How Food Hunter picks and ranks food suggestions
By the Food Hunter team · Updated October 2026
A transparent explanation of the signals Food Hunter uses, why we avoid repeats, and what we never do.
The signals we use
Each suggestion combines public information and your own preferences: Google Maps ratings and review counts, free OpenStreetMap place data (which covers many small stalls), matching public social posts that name the place, your saved cuisines, budget, diet and spice settings, and the ratings you give after you try a place.
Variety across the week
Nobody wants to be told to eat the same thing every day. Food Hunter remembers the top suggestions it showed you for seven days and lowers places — and the same kind of food, such as chicken rice or laksa — that you have already seen, so each search brings something new.
Distance and budget are hard limits
When you choose a distance or budget, we stick to it. If nothing matches, we widen one step at a time and tell you plainly what changed, rather than quietly showing far or expensive places.
What we never do
Restaurants cannot pay to rank higher. Sponsored content is always labelled. We never claim reviews from sources we do not read, and we only show social posts whose caption actually names the restaurant, so you are not shown unrelated videos.
Ten simple choices
Food Hunter is built for the everyday moment of not knowing what to eat, so the top row keeps just ten tiles. Nine cravings start a new search: Anything good, Trending (places rated highest in the past three months), Hawker centre (with the stalls inside when known), Coffee shop, Teen hawker eats, Comfort food, Noodles, Light & healthy and Sweet tooth. The Cheap filter narrows the cards you already have and can be combined with any craving, for example Hawker centre with Cheap.
Swipe, vote and share
Suggestions appear as a card deck: swipe right to approve and left to skip, then lock in your favourite. With friends, create a group room so everyone votes live, or share a pick link — friends can answer Heck Yes or No Way without signing in, and see the running total.
Singapore and Malaysia
Searches work across Singapore and Malaysia. Results with a GrabFood or foodpanda listing get a small tag that opens that public listing; we do not copy data from inside those apps.
Your control
You can change your taste settings at any time, and request deletion of your data through the Contact page.