Skip to main content

Tired of restaurant food? Umi Kitchen delivers home-cooked meals in New York City

umi kitchen home cooked meal delivery uni vegan quinoa
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Do you miss your parents’ home-cooked meals? Umi Kitchen promises dinner cooked in someone else’s home and delivered to your door, according to Business Insider.

Other services like Blue Apron, Plated, Purple Carrot, and Sun Basket will ship weekly deliveries with the ingredients and cooking instructions for multiple meals, but you have to prepare them yourself. Meals from Umi Kitchen, on the other hand, have been prepared and cooked in small quantities by local cooks working from their own kitchens.

Related: Sun Basket organic meal-delivery service will soon reach 98 percent of U.S.

Umi is an app platform that helps home chefs cook for strangers, as long as the strangers live in the vicinity of Brooklyn or Manhattan, east of 5th Avenue between Houston and 116th streets.

Any of the millions of people within Umi’s current service area can order meals from the app, but not just anyone can cook for Umi. People who want to offer meals submit an application. The next step is for the founders to taste a sample menu. Cooks do not have to always offer the same meal, but they do need a signature dish. According to the company, each cook (also called an Umi) only prepares a few of their favorite dishes each night. The  accepted cooks must also take and pass the same food safety training required for New York restaurant workers.

Patrons can open the app and decide what they would  like to order from the selection of meals. They can order up to seven days in advance, but same-day orders must be placed by 2 p.m. Your meal will be delivered by Postmates, cooked and ready to eat. You also receive reheating instructions, an ingredient list, and a personal note from the cook.

Umi’s founders may have created a new gig-economy category. Restaurant deliveries are certainly not new, especially not in New York City, but the delivery of home-cooked meals is original. If Umi’s concept spreads, someone is going to have to decide whether to call it meal-hailing or cook-sharing or something else.

Editors' Recommendations

Bruce Brown
Digital Trends Contributing Editor Bruce Brown is a member of the Smart Homes and Commerce teams. Bruce uses smart devices…
This R2-D2 lookalike is really a smart speaker stand, and it’s $32 for Cyber Monday
A little girl looks at the Impremli Android Rus-T1 smart speaker stand on a set of shelves.

Star Wars lovers may enjoy what this Cyber Monday deal at Amazon has to offer, as it resembles one of the most popular characters in the Star Wars universe, R2-D2. And while at heart the Impremli Android Rus-T1 is a decorative knick-knack, in actuality it’s a smart speaker stand that works with a wide variety of the best smart speakers. You can currently grab the little robot for $32, which is a $23 Cyber Monday savings from its regular price of $55.

Why you should buy the Impremli Android Rus-T1 smart speaker stand
R2-D2 is one of the most beloved characters Star Wars has turned out, and while this smart speaker stand is in no way an officially licensed R2-D2 replica, it looks enough like Luke Skywalker’s sidekick for me to call it that if it were at my bedside. It has rotatable legs that allow for it to stand in different positions on tables, shelves, kitchen counters, and even around the office. It includes a set of interchangeable blue accessories, but should you want to move the representation away from R2-D2, you can purchase additional colors that are sold separately.

Read more
The best Dyson cordless vacuum Cyber Monday deals right now
The Dyson V15 Detect cordless vacuum with its laser.

The arrival of Cyber Monday deals means that shoppers can get some rare discounts on Dyson products. If you're hoping to get one of the brand's cordless vacuums, we've rounded up the best Dyson cordless vacuum Cyber Monday deals that you can shop right now. You'll no longer have to sniff out these bargains yourself, but you still need to decide quickly on what to buy because the offers may expire at any moment.
The best Dyson cordless vacuum Cyber Monday deal
Dyson V8 Origin+ -- $225, was $420

Without a doubt, the best deal we're seeing is on the Dyson V8 Origin+ Cordless Vacuum. The reasoning? Its price is being cut back by a lot, putting the price into reach for most consumers, while also maintaining a level of quality and features that will feel premium.

Read more
DeWalt Cyber Monday Deals: Save on power tools and accessories
A DeWalt drill being used.

There are lots of tech goodies on sale during Cyber Monday deals, but you shouldn't overlook the chance to get more practical things like power tools with a discount. That oversized TV you purchased from today's Cyber Monday TV deals won't mount itself. We've collected all of the best power tool Cyber Monday deals in one spot for you already, but with power tools it is often best to zoom in on one brand. This is largely because of their batteries, which you can use from one product to the next within the same brand, encouraging you to buy from the same brand again and again.

With this in mind, we look at DeWalt's tools and accessories. Their 20V line of cordless power tools is particularly popular and we're seeing good deals on them for Black Friday. Additionally, we'll be taking a look at some of their accessories, which are also on sale at this time of the year.

Read more