Valentine's Gifts For The Food And Drink Obsessed

As much as we don't overly buy into Valentine's Day it's been such a rough 12 months that we think everyone deserves a treat at every possible opportunity for the foreseeable future, so the heart-shaped holiday is just an excuse to buy more food and drink. If you've predictably left your present buying to the last minute, here are some things you can order online that an be collected or that should (unforeseen circumstances aside) arrive before V-Day.

Brunch / Afternoon Tea / Grazing

The Cake Café

Maybe you don't want to do dinner, or maybe you want to have a day of eating. Either way there are some really nice brunch and afternoon tea options available this year. The Cake Café have a very pink Valentine's 'Love Lunch', available for collection or delivery on the 14th. It's €65 and includes sandwiches, crostinis, cakes, cookies, salads, teas and prosecco cocktails. Order here.

Brunch From The Divine Foodie

The Divine Foodie deliver their brunch boxes across Dublin on Saturdays. For €32.50 you get homemade sausage rolls, chilli chutney, North Wicklow free range eggs, homemade brown bread, Belgian waffles with chocolate sauce, granola with yogurt and fruit compote, and optional extras including Kilmullen Farm Apple juice and smashed avocado. Order a brunch box here.

Anduma's Cheese And Charcuterie Box

Anduma's Valentine's box contains four different cheeses, Spanish ham, salame milano, crackers, Ferrero Rocher, mini honey pot, Sheridan's chutney, dried fruit and nuts. You can also include an optional cheese knife. It's €29 and another €5 for delivery, which they'll be doing on Saturday 13th. Order here.

Eatyard's Wine & Cheese Box

Eatyard's Valentine's wine and cheese boxes are available to purchase from their sites at The Bernard Shaw in Drumcondra and The Lighthouse in Dun Laoghaire. For €40 you'll get Irish cheeses, charcuterie, crackers, chutney, Bean & Goose chocolate and red wine. Available from Thursday 11th.

The Valentine's Box From Baa Baa

Baa Baa in Chapelizod have sweet and savoury covered with their Valentine's Boxes containing an Irish cheeseboard, red wine, homemade cheesecake brownies and homemade love heart chocolates with rose petals and sea salt. It's €70 and available for collection on Saturday 13th, or delivery to certain areas for an extra €10. Check them out here.

Sweet Teeth

The Bean And Goose Tasting Club

We love a good food club, and we love chocolate, so the Bean and Goose tasting club is right up our street. Each month members receive two bars, a one off from their Bean Lab and another from their core range. Both come with tasting notes and it starts at €45 for a three-month subscription. Sign your lover up here.

The Cupcake Bloke's Valentine's Treat Box

The Cupcake Bloke's Valentine's treat boxes went on sale for postal delivery last week and sold out straight away, but they can be purchased directly from the bakery on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th. For €21 you get a red velvet cookie stack, a chocolate and Irish cream liqueur truffle cake, a heart-shaped raspberry and coconut mikado, a white chocolate and raspberry bakewell bark, and a brown butter triple chocolate brownie. Serious sugar coma potential, but totally worth it.

Póg's Valentine's Boxes

Póg's Valentine's boxes are €35 or €53 with a bottle of bubbly (we presume prosecco or similar), and include brownies, caramel chocolate popcorn, loveheart cookies, rose cupcakes, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate bombs and heart-shaped marshmallows. Collection only. DM them on Instagram to order.

Valentine's Alfies From Gordita

We love Gordita's Argentinean alfajores - two soft biscuits sandwiched with dulce de leche caramel - and they're delivering their pink boxes across Dublin on Saturday 13th. Choose any combination of flavours from chocolate, white chocolate, ruby, gold, Italian meringue and vanilla (our favourites were gold and vanilla), and order by sending them a DM on Instagram.

Butlers Valentine's Chocolates

Butlers have a whole range of heart-shaped/pink/floral themed chocolates to choose from, and it's a good time to stock up as the Christmas chocolate has probably just run out. There's a gifting bundle for the serious chocolate lover, loads of different sized boxes, tins and trays, and our personal choice, the cocktail menu, with flavours including whiskey sour, passion fruit margarita and an espresso martini. See the range and order here.

Kale + C0co's Chocolate Fondue Box

For the sweet toothed vegans/coeliacs, Kale + Coco have a vegan and gluten free chocolate fondue box, with fruit, banana bread, dates, granola, coconut chips and rose petals for dipping. It comes wrapped up in a gift box with a red rose for €25, and is for collection only on Saturday 13th. Order here.

Krispy Kreme's Love Heart Doughnuts

If you have someone in your life who happily gets in the drive-through queue for Krispy Kreme, they'll probably be into their Valentine’s Day collaboration with Swizzels Love Hearts. The limited-edition heart-shaped (obvs) doughnuts come with messages like "I love you" and "BFF", and all the sherbet flavours (as well as chocolate). They're €2.95 each or €18.95 for 12, and you can get them through their click and serve, via the drive-through, or delivered on Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo. See the range and order here.

Food Hampers & Booze

The Hen's Teeth Gift Box

"The world's in bits but you're not" gift box from Hen's Teeth has so many of our favourite things in there we're tempted to order it as a gift from me to me. For €80 you get a bottle of pet nat, a two-person Pornstar Martini from Irish Craft Cocktails, Harry's nutbutter extra hawt, Kold hot sauce, coco caramel hazelnuts and a Wary Meyers soap, as well as a card and the best gift box we've seen in some time. Order for collection or delivery between 11th - 13th February here.

Nan Wang's Sauce Selection

Chefs Alan Wang and Adam McCloskey started Nan Wang's a few months ago selling Chinese condiments to spice up your meals, and these have a big fat ATF seal of approval - running out of their black bean sauce has been the most devastating thing to happen in 2021 so far. The sesame chilli oil has a smokier, spicier kick than rayu, and the Asian tomato chutney is made for curry. Jars are €6-€7 and you can add a gift box for €2. Order by DMing them on Instagram.

Union Hall's Food Box

West Cork smokehouse Union Hall's €50 food box contains all of their smoked fish products, like whiskey infused smoked salmon and smoked mackerel paté, as well as cheeses, biscuits and other treats. Boxes come packed with ice to keep them fresh, and you can order your own taste of West Cork here.

Jamon From Spain Iberico

Let's be honest. One of the main reasons we return to Spain time and time again is to bring back copious amounts of jamon, and we're found this new 'no-flying anywhere' normal particularly hard to take from a food standpoint. So when we stumbled across Spain Iberico recently, set up by people like us, for people like us who are struggling to find the good stuff on home turf, we wasted no time placing an order. It was dispatched the same day with delivery due a few days later, and because they're EU based there's no custom-related issues to worry about. You'll also get 15% off your first order by signing up to their mailing list. See their range here.

Valentine's Cocktails From Craft Cocktails

Is it really Valentine's Day if you haven't had a cocktail? This year take all the stress, shaking and stirring out of it by ordering a Valentine's bundle from Irish Craft Cocktails. They've re-packaged some of their pink and purple classics, and added Cosmopolitans to the line up, and a set of four will set you back €60 with free delivery. Order here.

The Green Man Wine Club's "Love" Edition

If wine is more your bag, sign your lover up to Green Man Wine's wine club this week and your first box will be themed "Love of the land", exploring the theme of love in wine. Uber romantic. A three month subscription is €199, and you can sign up here.