In home isolation? Restaurants provide quarantine meals at doorstep

Some eateries have suspended their services and takeaways but are delivering free-of-cost Covid-19 meals, others have launched special daily tiffins and 14-day quarantine meal plans at nominal charges

Restaurateurs, chefs and food aggregators are doing what they do best — cooking and feeding the hungry. And in the second wave of the pandemic, they’re continuing to do so by providing healthy home-style meals to those recovering from Covid-19.

Restaurants are providing healthy, home-style meals to those recovering from Covid-19 (Photo: Raj K Raj/HT)

While some eateries have suspended services and takeaways but are delivering free Covid-19 meals, others have launched special daily tiffins and 14-day quarantine meal plans at nominal charges.

“The only way I know to help the community and contribute to these tough times right now is by cooking. And it’s one thing I’m good at it,” says chef-owner Radhika Khandelwal at Fig & Maple, who made a conscious decision to suspend all delivery and takeaway services and provide free meals to all households battling Covid-19 in Greater Kailash 2. She says, “We are offering a set menu of nutritious, safely packed meals. The service is free, however, one can opt to pay as they like or contribute to our free meal programme,” who is fully booked for the week, catering to meals for 57 families along with her partner Ravish Bhavnani. She’s also willing to do grocery runs and lend books.

As a gesture to give back to the society, another restaurateur Neha Gupta, founder, Beyond Designs Bistro is also helping those in distress. “The idea is that government has allowed us to have delivery and takeaways, and as our bistro kitchen is open and chefs are working, and we got several messages on our social media from families who had been affected, so we are just using the opportunity to lend a hand in these times, ” says Gupta who has prepared healthy, safe and home-style daily tiffins at nominal charges for 70-80 families so far.

Whereas some have a fixed menu for the week to choose from, chef Sareen Madhiyan, executive chef, Punjab Grill is preparing and customising meals as per the need and taste of customers. He says, “We’ll be speaking to the customers and prepare a healthy menu accordingly. The idea behind is to provide meal for people who are suffering from Covid-19 and are staying alone by themselves.” The lunch and dinner options are offered at an affordable price and delivery is available all over Delhi-NCR.

Moreover, there are a few who are catering to only those in NCR. Richa Kharbanda, owner, Quirky Perky, says, “We saw so many posts on social media from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore where restaurateurs and chefs came forward to help those affected by Covid-19, so we decided to take the initiative in our area [Ghaziabad] at marginal costs. Kharbanda who sends out 38-40 thalis in a day is also taking requests from those abroad and want fresh produce delivered to kin here.

Apart from restaurants and cafe, recently, food aggregator Zomato announced quick delivery for Covid-hit. Deepinder Goyal, founder tweeted, “Today, along with thousands of our restaurant partners, we just rolled out a “priority delivery for covid emergencies’’ feature on the Zomato app...Thousands of restaurants have pledged to prioritise these orders in their kitchen above all others.”