Whether you're inspired to recreate that smoked aubergine salad you enjoyed over lunch last Saturday or impress friends with a slice of homemade cherry, pistachio and coconut cake with rosewater cream like the one you treated yourself to at that amazing deli, the answer is to purchase the ultimate cheat: a restaurant cookbook. From Middle Eastern favourites and exquisite seafood to delicate French desserts, these restaurant-standard cookbooks hold all the instructions you need to wow your friends with a professional culinary experience at home. Here are some of the best:
Spring: The Cookbook by Skye Gyngell
Taking recipes straight from the menu of Australian-born chef Skye Gyngell's ground-breaking Spring restaurant at Somerset House, Spring: The Cookbook is a valuable mix of vibrant salads, warming breads, meat and seafood and pasta dishes. Try your hand at some of the mouth-watering recipes on offer from crab salad with chilli and pumpkin, guinea fowl with faro, parsley and kimchi, or warm chocolate and espresso pudding.
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Even if you haven't visited one of Caravan's popular and award-winning restaurants or coffee roasters, this book – filled with 100 delicious Antipodean dishes to take you from morning coffee to lunch and after-dinner drinks – is sure to whet your appetite. Featuring some of the most popular dishes from the restaurant menu, founders Miles Kirby, Laura Harper-Hinton and Chris Ammermann have infused their New Zealand heritage into every dish. Enjoy sweet potato and chorizo croquettes with saffron mayonnaise, chargrilled lamb cutlets and chermoula, and aubergine puree with preserved lemon gremolata and poached eggs.
£25, Vintage, out 8 June
Oklava: Recipes from a Turkish-Cypriot Kitchen
Walk past this small corner restaurant in Shoreditch on most evenings and it will be full of people enjoying Selin Kiazim's delectable dishes influenced by flavours of the Middle East, Mediterranean and southern Europe. Inspired by Kiazim's heritage, bring a slice of her incredible home-cooked dishes reminiscent of summers spent in north Cyprus to your own kitchen. And with dishes such as pistachio-crusted banana and tahini French toast with orange blossom syrup and smoked streaky bacon (salivating yet?) or feta and mint fritters, there won't be any leftovers at your next dinner party.
£25, Mitchell Beazley
NOPI by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully
Bringing a little (or a lot) of Ottolenghi's wisdom and expertise into your home, Nopi remains one of the best cookbooks on the kitchen shelf since its release in September 2015. With 120 of the Soho-based restaurant's best dishes, the book celebrates the bold flavours of the Ottolenghi kitchen with an Asian twist, courtesy of head chef Scully. Novices and experts alike will delight at the range of recipes on offer covering starters, sides, brunch, fish, meat, puddings and more, which have been adapted to be made at home (so cancel that sous vide order). Standout dishes include aubergine with black garlic, roasted squash with sweet tomatoes and beef brisket croquettes – ideal for a special weekend dinner.
£28, Ebury Press
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