To pretend I cooked the restaurant food- dinner party

What's the obsession with justifying plain old dishonesty? OP, you really don't come out of this well.

Yes - they are going to know.

And I hate to bang on about the allergies- yes yes I know you have checked.... but your guest needs to be in full possession of the facts.

If you pass yourself as a great cook you will be expected to cook on more occasions, asked for recipes etc

just be honest and pass it off with humour, i doubt they will care they wil just be happy to eat nice food that has been prepared for them (you will be dishing it up)

There's no way people who are "super into cooking" won't know they're eating takeaway.

I'd tell them what you've said here. "You've all got complex requirements and I've got no time, so I've ordered takeaway from a good place I know."

If they're not people you can say that to, I don't know why you'd have them for dinner.

I would serve it up and then when someone compliments it I’d say yes I got it all from this wonderful restaurant…

I wouldn't think badly at all if I was a guest. I would find it all very thoughtful (and interesting if it was new to me). On the other hand, if it became obvious you had lied (which it could -- other people may know this restaurant!), I would struggle not to judge and might avoid you in future.

Just. Be. Honest.

No one will care.

ETA - I'd rather you got the proper dish from the restaurant and were honest about it than made a shit packet sauce and then lied about the while thing anyway.

You are not incompetent - you have a job that affords you the option of buying dinner for your guests. Failing would be to not provide a tasty meal which meets their dietary requirements.

Don't lie - there is absolutely no need.

Just tell them the truth. It wouldn't bother me if I went to someone's house for a lovely dinner and it had been bought from a restaurant. I'd just be grateful for the nice dinner!
If you pretend you have cooked it what will you do if they ask for the recipe?

I would honestly just tell them. Say you were busy and you love the restaurant and felt it catered to everyone.

My oldest DS has a nut allergy and to be frank, we don't touch Chinese or Indian at all. I know you have checked, but with allergies in particular you need to give all the unvarnished facts to the person with the allergy.

Sauces taste nothing like authentic Chinese food from a restaurant.

This is silly, OP! Just tell them you had a busy week so timing got away from you so you have ordered in. Nobody will think you are failing in any way and you shouldn’t feel embarrassed. That’s just life and we have all been here. They are your friends and a dinner party isn’t about the food (as long as it isn’t actually horrible!) it’s about the company.

If they find out you ordered in and passed off the food as your own, THAT would be embarrassing. It will also put you on edge for the evening worrying about it and make you bad company. That makes for a bad dinner party, not take away.

If this was my friend, I would not care a tiny bit if she ordered Chinese food in! Life is busy, everyone gets it. The point of dinner together is to spend time with people you like, not to worry about whether or not the hostess cooked. If anything, they'll appreciate you giving yourself a break because it opens great conversations about how they could do the same for themselves.

What would you think, OP, if you discovered that one of these friends who is really into cooking had been lying about it and serving restaurant food whenever they had people round? I would feel sad that my friend had such low self-esteem they felt they had to buy inclusion in a group by pretending to be someone you’re not?

if they look down on you because you can’t Cooke, they’re not true friends, they’re snobs

Look on the bright side - if you insist you cooked it you'll probably never have to entertain them again.

There's no way you can pass off a Chinese takeaway as home-cooked. Even if your guests don't contest, they will go away and think you rather silly for attempting to lie.

I have to ask - why are you hosting a dinner party (esp with so many dietary requirements) if you can’t cook?

Also if there are allergies, can you guarantee that the bought food won’t include anything that might be an issue ?

No, just tell them. You didn’t have time to cook because of work and you wanted to spend time with them and not be stuck in the kitchen. I am a foodie and I’d be super happy to eat a nice takeaway at a dinner party! It will also be reassuring to everyone with allergies and intolerances to know it was cooked in a professional kitchen.

Just be honest FFS.

I'm a good cook and take great pleasure in entertaining people and cooking for them. I also take great pleasure in visiting friends who can't/don't/won't cook and enjoying a takeaway with them.

You'd be silly to try this because it won't fool anyone. Chinese food from a local Chinese restaurant is absolutely nothing like home cooked Chinese food. Both can be delicious but they are completely different.

Anyone who knows anything bout cooking will be able to tell the difference immediately. It will make you look much sillier than telling the truth and saying 'I'm not much of a cook so I thought this would be nicer'.

There's no shame in not being a good cook. We all have different skill sets.

For goodness sake. Just tell the truth.

Don't do it! They will guess . They will ask you whete you sourcef the ingredients. Just say you don't have time to cook and hope they enjoy the takeaway.

My ex-MIL would do this. Buy things ready made and claim she made them. I never understood the need to lie about something like this. Especially because it is so easy to be found out. If they like the dish and start asking you how you made it, where you got the ingredients from etc, you'll dig yourself a serious hole! And, if they are cooks and you are not, they will know something is off!