Makan Match vs Asking the Group Chat: How the Quiz Picks Your 15 Spots
15 October 2026 · By the Eventful team
Makan Match at eventful-sg.com/makan-match picks your 15 spots by scoring 2,172 Singapore places against your answers to 8 two-button questions, then keeping the best 15 with no brand repeated. It is free, takes under two minutes, needs no app, and unlike a group chat it never answers "anything also can".
A group chat collects opinions, and opinions are slow. Someone suggests, someone vetoes, someone goes quiet. Makan Match collects facts about tonight instead: jelak or light, aircon or not, date or chill, buffet or not, below or above $50, healthy or not, small or big group, traditional or trendy.
Every place in its index carries a score on those same eight things. Your answers are compared with each place, and the ones that agree most rise to the top. our earlier piece on how Makan Match scores places has the earlier version of this explainer.
Top photo: Eventful Tables
The rules that make it trustworthy
Two answers are hard lines, not leanings. "No, I'm kinda full" removes every free-flow buffet. "Below $50" removes anything rated clearly above $50 a head. The avoid screen drops places whose cuisine or name matches what you tick: seafood, beef, spicy, or hotpot and steamboat.
One brand never shows twice, so you do not get three Din Tai Fung outlets eating your list. Places that tie are shuffled before the cut, so retaking the quiz with the same answers can give you new names. Desserts and drink stalls are pushed down so a dinner question does not get a bubble tea answer.
Opinion: the shuffle is the clever bit. Without it you would see the same ten famous places forever.
Where the bookable spots fit in
Eventful Tables restaurants get a small nudge, but only when they genuinely fit. The list is the 15 highest scores, with ties shuffled, and when they make it in, they are grouped at the top under Book on Eventful. In my run, KANTIN and Epicurean Fusion showed up because I answered aircon, date and below $50, which is exactly what they are. The third spot on our run was Tiong Bahru Bakery, and the rest were mostly cocktail bars around Amoy Street and Keong Saik, plus a few restaurants.
A pushed-but-wrong pick costs more trust than it earns, so the quiz would rather show you a place you cannot book on Eventful.
What you see on each card
Each of the 15 cards shows the cuisine, area, a $ to $$$$ price tier, a match percentage and a reason line such as "air-con confirmed · good for a date". Bookable places have a Book button. The rest link to Google. There is also a Take it again button and a Blend with a friend option. For what to do with your list, start with our Makan Match guide.
Good to know
· Answer for tonight's mood, not your usual order.
· Use the avoid screen for dislikes. It drops places by cuisine and name, so it is not an allergy filter; check menus yourself.
· Retake it with the same answers to see shuffled ties.
FAQs
How does Makan Match choose restaurants?
It scores 2,172 Singapore places on the same eight traits as its questions, compares them with your answers, and keeps the 15 that agree most, one per brand.
Why did I get different spots when I retook the quiz?
Places with the same score are shuffled before the list is cut, so the same answers can surface different spots.
Are Eventful Tables restaurants pushed to the top?
They get a small nudge, but only appear when they make your 15 highest scores. A partner that does not fit your answers stays off the list.
Does the quiz remove buffets if I say I'm full?
Yes. "No, I'm kinda full" removes every free-flow buffet, and "Below $50" removes anything rated clearly above $50 a head.
