or arranged beautifully like a chef would do it.
We’ve now experienced four different chiefs over the past year and done all three approaches. The course experience was excellent. The chef not only made a delicious 4 or 5-course meal, he also prepped food for the kids as well. Everyone was stuffed and grinning ear to ear by the end of the meal. He was also quite generous with his time in talking with us as he cooked, to give everyone some professional tips on cooking.
The party we held was a level of relaxation we had never felt when hosting. With the chef pumping out one mouth-watering dish after another, the guests were all treated to amazing food and we had the luxury of joining them as we weren’t busy in the kitchen.
And the last approach with the pre-made dishes is any parent’s dream. Of course, on the day the chef is over you have 8 or 9 dishes ranging from mains to salads to soups spread out before you. Snagging a bit of everything is a great way to go, or leaving a few of them untouched and popping them into the fridge is pefectly acceptable. Then with the leftovers you are guaranteed to have, you clear our your Tupperware draw and get everything into the fridge. With the variety you get, lunches and dinners are taken care of for the next few days.
My wife has done all the hard work of coordinating with the chefs in all four cases, so I can only observe from a distance. But… it does look like an undertaking to make sure you get the right chef and then the right menu.
Prices can vary a lot. You’ll base the base price for the chef and then you’ve got the grocery bill to go on top of that. Most likely 10,000 yen – 15,000 yen for 3-4 hours of a chef’s time that will give you around 7-9 dishes. If you are doing the course, then look for a 6-7 item course. You’ll have the groceries on top of that base costs, so budget another 5,000 – 10,000 yen for that as well.
Our recent chef cooked an amazing array of Italian cuisine, which my wife and I celebrated our anniversary. Getting a great meal like that with the kids the age they are would have been impossible. Seeing the meal all come together in our own kitchen and being able to enjoy on our own pace made it a truly magical meal. Looking forward to our next expereience.