Takeaway from Braai Shack, Wolverton with Grab Now

AD – Our meal from Braai Shack was paid for by Grab Now for this feature.

As you know by now, I love supporting the local food scene in Milton Keynes and all the independent businesses associated with it. However, many platforms that help those businesses get out there and attract new customers are not always built with independent businesses in mind. I’m very excited to tell you about a new delivery platform that has launched in Milton Keynes called Grab Now, which is backed and powered by Skyline taxis. It exclusively features independent businesses, from restaurants offering delivery to florists and grocery stores.

In this blog post, discover more about the platform and find out how we got on ordering from South African restaurant, Braai Shack.

Bunny Chow from Braai Shack — Boney Mutton Bunny from Braai Shack

What is GrabNow?

Grab Now is an independent food delivery platform in Milton Keynes powered by Skyline Taxis. During lockdown, Many taxi drivers were doing fewer journeys as people stayed at home. With more independents in Milton Keynes offering takeaway and businesses switching to a delivery model, there was a demand for more delivery services and drivers that were available for these jobs.

So Grab Now was born. It works much like Uber Eats, however, the delivery cost is passed onto the customer, not the restaurant, making it a much friendlier platform for independent businesses. And as we know, now is the time to support independent businesses more than ever.

The radius of delivery encompasses most of Milton Keynes. You as the consumer pay the cost of delivery and the cost is around that of a taxi from that business to your address. Comprende?

Who’s on the platform?

As the platform is new, choices of restaurants are still quite limited, however, new restaurants and businesses are being added. Well known local businesses on the platform include Zouk Lounge, Homeground MK, Namji and Moore’s Fish n’ Chips. There’s also a selection of grocery stores and even Bluebell Flowers who will deliver flowers!

Ordering takeaway from Braai Shack

Braai Shack is a family-run South African restaurant in Wolverton. I’ve dined in the restaurant before, but it’s been a while. They serve traditional South African dishes such as bunny chow, potjie and vetkoek as well as exotic meats (these must be pre-ordered).

We placed our order via the Grab Now app and it estimated 50 minutes for delivery. It was pretty accurate in terms of timings and the food arrived on time, hot and fresh.

I went for the Boney Mutton Bunny Chow (£10.95), a rich mutton curry served in a hollowed half loaf of bread served with sweet chilli carrot sambal and salad. This was really delicious and I would definitely recommend ordering this if you dine in! The mutton was really tender and I loved the contrasting freshness of the carrot sambal. The bread soaked up all the curry sauce too which was very enjoyable.

I also ordered a Vetkoek (£4.95) which is a traditional South African dish. It is fried dough bread filled with cooked mince. Pretty simple, but really delicious. The bread was sweet and doughy, and the mince was tender and spicy. I really enjoyed this but be warned you do just get one!

Dan went for the Braai Shack Mixed Grill (£24.95). This featured a 4oz ranch steak, boerewors sausage, spicy chicken wings and half rack of ribs. It also came with a large portion of chips and salad. If I’m totally honest, this was a disappointment and I wouldn’t order this again.

I really wanted to love the Boerewors sausage but felt very dry and overcooked. The same could be said for the steak as well. Being brutally honest, this was practically inedible and was rock solid. I’ve passed this feedback onto Braai Shack, but am yet to hear back.

On the other hand, however, the chicken wings were delicious – full of flavour, tender and tasty. The ribs were also great, with a sweet, sticky, spicy sauce and melt in the mouth meat. I’d recommend sticking to the curry dishes if you order or dine in.

Our meal from Braai Shack came to £40 plus £10 for delivery from Grab Now. The pricing structure is a lot more transparent than other delivery platforms. We live a fair way from Wolverton which is why it was £10 – Usually we would pick something a bit closer but there isn’t a lot in our area just yet. We will definitely go back to Braai Shack, but I think I’ll be sticking to the curries which were genuinely delicious!

I’m looking forward to seeing more independent businesses being added to Grab Now and to seeing it develop.