We Are Wrigglers! Are You?

I recently discovered Wriggle, an app which offers the best independent food and drink deals in your immediate vicinity. You tell the app where you are, choose your deal and enjoy a local experience to suit your tastes.

Wriggle already operate in London and Bristol and launched in Brighton last month. Users ‘known as Wrigglers’ can either sign up to receive deals in their inbox or download the app (from iTunes or Google Play). What particularly appealed to me, is they focus on local independents rather than chain deals. We have used apps such as Voucher Cloud for chains, the deals were great for a family operating on  a budget but with Brighton having such a great local food and drink culture, Wriggle fills that gap. The local business gets to raise awareness of it’s menu and deals plus plug the reservation gap and raise covers.

We decided to check out Wriggle for a cheeky birthday lunch while the kids were at school. The Caxton Arms offer a superb lunch menu from their Thai kitchen, two courses for £12 on Wriggle. I downloaded the app, found the deal and purchased, it was all pretty easy. Once the purchase went through, we had 3 hours to use the code, which gets e-mailed to the establishment also. Simon at the Caxton therefore knew we were coming!

As it was my birthday I treated myself to a mini-bottle of Prosecco, which went perfectly with my chosen starter, Poh Peer Massaman. These were spiced sweet potato spring rolls with a sweet chilli sauce dip. My husband, Andy, chose Moo Grob, crispy pork belly in a sticky tangy tamarind ginger sauce which were wolfed down so quickly I didn’t get a chance to try! For our main course, I couldn’t resist a meat-free Pad Thai, a firm favourite of mine. Andy went for the Kaeng Khiao Wan Gai green curry, another dish I enjoy cooking at home (but I cheat with a jar of paste!) which came with perfectly prepared sticky Jasmine rice. Two courses was more than enough and even though I was full, I couldn’t help nibbling on my dish, as it was just so tasty.

The Caxton Arms is ideally situated in the city centre but tucked in Queen’s Gardens behind the bustle of Queen’s Road. They have a decent and good value wine selection, variety of beers and ales to suit all tastes plus a bar and dining area. The pub is deceptively large inside, they also boast a function room which is free to hire with a minimum bar spend plus has its own terrace and sound equipment. The food arrived promptly and hot, manager Simon made sure we sorted for drinks when needed. The whole lunch experience was perfect for an intimate child-free birthday outing with my husband.

We just love the pop-up pub kitchen scene in Brighton right now but if it hadn’t been for Wriggle, I wouldn’t have necessarily come across the Caxton’s amazing food. Now we have another bonafide ‘go to’ place in town for a decent lunch AND are confirmed Wrigglers.

Wriggle are offering BrightonMums.com readers £5 off vouchers for our Day 1 Advent surprise. The first 30 readers to comment will receive an exclusive code to use.