Darren Wogman |Hungry Darren| All Style No Substance - The Ribinator by Tom Griffiths @ Flank
Updated: Apr 30, 2021
#MealKit #Ribinator #Flank #BBQ
Post by Darren Wogman
Following on from the fantastic Kricket Butter Chicken, This next experience couldn't be more opposite. The Ribinator by Flank (Tom Griffiths).
First Impressions
At £25 for two people, it doesn't seem too steep - especially compared to some of the kits out there. However, all you get for your money is the sandwich, with nothing else on the side. Branding and presentation is clearly the focus here.
The instructions come on a movie poster style scroll "In the year 2021, when Restaurant Kits became self-aware. Flankadine systems sent a meat machine that would reshape the future to change the past[...]" You get the idea. While this is very fun it does come at the cost of practicality.
Image credit: Restaurant Kits
On to the Cooking
The instructions were a bit of a mess. As I mention above, this is all style and little substance. The contents of the box aren't labelled at all, while most of it is clearly identifiable (I know what pickles look like). Some other things weren't so obvious. I'm not sure if my box included a piece of greaseproof paper and another piece of parchment paper. The instructions refer to both separately, but I'm not sure if this is to avoid repetition or if I was missing something. Further, is there a functional difference between these two paper types? This might sound a bit pedantic, but the last thing you want is confusion when you're trying to prepare these meals.
The block of 'ribinator' is basically a meatloaf/Spam type concoction made up from, what I presume is, rib meat. It's formed into a pretty dense block and the way it's vacuum packed made it hard to break it apart for cooking.
The cooking itself sounded simple enough, brown the ribinator meat in a pan then bung it in the oven and assemble when it's all done. However, again the poorly thought through instructions didn't make this easy. How much is a "good lug of oil" (surely, it's 'glug' anyway?), how brown is brown? How much of the provided sauce should be poured over the top (it turns out not all of it!)
The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating
A big disappointment. The sauce was very strong and I should have been a bit more cautious with how much I put on - I suppose I could've tasted it first, but I trusted the provided amount was the right amount to use.
The sandwich itself was tasty enough, but I don't think it translated well at all to home cooking. I would definitely not be re-ordering this one, and I wouldn't recommend it either.
Image credit: Restaurant Kits
Final Thoughts
Being generous, 5/10.
It's really just a sandwich and I so wish they would've put half the effort they applied to the branding and marketing into the actual meal kit itself. This whole thing smacked of hubris and I felt very disappointed with the cooking experience and final product.
I hope the team that assembled this would've tried another meal kit first, there are some fundamental flaws and £25 for a block of preformed meat isn't great value. Avoid. A Darren Wogman | Hungry Darren Dud.