Amy Grier

Food delivery can get a bad rep, but there's no need to scoff at it. Treating yourself can mean splashing out on a rooftop cocktail, munching through a massive steak, buying a new outfit or boozing your way through a bottomless brunch, but some days the thing we most want is to put on pyjamas, curl up on the sofa and eat a delicious dinner out of little plastic containers. This is our guide to London restaurants which can truly deliver the goods, as chosen by food experts and Time Out staff who really know their takeaways.

Lobster used to be decadent - cloaked in elitism and perhaps used as a socio-culinary threat to whoever was footing the bill (‘maybe I’ll order the lobster!’). But restaurants like Burger and Lobster and Smack Lobster have put the costly crustacean into the hands of the masses. And now another specialist has opened in what’s rapidly becoming a culinary enclave on the edge of London Fields. High ceilings, huge industrial-style windows and whitewashed interiors give Lobster Bar a feeling of serenity. Service is warm, attentive and knowledgeable.  Going for dinner on bank holiday Sunday meant they’d run out of quite a few dishes. But what we ate was good: scallops and cauliflower purée (£7) juxtaposed sweet, perfectly charred shellfish with the savoury vegetable. A crab croquette (£6.50) was pleasantly spicy. Venus clams with tenderstem broccoli and tomatoes (£8) had a salty, garlicky broth that was worth ordering extra sourdough for. If you’re hungry, I’d avoid ordering the half lobster (£15.50) for a main. Pay £19 and get an entire 450g beast, or £26.50 for 750g. Our grilled half (of a 750g lobster) was succulent and well bathed in herby garlic butter. The lobster roll (£15) didn’t come with promised wasabi mayo (they’d run out) but it had moist flesh and iceberg crunch, and was encased in a pillowy brioche bun. Its diminutive size, however, left us needing a second order of excellent truffle fries (£4.50) to stave off rumbling tummies.  Bottles of wine start at £21.50 and man