A Dinner Served Differently: Our Hand-Painted Indian Tiffins
Some things have become unmistakably Eat Street over the years.
Fresh bread. Big flavours. Colourful tables. Food that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
And then there are the tiffins.
Our collection of hand-painted Indian tiffins is something we’re particularly proud of — and something you won’t find as part of the usual private dining offering on the Isle of Wight.
They’re not just there because they look good (although, lined up ready for dinner, they really do).
They’re part of an Indian dining experience we’ve developed around the kind of food Alex genuinely loves to cook.
Where it all started
We started with just 14 tiffins, and from the beginning we always had one eye on growing the collection — really just looking for an excuse to buy more and take on bigger, more ambitious events.
That excuse finally came in September 2025, when a wedding gave us the perfect reason to expand (you can read more about it in our case study here). Since then, we’ve built the collection to just over 30 tiffins, which we put to work again at a private party later that same month.
The first time we brought them out was for a private dinner at the beautiful Cowes home of the owners of Jack Thompson — using just 8 of the tiffins we had at the time, even though we already had 14 in the collection.
Eight guests. Eight hand-painted tiffins. And an Indian feast.
It was exactly our sort of event.
Rather than a traditional three-course dinner, each guest received their own stacked tiffin filled with different elements of the meal.
Opening them became part of the evening.
Lids came off around the table to reveal different dishes, with breads, accompaniments and extras to share.
Colourful, generous, informal and just a little bit theatrical.
We knew pretty quickly that we’d be doing it again.
Why Indian food?
Indian cuisine is something Alex has always loved cooking.
And when we say Indian food, we’re not talking about a standard curry-house menu recreated for an event.
We’re talking about the enormous variety of regional Indian cooking: proper spices, slow cooking, freshly made breads, chutneys, pickles and dishes built around layers of flavour.
Depending on the menu, that could mean slow-cooked meats, fragrant rice, deeply spiced vegetables, dhal, cooling yoghurt, homemade chutneys and breads made from scratch by Alex.
It’s the sort of cooking that takes time.
Some elements might start days before your guests ever sit down at the table.
But that’s also what makes it special.
And it’s fair to say the love of it runs through the team — Laurel, for example, has been known to eat curry every day for 13 days straight while at university.
More than a way of serving dinner
The tiffins haven’t only made an appearance at private events.
We’ve also built an entire pop-up around them, creating an Indian menu that featured none of the 14 main allergens.
Not because we wanted to create a menu of substitutes or make a big thing about what wasn’t in the food.
Quite the opposite.
We wanted to create a menu that stood completely on its own — full of proper Indian flavours, spice, colour and texture — that just happened to be accessible to far more people.
That’s one of the things we love about Indian cooking. There’s so much depth and variety to work with that a menu can be designed around different requirements without feeling like anyone is getting the ‘alternative’ version.
The result was a pop-up where everyone could sit down to the same food, served from the same colourful tiffins.
The tiffins have become an Eat Street signature
Since that first dinner in Cowes, our hand-painted tiffins have become one of our favourite ways to cater a private event.
We’re proud to be the only caterer on the Isle of Wight offering authentic Indian private dining served in our collection of hand-painted tiffins.
But the tiffins themselves are only part of what makes it work.
What’s inside them matters even more.
We fill them with authentic Indian cuisine, made from scratch and packed with the bold flavours, spice, colour and texture that we think this style of food deserves.
No beige buffet.
No generic curry and rice.
And definitely no toning everything down because it’s an event.
Just really good food, served in a way that makes people excited to eat it.
When dinner becomes part of the occasion
Using the tiffins always turns dinner into an experience.
We love creating events where food isn’t just something that happens in the middle of the evening — it is the evening.
It’s the reason people come together, the thing that gets everyone talking, leaning in, sharing.
People open their tiffins. They compare what’s inside. Dishes get passed around. Someone asks what’s in the chutney. Another piece of bread disappears before anyone can claim it.
Dinner becomes part of the conversation — exactly how we think food should be.
Bringing the tiffins to your table
Our Indian tiffin experience works brilliantly for birthdays, celebrations, private dinners, intimate weddings and group stays in holiday homes across the Isle of Wight.
We can cater for up to 30 guests using the individual hand-painted tiffins, creating a bespoke Indian menu around your event and the food you love.
We’ll talk about the sort of evening you’re planning, the flavours you enjoy and how you want the whole thing to feel, then Alex creates your menu around it.
The tiffins might be exclusive to us.
But what’s inside them should still be completely yours.
FAQ's
Yes. Eat Street creates bespoke Indian private dining experiences across the Isle of Wight, including dinners at private homes, holiday accommodation, weddings and other celebrations. Our hand-painted Indian tiffins are exclusive to Eat Street on the Isle of Wight and can be used to create a completely different way of serving your Indian feast.
Absolutely. We regularly cater for guests staying in holiday homes and private accommodation across the Isle of Wight. We prepare the majority of the food before arriving, then finish, serve and clear everything at your property — so you can enjoy the evening with your guests rather than spending it in the kitchen.
We have a collection of 30 hand-painted tiffins and can use them for intimate dinners, parties and small weddings. If you’re planning something larger, talk to us — we can create different ways of incorporating our Indian food into your event.
Authentic Indian cooking is hugely important to us. Alex loves exploring the different regional cuisines of India, using traditional spices, techniques and flavour combinations rather than creating a generic curry-house menu. Everything is made from scratch wherever possible, including our breads, chutneys, pickles and accompaniments.
No. Our Indian private dining menus are bespoke. We’ll find out what you love, your dietary requirements and the type of event you’re planning before creating a menu specifically for your group. That means two Eat Street tiffin dinners don’t necessarily look the same.
Yes, depending on the individual requirements and event. We’ve previously created an entire Indian tiffin pop-up menu featuring none of the 14 main allergens. Allergies and dietary requirements should always be discussed with us before booking so we can advise what’s possible for your particular event.
Yes. Our hand-painted tiffins are a brilliant option for couples looking for something different from traditional wedding catering. They work particularly well for intimate Isle of Wight weddings where you want the meal itself to become part of the experience.
We’re based in Cowes and cater for private dinners and events across the Isle of Wight. We can come to private homes, holiday houses, wedding venues and other suitable locations across the Island.