QUEEN Street in Glasgow then after 9pm on a shivering, we,t full-fat November lockdown night. The entrance to Bar Burrito is blocked by a cleaning cone, but I boldly step over it and go where no customer has gone before.

Well, where no customer used to go before. On into an empty and closing-down (takeaway only just now) restaurant. The lights are off and the counter is completely deserted, but I am expecting this.

Sure enough as I get closer I see two people off-stage wiping down and cleaning up. A head lifts, a voice calls out, and they are expecting me. Hurrah. Too Good To Go?, is the question, yes the answer. Moments later I’m scrolling through an app, swiping the collection bit, while

the lady behind the counter asks whether I want pulled pork, beef or chicken and fills a container.

“Do you get much of this, then?” I venture by way of an opening conversational gambit. “Yeah, yeah,”

comes the reply. “It’s actually really good not having to throw out all this stuff at the end of the night,” she adds gesturing at the sprawling counter with all the yadayada that goes with the burrito business nowadays.

And that reply, ladies and gentleman, sums up in a nutshell what this game is all about. I’ll pay £5.30 for, I think they said, £15 worth of food. It’s a lucky dip really, or a Magic Bag as they call it in

some places, and when I get home we’ll be eating two full portions of rice, meats, vegetables, beans and salsa. Basically everything that goes into a burrito without the actual wrapping.

Lucky dip or Russian roulette, you’ll be asking? I’d say lucky dip. Value? Definitely. Pleasant? Yeah. Tea sorted? Correct.

With an added frisson of excitement in the unwrapping. So addictive is this that the very next day, shortly after 2pm, I’m strolling into the Brave Bakers at the Saltmarket, following again the person behind the counter’s instructions to swipe the collection bit on the app as he hands over a paper carrier bag filled to overflowing. For the laughably low price of £3.79. It turns out that I’ll be so drawn by some of the stuff on display that I’ll spend an extra £16.

Though this is full of comedy gold moments. Can I have one of these baked chicken and ham things? Sure, but there’s already one in your Magic Bag. Uh, what about one of those big cinnamon pretzelly doodahs there then? You’ve got one of those too. Hmmm.

How about that middle-European sausage rolly bakes with the smoked German sausage inside?

Yes, comes the reply even though we both know that the thing sticking out the left of the Magic Bag is indeed one of these.

I’ll take another one anyway, I’ll say, and shortbread and this and that. I definitely don’t have to buy anything extra – and, actually, there’s more in this Magic bag than there is in the full-fat priced bag.

At home again the loaf is sliced, the salted pretzels chewed, the cinnamon ones enjoyed. I ate one of the sausage roll things on the way home, but we have those bakers sandwiches which

are baguettes fired in the oven with meat and cheeses inside.

The shortbread? Hmm I may have also eaten the whole box on the way home too but we’ll not mention that.

Value? Astonishing. Fresh? It’s hours later that we settle down for tea so I’ll not hold against them my view that a few things have had the shine taken off them by the time they are consumed. By now I’m almost addictively scrolling through the app watching what’s popping up and selling out.

Sure there’s an awful lot of Costa Coffee shops participating, but I see Oaka Supercity too, Honey & Salt at Mount Florida.

This is a very slick, kinda fun way to eat and avoid waste. Frankly? I can see it catching on big.

TOOGOODTOGO

It’s a phone app, available for IOS and other platforms.

Menu: A constantly changing list of restaurants and takeaways appears offering hugely discounted meals and goods in limited numbers and with a lucky dip vibe to the whole thing. 4/5

Price: A huge bag of baked goods including, sandwiches, sausage rolls, a laugh, pretzels, scone and cinnamon twirly thing doe £3.79 was incredibly cheap, Bar Burrito also provided a fresh meal for two for virtual buttons. 4/5

Service: The app is so slick I’ll be surprised the concept of posting available take-away meals with a ticking clock, collection times, and constantly updated availability doesn’t spread to full price food. 5/5

Atmosphere: In both places I tried, the staff were completely clued up, expecting collection and the food was ready to go. 4/5

Food You don’t know exactly what you are getting, from Bar Burrito they were burritos without the wrap, in Brave Bakers a few things could have been fresher but it’s fun fast, lockdown friendly and a bargain. 8/10

Total: 25/30