Fresh pasta, delivered to you weekly having been made freshly that morning, and available to try half price – what’s not to like? As it turns out there really isn’t much to not like – I’m two weeks into my subscription and I have to say that I am very impressed!
I went through a phase of making my own pasta many years back. It was rather fun, and I also made it with some of the children that I was working with. It’s physical fun, and almost magic to see what you can produce from such simply ingredients. It’s also possible to make really high quality pasta, unlike anything you’ll ever buy from a supermarket, with some effort and perseverance.
However, it takes up a lot of time. That would be the reason that I haven’t done it for about the last decade! I love the idea, but then the next hobby/idea came along, and as much as I love eating it, I can’t be bothered.
Supermarkets of course sell fresh pasta. The trouble is, it’s a bit crap! Even the best of it from the better supermarkets, is absolutely nothing like a really high quality fresh pasta. I’ve had some really good stuff from some producers markets occasionally. Generally you call tell a really good product – one give away is often a very short shelf life.
So, I thought that I’d try Nonna Tonda, as part of my drive to find ways to eat better quality food during the week, when I really can’t be bothered. The offer I saw online gave me 50% off for the first two weeks. This makes it £6.25 per week for two portions, so just over £3 per person. Now that I’ve signed up they’ve given me a referral code that gives you 50% of of your first four weeks, which I’ve included below. If you use it then I also get one free delivery.
My referral code
Of course I maintain absolute integrity when writing about food because it’s so important to me. If I hadn’t have liked Nonna Tonda, well then I just wouldn’t have written this blog post! Perhaps to illustrate that point, I’ll do a blog post soon about subscription services Ive tried which I wouldn’t recommend…
So, onto the experience of using them. Both weeks so far the boxes have turned up exactly as expected. They are small and neatly packaged, with mostly recyclable materials, and include everything that you need, including any garnish such as cheese.
One initial frustration, and an area where I think that they could improve, is how you pick which pasta dish you want. Unlike some services with loads of choices, they simply provide one vegetarian and one meat/fish dish per week. I like this simplicity, and it makes it easier for them to deliver something truly fresh – made the morning that it is delivered. If you eat it that night then it’s gotta be just about the freshest pasta you can buy!? However the choices for which dish you get each week are to choose either vegetarian only, meat/fish only, or mixed. I chose mixed, which just means they vary between the two each week. However I liked the look of the vegetarian one for the first week and the meat one for week two, but it chose me the meat one for week one and the vegetarian one for week two, with no way of varying that. To get around that I chose Vegetarian only, then after the first one was delivered I logged in and changed it to Meat/fish only. I would like to see a better way to choose the one you would prefer each week.
Week one – Butternut squash ravioli with sage butter
This was nothing like the filled pasts you get in the supermarket, where if you don’t cook it for quite long enough it’s powdery inside. This was perfectly made rich pasta, with a simple fresh filling. The sage butter and the supplied cheese were both fabulous, and overall this was a magnificent plate (well two plates) of food. I would happily have paid the full price for this, though of course I was even happier not to! I didn’t take a photo, as hadn’t considered that I might write about it, but frankly unlike most of these things, it actually looked almost exactly like it does on the website.
The cooking instructions were simplicity itself, and it was possible to cook the entire dinner in a single pad. So delicious and reasonably priced dinner of restaurant quality, and very little washing up. Can you see why I like it?
Week two – Accheri with braised pork and gremolata
Again perfectly packaged and delivered. This was a truly incredible meal. Pretty much equal to any pasta meal that I’ve ever had in a restaurant. If I had to make one criticism, it was indulgently rich. We had actually had very late lunches so didn’t eat it all and had some leftovers, which in a way worked better. I would have struggled to get through a whole portion. Really, genuinely amazing though.
This time i did manage to take a photo, though got rather caught up eating it, so wasn’t that much left by the time I took it!
So the verdict is that I love this service. Will I keep it going permanently? Not sure yet. Certainly I’m going to leave it running for now, and I’m happy to pay the full price. How successful it is in the future might depend on my work patterns and whether the deliveries continue to work as flawlessly as they have done so far. Of course it will also depend on the pasta continuing to be delicious, but that I feel pretty confident on at this point!
Just about to publish this having just eaten week 3’s pasta – Beef & Mortadella ravioli with sage butter. Just absolutely fabulous, again. This is a food subscription that I will be very happy to continue with.