Imagine securing a reservation at a top restaurant, which you don’t even have to step outside your front door to get to. Lucy Richardson hangs up her oven gloves and calls in a catering duo who are cooking up feasts in kitchens across the region.

IT did feel a bit strange coming home from work on Friday evening to find two strangers making themselves at home in… my home.

Call me paranoid, but it’s not everyday you get a chef who has worked at some of the North-East’s most celebrated restaurants rustling up a fivecourse feast in a Stockton semi.

Inspired by a trip to Australia, Matt Daniel has launched a fine-dining business with friend Kris Wood. During a summer spent visiting his antipodean friends and family, Matt was employed by a small, private catering company aimed at Brisbane “foodies”.

After witnessing the success enjoyed by his employers, Jacob and Tori, he returned to the North-East eager to offer something similar but more affordable.

Matt launched the new fine-dining venture, named after his mentors, alongside Kris, who he met three years ago. The Middlesbrough pair also run Jackson’s corporate catering and are considering making the most of their culinary skills by teaching cookery classes.

As much as I like the thought of hosting a dinner party for six, the stressful reality fills me with dread.

So the prospect of having professionals doing the catering feels like a dollop of heaven on a plate.

I’m an okay cook, but my quest for culinary perfection routinely ends up in a meltdown. I’m more Gordon Ramsay on a bad day than Nigella’s simpering domestic goddess.

So when Kris, dressed in his smart black waiters’ uniform, refilled our drinks in the garden, I was more than happy to sit back, relax and savour the moment.

The demands on the host are minimal.

We supplied our own booze, crockery and cutlery and they did all the rest. We were called to our table at eight o’clock and served a prestarter of a shot of pea and mint soup with ham dumplings.

Served in colourful expresso cups there were lots of ‘oos’ and ‘aahs’ around the table as we all wondered whether the delicious concoction should be sipped or spooned.

This was followed by a selection of pates with mini toasts, home-made chutney, smoked bacon lardons and wild cress. This was my favourite course as not only was it beautifully presented, but I would never have dreamt of serving three slices of different pates.

Next up was lemon-infused roast chicken breast with root vegetables, a light rosemary, red wine gravy and watercress. My husband, Matthew, marvelled at the array of vegetables, which still had a bite to them, unlike our usual overcooked mush.

Delicious vanilla pod cheesecake with champagne poached strawberries and raspberry coulis were dished up as dessert, and there were truffles, fudge and jellies to finish.

There was something lovely about eating in familiar surroundings where you didn’t have to struggle to catch the waiter’s attention and there was no pressure to wolf down our food to free up our table for the next sitting.

Matt, dressed in his pristine chef’s whites, made an appearance at the end of the meal, together with Kris, to bask in the praise heaped upon them by all six of us.

With stints at the celebrated Cleveland Tontine, the Baltic, in Gateshead, and the Bay Horse, in Hurworth, under his belt, Matt says he is passionate about giving people a genuine restaurant experience in their own home.

“This is something the North-East has not seen before,” he explains. “It’s big in London and we want to make people here aware of it.”

Whether you’re feeding guests in a bedsit or a ballroom, they say they can cater in any venue, no matter how big or small. “We’re very good at thinking on our feet, we don’t even need a kitchen. We always meet the client beforehand so we can sort all of that out,” says Kris, who gained his front-of-house experience at Judges Country House Hotel, in Yarm, The Silk Room Champagne Bar and Restaurant, and on the Newcastle Quayside.

Reading my mind, Kris says hosts need not worry about the cleanliness of their ovens when asking them round to cook. “It’s a big thing to ask people in to cook in your home, so we want to make it as enjoyable and special as we can,” he reassures.

When Matt and Kris leave, the kitchen is spotlessly clean and every piece of our crockery and cutlery used had been hand-washed and dried. Wow.

Despite the great company and fabulous food my husband looks forlorn.

“I know I’ll never eat a meal as nice as that in my own home again,” he says.