It was the dinky wee tubs and bags accompanying the main course container that I found most endearing. Fred Berkmiller’s pot-au-feu, collected on Friday as a takeaway-for-two from his Edinburgh restaurant l’Escargot Bleu, really delivered the sense that much care and attention had been put into each element personally by chef himself.

His slow-cooked pot-au-feu, an earthy French ragout that literally translates as “pot on the fire”, was launched to mark Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight, the annual celebration of Scotland’s natural larder – or what chef Fred refers to as “le terroir ecossais”. He currently sources from 50 different suppliers across the country, and is a recipient of the Scottish Sourcing Award at the Scotland Food and Drink Awards. For the pot-au-feu he uses local beef, lamb, pork and chicken, and for my meal he’d sourced the veg (potatoes, carrots, turnips, onions) from his private walled garden in Newton near Edinburgh. (This is a wonderful space of raised beds, a polytunnel and an ancient greenhouse which I had the privilege of visiting last year with Fred. His new-found passion for growing all sorts of fruit and veg for his restaurant was palpable – and catching.)

He made two stocks to maximise the natural flavours: one a clear salted bouillon of featherblade, tongue, cheek and vegetables to draw out their flavours, and the other is unsalted so the flavour remains in the meat and veg. When combined, they rendered the entire dish exceptional because not only was the gravy delicious, but the texture and flavour of all four meats remained delightfully distinctive. It reminded me of when I lived in France and learning to cook a la francaise, even if the ingredients here were Scottish. And this time, all I had to do was reheat it for around half-an-hour.

And what about the lidded pots? One contained Dijon mustard to accompany the casserole. The others each contained the most delicious Soupe de Poissons (made with Eyemouth crab, Skye langoustine heads, haddock, conger eel and of course Pastis, pictured right), aioli, croutons, Gruyere; a clafoutis made with plums and apples from chef’s garden; and a duck-egg crème brule. Exceptional quality with very little effort on my part.

For chef and his team – initially wife Betty, daughter Matilde and son Camile but now supplemented once again by his regular staff - it’s not quite so easy. With around 80 takeaway orders weekly, some for two, four or six people, he is cooking around 300-450 ready meals a week. Together with running his restaurant l’Escargot Bleu with reduced seating, his working week now involves running two sets of menus, though with very different delivery methods.

On Mondays he writes the new menus and his weekly newsletter (which now attracts around 50,000 views: visit www.lescargotbleu.co.uk/); Tuesdays he is on his own butchering and prepping for the week; joined by his team on Wednesdays for lunch and dinner service at the restaurant and cooking for takeaway; Thursdays for the restaurant and takeaway; Fridays boxing up takeaway orders and running the restaurant for lunch and dinner, plus doing takeaway deliveries (which he loves because it means he gets to chat with customers); and on Saturdays cooking in the restaurant for lunch and dinner.

He says it’s difficult to determine whether takeaway is taking up equal or more time than running two restaurants did (l’Escargot Blanc, Fred’s other restaurant, is currently closed). But he does acknowledge that doing takeaway is a lot more demanding than he’d initially assumed it would be. Firstly, sourcing containers online was tricky “because everybody else was starting takeaway around the same time as we were”. His are plastic, because composable ones were impossible for him to find, but they are re-usable – and the lids snap closed properly. Also, ensuring food is at the correct temperature and stays fresh in the fridge until next day if required, is vital.

When I went to collect my order from the downstairs area that used to be Bleu’s delicatessen and is now used as the takeaway kitchen and packing area, I was worried I was arriving too soon at 2.10pm. However there was already a small queue ahead of me and by the time Betty and Matilde had packed my order and we’d had a wee chat the queue had stretched along the courtyard, up the stairs and onto the street. But just as many prefer to stay indoors while the pandemic persists and rely on home delivery rather than visiting the restaurant.

“When we first decided to do takeaway in May, we hadn’t been earning a penny since lockdown began in March since Betty and I are self-employed and furlough didn’t apply to us,” explained Fred. “We weren’t in a position to advertise so we simply used our customer database to let people know and honestly, the phone and order line went crazy.

“It was like people emerging from the war desperate for food. It was wonderful.”

Is takeaway here for good? “My gut feeling is that it will remain a core part of our business,” he says. “We already have about 30 return customers each week and I like to think they feel the benefit of our clean, well-sourced, ‘feel-good’ food.

“I do think people are more conscious of the benefits of eating local and eating well, and paying the right price for it, than before the arrival of Coronavirus,” he concludes. “I can’t express enough how grateful we are for the loyalty and trust of our customers. We could not have continued without them.”

A visit to chef Fred’s walled garden at Newton, near Edinburgh, last year, was inspirational