So….
While browsing your Instagram or Facebook feeds, when you come across photos of home-cooked food, have you ever wish you could order that dish to try?
Have you ever said to your family members or friends that you should open a restaurant or cafe because their food is so good and everyone should try it?
Ta-da…
It is only recently I got to know about Dine Inn – www.dineinn.com
From their website, they say they are “Dine Inn is a one-stop community marketplace that connects the makers and lovers of food. ” For layman like us, it’s a website / mobile app that we can order home-cooked food that another family is cooking.
More details about Dine Inn:
- the concept is by one of Singapore’s famous chef, Chef Eric Teo and Mr Luke Lee, an owner of 6 F&B establishments in Singapore.
- anyone can be a host or guests. Host prepares meals. Guests orders meals.
- hosts just prepares meals, the marketing, ordering and billing are handled by the Dine Inn system.
- hosts indicates in the system what dates they can prepare meals, so they only cook when they are available.
- hosts all must complete the Basic Food Hygiene Course (the ones that hawkers and restaurant workers have to take) before they can start selling their food on the platform.
- guests browse the website/app and see if photos and descriptions of food they want to eat, where they live. Your neighbour might be on the platform!
- guests orders are instantly confirmed. No going back and forth to confirm orders as hosts indicate in the system when they are available to prepare food, guest pick the dates and time they want to eat.
- guests transactions are processed by the platform and your credit card details are not with the hosts. Hosts only received their payments after no complaints are received from guests.
Chef Eric Teo and 3 of the hosts that are on the platform.
Photo taken during a concept explanation and introduction session.
I was asked….
Do you want to order food, review and test drive the system?
Sure. It sounds interesting, we got to eat too right? Some meals can be ‘outsourced’ to another family to cook for us.
We ordered from at least 10 hosts and here are some of our family’s favorites. The photos are all taken using an iPhone.
This was the first order we had way back in Feb. It was a convenient place to pick up the food. It was in fact on the way home for the wife. She takes a train from her office, get off mid way, pick up the food and continue on the same line home.
We ordered both Sets A and B from her menu (since both of us like different food and the bento sets matched!)
Food was nice and hot as the Mrs collected it. The food was enough for us and you won’t feel thirsty after having it too. The olive rice and Chicken Karaage was just what the Mrs like.
One of the nights, we did not have to think what to order for takeaway when we reach home. We already planned what to eat a week earlier.
Host: Ed’s Day Off
Sometime we look at the dishes and it’s so far away! We live in the West and Ed’s all the way in Bedok. Shall we order? Or should we do a delivery? We decided to go ahead and book and plan our weekend around it! Go to the east side and then collect the food and then come back home to have our meal!
Ed’s one very careful person he packs everything with a layer of cling film so that it won’t spill when we bring it home. The food’s good and tasty. Ed says here’s some home made kimchi to try as well.
Instead of a spring chicken that most restaurants serve, Ed uses a huge chicken. Yes, 2 of us can’t finish the chicken and we saved it for the next day! 3 pieces of ginseng was in the soup. We liked the consistency of the soup which has been boiled for some time. Just that we thought the chicken fat at the posterior of the chicken wasn’t trimmed off, which we feedback to Ed. Things will get better for future guests.
We also like Chinese Sausage, Chicken And Mushroom Rice. It was full of ingredients and when we opened it, it was so fragrant. Now as I look at the photos after a while, I think I want to eat it again.
Host: Nurasyidah
As I was browsing through the list of hosts and their menu. I saw Prawn Laksa Goreng and also Lontong Goreng Beef. (She has taken the lontong goreng off her menu now). I was interested to see how Lontong Goreng Beef would taste, so I thought I’ll try it!
Oh, spicy! The usual dry laksa we have are the peranakan style ones. This is Malay style Laksa goreng. Pedas, sedap but lots of carbo lah.
This is not Chai Tow Kway!
This is Lontong Goreng Beef. Ketupat goreng with minced beef. First time trying it so I was intrigued. That’s what Dine Inn is about, some other family’s favourite and you get to try it out. Next time if I have ketupat leftover, I want to cook this at home.
Host: Spot Atelier
I have a love for chocolate and I couldn’t resist not ordering it.
Choon is a Le Cordon Bleu trained personal patissier! He’s also a very detailed person who will drop you SMS on how to enjoy it after your collection.
Instructions he texted, if you like it harder inside, eat it straight out of the fridge.
If you like it with a soft inside, take it out first then eat it.
This is the dark chocolate that I ordered. I think it was around 20 pieces or so. I can’t remember now, but it was something we enjoyed over a few days. I have a refractometer and it shows that the centre of it was 85% cocoa. Well tempered chocolates and very smooth.
Host: Peter Phua
This is one very enthusiastic host. I ordered the “Farfalle in Slow Braised Cherry Tomato Sauce with Roasted Pork Belly” and as I ate it, I can eat and eat and eat. It’s delicious!
The moment you opened the box, it smells so fragrant that when you are not hungry yet, you will instantly want to eat it.
Peter texted to say that the herbs used in his pasta dish is all home grown with no chemicals and pesticide. He also said that the pork used is fresh chilled pork and not the frozen ones. I understand his passion as he explains it because I also grow my own herbs at home! From tasting his food, I know where I can add my herbs the way he uses it.
If you live near him, order this dish or his other dishes! Or do a delivery service!
Host: Diana Loo
The menu on Diana’s profile only has 1 item! The photo also looks so tempting and beautiful. I asked the wife, looks nice ya, shall we order and see? The above photo is what we had after my own self assembly of the bun.
The Miso Honey Glaze Braised Pork Belly. It is different from the usual Kong Bak Bao that we eat outside. We can see the grill marks on the pork belly before it was braised.
The pickled cucumber that goes with the braised pork and steamed bun. Can try if you want a different kind of Kong Bak Pau or Asian sliders.
Host: Herge Chang
I thought his description sounded interesting. He likes to cook Western/Italian food with an Asian twist he says in his profile. I thought I want to try it out! He uses pork instead of beef.
The description for this dish:
“A great food item to order for yourself or a party! Not for the faint-hearted, gluten-free & people on a diet. Only the best & freshest ingredients are used all the time! This is legit, food for the soul.”
I laughed and laughed and thought I should order it and try.
Yes, quite tasty. Portions he says is for 2 people. If you super super love Shepherd’s Pie, you can eat one by yourself.
I think I saw his secret ingredient when he posted in his original description. Hehe.. Asian twist is the big hint if you are wondering. Not telling you. So clever of him!
Host: Annie Yang
The wife was reminded by Facebook about the confinement food she had from 2 years ago. She said I do miss it, Dine Inn has anyone cooking confinement food or not? Yes I said! I browsed it before and I think she’s very good. You want to try? I order for you! She said yes!
So I ordered it and self-collected it. It was not too far from our place too. It is probably the most satisfying meal for the wife (I liked a few others, this is for the ladies). It came in a thermal bag too, to keep the food really warm!
The food in the thermal bag, with the liquid ones in an extra bag just in case it spills. There are many people with eye for details I noticed! I was a bit early than the agreed collection time, so I stood outside Annie’s house and waited. The food’s prepared to the exact timing of collection! Her husband said hang on a while, she’s frying the vegetables. Such dedication.
The ‘confinement’ food that is prepared. The ginger used is from Bentong as well. So if you know your ginger, this is the preferred ginger to use for Black Vinegar Pork Trotter.
Even as I collected at the front door, I could smell the whiff of fragrance.
Are you tempted? It is the slightly sweetish and not the sour kind if you are wondering.
It’s served with Brown Rice too. The Mrs says this is too healthy. She didn’t even eat brown rice for her confinement. (Haha!)
The menu says fried vegetable with garlic. It so happens that it is French Beans that she loves.
The dessert was a piping hot Snow Fungus Lotus Seeds Lily Flower with Red Dates Dessert. Since the Mrs is just pretending to be confinement, we chilled the dessert until it was nice and cold then we had it. So delicious and not so sweet like the ones outside. It’s a big portion too!
The Mrs said: “eh, this one can recommend to those preggies leh”.
Host: Melvyn Olivero
The Mrs like the healthier kind of food, but I like this kind of food. Soto Ayam, Chicken Dum Briyani. I see such food, I “very gian” to try. So I ordered to try.
The “Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Briyani”. It is quite flavourful and please be careful of the cardamoms. The usual bane when eating Briyani. It can quite filling having it. I happen to order it with the Soto Ayam. I was so so full after that!
The Raita that comes with it. It comes with 2 pieces of fried papadams too!
I was wondering how different the usual soto we have compared to the Surabaya ones.
Melvyn’s version is tasty. So tasty that I finished up every drop of the soto gravy! It’s slightly sour after squeezing the lime. So appetizing!
Egg (coz both dishes had a whole egg) and carbo overload. So satisfying. I could just sleep from the carbo food coma after.
End notes…
9 reviews for a post. Took a long time to try it all and an equally long time to type it all out. Take a look for yourself. You might find something that you would like to eat, out of someone’s kitchen. I didn’t order any cakes because I have a baker at home that makes super good cakes.
Here’s the URL again: www.DineInn.com
For the app: Search for “Dine Inn” on your phone’s App / Play Store.
This is such a great idea. This really helps people with more choices of food and people who really love to have the taste of a home-cooked meal.