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Your stomach is growling but you cannot decide what to have for lunch. You want to try something new, but don't know where to go.
Instead of tossing a coin to determine between the usual choices of office cafeteria and the nearby hawker centre, try clicking on SoShiok.com
The snazzy food and wine website will recommend a new breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper spot every day, and even offer directions to the eatery, when it is launched on Friday.
The new site is a complete makeover of the current Wine, Dine And Unwind, a food and beverage guide in AsiaOne, an information and lifestyle portal by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH).
The online food guide has won the Hitwise award in Food and Beverage - Lifestyle and Reference category three years in a row since 2005.
On tweaking an already successful recipe, Mr Felix Soh, digital media editor for SPH's English and Malay Newspaper Division, who is spearheading this effort, says: 'It is currently a micro site within AsiaOne but we want to turn it into a major website.'
The new food site aims to differentiate itself from others in Singapore with its wealth of authoritative and practical information on wining and dining.
Ms Chen Jingwen, editor of SoShiok.com, says: 'We will tap on SPH's newspapers, the expertise of its established food critics as well as wire news agencies for comprehensive coverage of the Singapore and global food scene.'
SoShiok.com is the first of at least 10 lifestyle websites that will be relaunched under the AsiaOne banner.
Mr Soh adds: 'We started with food because it is a subject that resonates with Singaporeans.'
Another key feature of the site, named after a catchy Singaporean expression for food that is delicious, is its map-search function. This will allow users to locate a particular dining establishment or search for eateries within a certain vicinity.
In addition, readers will be able to collate their favourite food and restaurant reviews, among other things, onto a personalised clip-board.
Other interactive features on the site allow users to post food blogs, photos and food-related videos.
The ST Foodies Club, with features such as recipes, restaurant reviews and chef interviews in the citizen journalism site Stomp, will migrate to SoShiok.
The new site is looking to add a touch of gastronomic glitz with a culinary celebrity guest blog helmed by famous chefs here.
To kick off its revamp, a cooking contest, Search For New Singapore Dishes, was launched last month.
Ms Chen says: 'Popular Singaporean dishes have become such familiar favourites, we hope to discover original recipes that represent the cuisine here.'
The competition, with both professional and amateur categories, closed last month and response was very good, she says.
Contestants in the professional category include participants from Raffles Hotel, Mandarin Oriental and Royal Plaza On Scotts.
Mr Soh is equally impressed by the calibre of the entries and cited a recipe for a Singapore Pie as being innovative.
Five finalists from each category have been selected to present their creations to a panel of judges at Jurong Point Shopping Centre on Saturday.
The judges include Mr Horst Fuetterer, deputy director of the College of Culinary Art at the Singapore Hotel and Tourism Education Centre, and Sunday Times food critic Wong Ah Yoke.
Winners in the two categories win $1,000 each.
Ms Chen says that readers can look forward to weekly online food perks, such as one-for-one ice-cream sundae deals, free supper for 100 people at Lau Pa Sat food centre and exclusive dining discounts at restaurants.
The new website will be unveiled at an event in Far East Square on Friday, which will be attended by members of the food and beverage industry here.
The public may join in the celebration of the launch by making discounted purchases at select stores in Far East Square.
For details of the participating stores, log on to SoShiok.com on Friday.
