SoShiok.com app is not so shiok

Harry's is going for a new look, according to SoShiok.com

Sometimes, even free is too much to pay. That is the case with SPH's latest iPhone app, SoShiok.com. An iPhone version of the food-focussed website of the same name, this app feels like a hasty collection of  leftovers, warmed up by an indifferent kitchen, and likely to cause indigestion.

On the surface, the app would seem to have everything. It has reviews, a restaurants database, recipes, the ability to find nearby restaurants and a function that will give you a random restaurant when you shake the iPhone. However, once you dig in, the meagre offerings of this app become readily apparent. 

For instance, according to this app, there are only four restaurants in Singapore that offer buffets. Is this an example of the app being discriminating about the restaurants in its database? Perhaps. Except that its full database includes that bastion of haute cuisine, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (only the Lorong Mambong and Paragon outlets though). Of the many drinking establishments in Singapore, only 20 are highlighted. Nothing wrong with that, except that Harry's makes up 15 of the 20 bars listed. 

The skimpy database has a knock-on effect on the 'find nearby' function. When I tapped the button, I am informed that there is only one restaurant in my vicinity, Olio Restaurant & Cafe in Kitchener Road. This, even though I am a stone's throw away from the numerous excellent restaurants in Little India.

Delicious Thai food from Chiang Mai Palace.

The SoShake function could have been fun; instead it only ends up being annoying. SoShake presents you with a random restaurant when you shake your iPhone. It uses the interface that is normally used to present choices in a list. However, it upends your expectations by behaving like a slot machine, instead of a list of option. You can only shake your device to get a random restaurant. You can't use the scrolling wheels to narrow your search. (Naturally, the restaurants database offers no way to search either. Everything is listed alphabetically. Perhaps it is a good thing that the list is not an extensive one.)

The only things going for this app are the restaurant reviews by food reviewers from The Straits Times, The New Paper and the Business Times. Unfortunately, the app lags behind the website so the latest reviews by these restaurant critics are present on the SoShiok.com website, but not on the app.

Revenge of the clones.

Numerous minor glitches dog this offering. For example, the database for the buffet restaurants will clone the original set of four each time you tap on a restaurant to read the details. I managed to get it to 24 restaurants (six sets of four) before boredom set it.  And as you may have noticed, some of the photos also appear to be associated with the wrong restaurants. 

SoShiok.com is a disappointment because you would expect SPH to do better than this. If SoShiok.com were a dish, you would send it back to the kitchen. Since it's an app, let's hope the developers release a more palatable update soon.