Foodie gifts around £25 I can order online that look impressive,any ideas?

[mrsnec]

So just that really, the recipients don't drink that much booze. He likes the occasional craft ale.

They like coffee,tea chocolate and baked goods and are huge fans of medditeranean food of all varieties as well as traditional stuff.

They visited me last year,I live on the continent, I made a hamper of local things for them to take home.this year they are staying in the UK so I need to get something delivered.

I've looked at the likes of Firebox and whisk hampers but wasn't inspired. department stores just seem like the easy option. I got a hamper from Betty's once and didn't like it.

So my idea so far would be something like a Panettone from Carluccio's or Ottolenghi's. Has anyone ordered anything from either? Would that impress you as a foodie? If not any other suggestions?

Possibly not the sort of thing you're looking for but I've ordered the winter desserts chocolates from Hotel Chocolate to be delivered to friends we won't see this side of Christmas.

The larger size box was £22, P&P was £4.95 (I think) but I paid extra to specify the day it's delivered, I think the standard was £3.95.

I don't want it to arrive on 23rd or 24th in case they're going away for Christmas, and also wanted to be able to order it now and forget it.

The alternative was a hamper from a good quality bakers fairly close to where they live, but I went with chocolates as they have a longer shelf life.

MrsLindor I have to agree with you; Hotel Chocolat is fab for gifts. We tend to buy couples their sharing dipping adventures. Love them!

How about an ottolenghi cookbook with some of the hard to fin ingredients to go with it. If you look on a website called Sous Chef you can buy a hamper of the ingredients for £20 but I bet you could source them separately for cheaper. Then the cookbook is £11 from Amazon .

A bit different, but if they like to cook the ingredients from here are lovely and a bit 'different' (I'd love the wild rose selection pack if someone was giving me a present :) )

Thanks everyone,some great suggestions. I had dismissed Hc but on reflection specific delivery dates could sway it because I hate inconveniencing people with deliveries. Besides, she does eat chocolate everyday so will revisit that.

Love the look of the sous chef website too. How have I not seen that before?

Book an option too. I bought Phaidon cookbooks for them in the past that went down well.

Takver, that was a lovely idea too. Hope someone buys you that rose selection!

anyway,lots for me to think about.

Oh! The Spicery is also a good place to get foodie gifts.

I bought a Whittards of Chelsea mixed coffee gift pack one year - I think online from a department store, but you can also buy direct and look for discount codes

I've just ordered a selection of award winning mail order chocolate brownies from 'Bluebasil Brownies' to be delivered to a group of friends. They look amazing.

What about something to present food on? Such as nice tapas dishes?