I don’t know about you but I can’t stand ordering takeaways over the telephone.

Often it involves shouting at someone very slowly for whom English isn’t their first language… then they get it wrong and you have to go through it again and so on.

You try several different ways of speaking until eventually you give up and resign yourself to whatever it is they’ve written down.

40 minutes later and you’re staring at 17 portions of rice and a side of eyeballs.

And then there are the upsells…

“Would you be interested in our special ‘family deal’ sir? For just £4.50 extra you’ll get a tub of cold baked beans.”

Thankfully there’s a much easier way to find out who’s offering the best takeaways in your area online. Here are 4 of the best I’ve come across:

1. Hungry House – Offers a customer rating system and discounts

2. Just Eat – Similar setup to Hungry House. Good review system

3. Urbanbite – As above, but only covers London

4. Deliverance – A posher/pricier end of the takeaway market (currently only London as well)

You can log onto these websites, see who’s in the area and check out at all the customer reviews. Best of all you have the option to order online by card – so there’s no faffing about with cash with delivery guys who mysteriously have no change of a twenty.

Now you may recognise the name Hungry House because the creators Tony and Shane appeared on Dragon’s Den back in 2007.

It just goes to show that a simple idea can really pay off big time and Tony and Shane have now built a really solid business off the back of it.

(In case you’re wondering, they did manage to secure a deal but after 4 months of meetings the dragons withdrew their offer. However, several other investors saw the potential and offered them more equity for less stake!)

I think it’s great. It’s saves time, hassle and ultimately gives everyone a better service.

Right, I’m off to order to some eyeballs.