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Yummy yum yum!
posted by ruiwen on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 2:04pm Categories: BlogApr26
All right, ladies, hands up. All of you whose special guy said he’d bring you “somewhere special” for dinner and you’d dressed up all nice for the occasion only to find out that he’d meant Uncle Lim’s Bak Kut Teh along Bukit Batok Avenue 2? (And the resounding “Special whaat! I’ve been coming here since 10 years old! Very good one!”)
Sad as it might sound, Uncle Lim’s Bak Kut Teh might really be the pinnacle of fine dining to some of us. Fortunately though, all is not lost. The ladies and gents behind Yum.sg aim to change all that. Inspired by someone (probably one of those hapless chaps described above) who once asked, “Why should someone pay $50 for a meal when they can just pay $2 for a plate of chicken rice?”, they aim to introduce a culture of fine dining to Singaporeans. And what better way to do that than through views of avid foodies themselves? Listen to your fellow consumer and you’d never go wrong… right?
Yum.sg aims to bring the dining experience together all in one place. By cooperating with the restaurants and by drawing in more users, they aim to forge a comfortable relationship between the two, such that users of the site can feel free about submitting feedback and reviews directly to the restaurants. In the words of Joel Tay, General Manager of Yum.sg, the site “looks to be the playground where users and restaurants interact freely and hopefully enjoyably”.
And “interaction” is definitely the keyword to notice here. More than just a review site, Yum.sg really does bring together the essence of a foodie community. As part of the site, you’ll also find various articles, with topics ranging from the insightful discussion on buffet dating to the gender-wars-ish, on why men are better cooks. There’s also a little something for the Singaporean in all of us, credit card deals! Love swiping that plastic? The Red Hot gives you even more reason to, thanks to the Yum.sg team hunting down the greatest deals in town.
Now, great restaurant reviews are great, and knowing where to bring your date for that perfect experience at that exact time can be absolutely invaluable, but guys, face it — stopping off at the internet cafe to check up the latest on Yum.sg is really going to kill the mood. Fortunately though, we won’t have to face that situation. The Yum.sg techies have kindly provided us with an interface that’s been specially tailored for mobile phones. I gave it a test run with Opera Mini and found it pretty easy to use. A search term simply brings up a list of restaurants that match that criteria, with 5 entries on each page. Each search result conveniently comes with the address and telephone number of the restaurant so you can go ahead and make a booking right away.
Yum.sg reviewers have been doing a pretty good job so far, and I quite like the way the reviews have been quirkly categorised, and how each review on the site comes with a convenient Google Map so you don’t lose your way. I was however, looking out for the 5 Senses Reviews, where reviewers reviewed restaurants based on how the environment and food appealed to each of their senses. I thought this was an an excellent way to (sort of) formalise the more-often-than-not subjective art of reviewing, nudging it ever-so-slightly into the region of science. No doubt to to my sub-par website searching skills though, I didn’t quite manage to find a 5 Senses Review, even though I’m pretty sure I’ve read a few on previous visits to the site.
So guys (and gals!), the next time you’re looking for a special place to bring that special someone on that special day.. or if you just want to feed that monster growling in your tummy, you know where to head to. Yum.sg, the New Yummer Central is the place to check out, at home, or on the move.
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6 Responses to “Yummy yum yum!”
The Yum.sg Blog » Blog Archive » Yummy Yum Yum! said :
[...] http://www.entrepreneur27.org/sg/2007/04/26/yummy-yum-yum/ [...]
wonderdoggy said :
Checked out yum.sg and signed up before. Not a bad site, only problem is that they do not have a community. So I am now using http://www.hungrygowhere.com which does a similar thing but more importantly has a community of foodies posting reviews and sharing restaurant tips every day. Check it out yourself and compare. I have posted over 70 reviews there already.
KT said :
Think HGW has been around for quite sometime, so its natural they have users who frequently contribute. I say give Yum.sg some time. They are still in their trial phase. Can’t wait when they finally launch officially. I actually think they do this whole food website business a lot differently. For one they definitely look more well thought. Guess we will only see in the long run.
wonderdoggy said :
agree kt. it all boils down to their marketing. Whether above the line type, below the line or just rely on good ol viral. However, first mover has an advantage and more importantly, i think the mgmt team of hungrygowhere.com is strong. Dunno much about the yum guys though….
KT said :
Well, the HGW team might be strong, but it seriously irks me that they say they have no revenue model and they are providing it free? How believable is that? Anyway HGW reminds me of a smoother version of Makansutra, while Yum.sg is like the Singaporean version of Zagat. Well only time will tell eh?
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