Catering services have always existed for weddings, cocktail parties and other social occasions. But after six lockdowns – and getting to know services like Providoor – Melburnians are more willing than ever to spend on getting a fancy feast cooked and delivered.

Next-gen Vietnamese restaurant Hanoi Hannah is capitalising on this trend with the launch of Hanoi Hannah Entertaining, a service ready to feed large groups of people.

“This is an exciting take on entertaining because it’s not your typical catering or takeaway,” says creative director Simon Blacher. “It’s our crowd-pleasers boxed up and ready to eat. No assembly is required; just unbox and dig in.” (Some dishes do need 10 minutes in the oven, but that’s it.)

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There are three menus, all designed to share, accommodate common dietary requirements and scale up or down depending on headcount.

The first, Entertaining, lets you choose one of four “specialty platters” or make up your own “combination platter”. Set platters included a fried chicken option with lemongrass chicken, lime, and two types of mayo; and a spring roll option with prawn, vegetable, and Hanoi Hannah spring rolls, banh hoi (vermicelli noodle cakes), lettuce, herbs, pickles, and nuoc mam dipping sauce. Prices start at $110 for five to 10 people.

The second package, Picnic Time, is designed for the beach or park. There are two types of bento boxes (regular and vegan) mixing a whole bunch of small Vietnamese dishes, plus a banh mi box containing a range of rolls. Each Picnic Time box includes peanut dip, sesame crackers and pickles.

The last option, Office Shout, includes four types of rice paper rolls (tuna sashimi Peking duck, chargrilled chicken or grilled asparagus) plus more substantial mains such as poached chicken coleslaw, several types of vermicelli salad, Vietnamese chicken rice and sticky pork rice. Office Shout starts at $10 per head.

Order before 12pm for next business day pick up or delivery. The restaurant will delivery within 20 kilometres of the Express Lane kitchen on High Street, Windsor.