A few weeks ago, I was chatting with some colleagues about what we did on the weekend. “Oh, I had some friends randomly drop over on Sunday afternoon and they ended up staying for dinner,” I said casually. He was flabbergasted. “They just dropped by? With no warning? I would freak out…I always plan dinner parties weeks in advance, and I’m always so stressed about what to serve everyone”.
Once again, I was reminded how entertaining at home can be stressful, rather than enjoyable for many people. Luckily our fridge and freezer is always well-stocked – whether it’s quickly throwing together a pan of roast vegetables and grilling some chops, or cooking a big pot of dumplings, we always have enough food to feed whoever drops by at a moment’s notice. On the rare occasion when I still want to have people over but not spend time cooking, I always think that sharing some takeaway is nice as well. That’s where Menulog comes in!
I was recently given the chance to try out Menulog, an online hub for ordering home delivered meals, and decided to take the opportunity on a night that we were entertaining four other people. As soon as you get onto the website, it’s super easy to put in your location, so that you find the food options closest to you.
Once you find the restaurants close to you that offer home delivery, you can narrow down your search if you know what you want. In this case, we wanted pizza – it was a pizza, beers and board games kind of a night! Given the state of our rumbling stomachs, we choose to go with Belmontes Gourmet Pizza in Gordon, as they’re rated 7.7/10 for speed of delivery.
We go through and start ordering a number of pizzas. It’s just as easy as ordering over the phone or over the counter with multiple size options available, and the opportunity to add or remove ingredients on individual pizzas.
Once we make our choice, we go to submit our order, putting in the voucher code that I was provided. It’s super easy, and we’re offered several options including Cash on Delivery, Paypal and Credit Cards. I opt for Paypal – I always feel more secure paying online using Paypal!
A quick redirect to and from the Paypal website, and in less than five minutes from when we started placing our order, I’m shown the confirmation page. It’s very easy, and we end up only waiting around half an hour until our pizza is delivered – amazingly quickly considering that it’s a Friday night! I was also impressed by how easily the delivery driver found us – our apartment can be difficult to get to, but he had no issues at all, and we didn’t have to go wandering down the street to find him.
We ordered a simple bruschetta pizza to start. Why is it that sometimes the simplest pizzas taste the best? The simple combination of tomato and cheese with a sprinkling of basil was a real winner.
One of the boys insisted that we get a Meat Lovers…and not just any Meat Lovers, but the largest family sized Meat Lovers! I think he ended up regretting it when he realised how big the family size actually was. With the plentiful ingredients piled on top, it certainly made for a hearty slice of pizza.
I enjoyed the Barbados chicken pizza. I always think that chicken and avocado is an excellent combination, and it made for a lighter and seemingly healthier pizza without the sticky fried mouthfeel that you can get with other pizzas.
The seafood Tuscany pizza was done extremely well. Octopus on pizza can be a bit hit or miss with many places overcooking the octopus to a rubbery death. Happily, that wasn’t the case with this pizza!
Hoping to add some vegetables to our order, we ordered the Roast Vegetarian pizza. Disappointingly, it didn’t provide the healthier option that I was hoping for, as I found many of the ingredients to be on the over-salty side, resulting in slices of pizza that left you gulping down a glass of water.
We were surprised to receive this gift from Belmontes of a free large Cheese and Garlic pizza. As the delivery driver said “The boss threw in a free garlic pizza for your party because of your large order”. It was very generous, and just one of those little touches that helps ensure that your customers have positive memories of their experience with you that keep them coming back for me. We certainly appreciated it, and Belmontes will probably be one of our top options next time we want to order pizza!
…Needless to say, we ordered way too much for six people, and there was the equivalent of three full pizzas left by the end of the night. Luckily, leftover pizza makes for a great breakfast the next day!
I found using Menulog to order food online extremely easy to use, and a great option for feeding the masses at the impromptu gatherings that we tend to hold at our house. Next time we use it, Belmontes Gourmet Pizza will definitely be one of our first choices!
Gourmanda received a credit from Menulog towards the purchase of this meal. The remaining cost of the meal was self-paid.
Hehe I’m not a fan of drop ins usually because when I’m home I’m working but impromptu dinners are fun! I used to like inviting people back in the afternoon and cooking them up something based on whatever was in my cupboards :)
I often use menulog when I’m feeling lazy and want something delivered to my door. I’ve been using it about once or twice a month for the past couple of months and have found it to work really well! :)