Melbourne lockdown takeaways: Restaurant menus, boxes and ready meals for solo diners

Multi-course takeaway menus aren't just for multi-person households. Top Melbourne restaurants are doing fancy lockdown boxes for one, plus there are delicate dumplings, sustainable Sri Lankan and convenient ready-to-heat options that prove party size doesn't matter.

Anada

Gertrude Street's Anada offers a $45 menu that's a four-dish affair of perfect proportions. Dishes change each week but get ready for the likes of house sourdough with ajo blanco, queso de Mahó and, this weekend, mussel croquettes followed by smoked pork and chicken paella. Yes, please.

Available Fri-Sat for pick-up from Fitzroy. Order by emailing the venue with number of servings and preferred collection time between 6pm-7pm.

Bar Lourinha

How lucky are we to live in a city where 15-year-old treasure Bar Lourinha is still finding clever ways to keep our spirits up in lockdown? The Casa Lourinha boxes ($65) are a mix of signatures and new material and might include burrata with piperade, kingfish pancetta, roast chicken or lamb and, naturally, a Gilda or two.

• Dani Valent reviews Bar Lourinha's box

Available Fri-Sat each week for local pick-up from CBD or delivery within 12km. Order direct

Bia Hoi

Bia Hoi chef and owner Jerry Mai has been cooking up a storm recently, taking Melburnians to Thailand, Vietnam and beyond. Her menus might be made up of lots of dishes, snacks and sides but everything starts with portions for one ($60) and scales up from there. Keep an eye on Bia Hoi's social media to see where Mai will draw inspiration from next.

Available Friday and Saturday for local pick-up from Glen Waverley or delivery to select suburbs. See Bia Hoi's website for delivery details and to order.

The Dal Project

Chefs Armaan Sethi (Mount Erica Hotel) and Parth Tuli (Atlas Dining) are using lockdown to spotlight different regions of India through dhal. Each week, the duo research a new lentil preparation to share, from tangy and light amti dhal made in Maharashtra to Punjab's dhal amritsari. Every order ($20) includes a rice dish, something to snack on, a chutney or pickle, flatbread and an optional sweet dish ($5), and these change every week so if you're a regular, you won't get bored.

Available Mondays for local pick-up from Brighton, CBD and Prahran. Order by 5pm Sunday via Instagram

Entrecote

The southside's Frencher-than-French restaurant wants everyone to enjoy its greatest hits during lockdown, no matter the size of your household. Its two-course Providoor box for one (from $54.90) swings both meaty and vegetarian. Take your pick of steak and pommes Anna with the signature green sauce or mushroom and brie Pithivier. Each box comes with salad, a crusty Ned's baguette and dessert.

Available Wed-Sun for delivery across Victoria. Order by 4pm the day prior via Providoor

High Cheese for one from The Westin

Need a tower of cheese to get you through an afternoon of FaceTimes and Zooms? Or are you at the "cheese for dinner" stage of lockdown? Either way, this cheesy riff on high tea ($98) is good to-go while we're in lockdown. Cheese scones, a Roquefort and cognac dip, brie layered with mushroom and leek, and fromage blanc with finger lime are just some of the savoury tastes on offer, with quark and preserved berries among the sweeter selections. Just add wine.

Available Wed-Sun for delivery across Victoria. Order by 4pm the day prior via Providoor

Ishizuka

There's no better time to treat yourself than now, and there's no better way to do it than with a box of A-grade delicacies from Ishizuka. The top Japanese restaurant has plenty of sashimi and bentos for solo households, whether it's the single layer bento ($150) – a mix of fresh seafood, Kagoshima wagyu, pickles and more – or, while it lasts, a rolled omelette with Victorian truffle ($25).

Available Thu-Mon for local pick-up from CBD or delivery within 14km (get in touch for deliveries beyond 14km). Order direct

Island Home

Make dinner feel like a gift to yourself rather than a chore with a banana leaf parcel of lovingly cooked Sri Lankan food (from $20). Island Home's Charith and Michele Senanayake not only want to showcase tradition, but also a sustainable way of eating, and so ingredients are sourced locally for each week's menu, which only features vegan or wild-caught fish curries. The pair also offset their energy use by planting a tree in the Daintree Rainforest and Sri Lanka for every four meals sold. Along with the main dish, each parcel comes with an array of accompaniments such as Sri Lankan sambols.

Order before noon Thursday for delivery on Friday or Saturday within 10km of Carlton. Also available at select stockists. See website for stockists or to order delivery

Oriental Teahouse

Take yourself out to yum cha and pick all your favourites with the cook-at-home range from Oriental Teahouse. Har gau and barbecued pork bun standards are joined by wagyu dumplings with chilli and spring onion, and several options for vegetarians. Everything comes frozen so you can thaw what you need and save the rest for another night. In even better news, the frozen range has just been added to Coles Local stores.

• Terry Durack reviews Oriental Teahouse's frozen range

Available Wednesday and Friday for delivery up to 35km from the CBD. Order via Mr Yum or see Coles Local locations

Oster

While this Richmond restaurant is all about the generosity that's a trademark of Italian cuisine, their at-home menus ($75) are conveniently designed for one. One week you might find pasta stuffed with breadcrumbs and grana padano in a sage and brown butter sauce, another week it might be Cape Grim rib-eye with rosemary and garlic roasted potatoes. Salad from Ramarro Farm and tiramisu round things out.

Available Fridays for local pick-up from Richmond or delivery within 15km. Order direct by 4pm Wednesday

Romu

Danishes from Collingwood's To Be Frank topped with sardines and XO sauce, potato millefeuille with black garlic cream and Gamekeepers' beef cheek slow-cooked in port: Romu doesn't skimp on anything for its meals in a box ($65). The highly seasonal menus that Loire Valley-born chef Romuald Oudeyer creates are about as close as you can get to eating at your favourite Melbourne wine bar right now, with top quality produce the star of the show. Make the most of it while you can.

Available Saturdays for local pick-up from Braybrook or delivery within 15km of the CBD. Order direct

Spring Street Grocer

Any visit to City Wine Shop that involves the chicken schnitzel ($9.50) and 'slaw is a very good time. Bring (some of) the bon temps home with a delivery of the famed schnitty, crumbed and ready to hit the pan, coleslaw and a bottle of something delicious. Add soup or gnocchi to your order to make tomorrow's WFH lunch a breeze.

Available daily for pick-up from Melbourne CBD or delivery within 10km. Order direct before noon for same-day pick-up or delivery.

Wonder Pies

Let Wonder Pies swoop in and save the day with single-serve pies in flavours such as lamb and rosemary or pumpkin, leek and feta, encased in the puff pastry of your dreams. Founded by award-winning Scottish chef Raymond Capaldi, Wonder Pies is all about using top ingredients for its sausage rolls, pasties, and sweet and savoury pies. All items freeze well and you can choose six different flavours for the six-pack if you like ($42).

Available daily for delivery within 25km of the CBD or pick-up from five locations. Order direct

400 Gradi

Melbourne's most famous Neapolitan pizza restaurant is now also a grocer, doing a roaring trade in comforts like gnocchi, meatballs in napoli sauce and, of course, lasagne. Fresh pasta and sauces are sold separately so you can mix and match, plus the portion size means you get two dinners or dinner and tomorrow's lunch. There are also pizzas, topped and ready to slide into a hot oven, and sweet treats available.

Available daily for delivery across metropolitan Melbourne. Order via iPantry