India's Zomato Launches Restaurant Listings in Manila (and Singapore Might be Next)

Not long after expanding to Europe with restaurant listings for London, now India’s Zomato has launched for foodies in Manila, capital of the Philippines. It marks the first move into Southeast Asia for Zomato, and brings in-depth information on over 9,000 restaurants in Metro Manila.

That probably makes Zomato’s Manila listings the most comprehensive in that area, and it could be bad news for local startup rivals, such as the good-looking Looloo app. Zomato’s efforts now cover the cities of Quezon, Manila, Makati, Mandaluyong, Paranaque, Pasay, Pasig, Pateros, San Juan, and Taguig. All Zomato’s especially useful stuff - I particularly like the scanned menus - are present in its new Manila listings (pictured below).

We asked founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal why Manila was chosen above other touristy or foodie cities in Southeast Asia, such as Bangkok or Singapore, and he explained:

For us the choice to enter Southeast Asia was between Bangkok and Manila. We found Manila to be a better market to start with - given the consumer behaviour and competitive dynamics. Moreover, we are working on building multi-lingual capabilities into the product which are very essential for a market like Bangkok. Singapore is a very competitive market - and we are learning how to one-up our other global competitors with our London operation. So, once we see adequate traction in London, Singapore will definitely be on the cards.

Which makes sense, since Yelp launched in Singapore last September. But more competition would be welcome in the Singapore market, especially as Yelp’s site is not as aesthetically pleasing as Zomato’s.

Founded in July 2008 for restaurants in its native New Delhi, Zomato now gets over 10 million users every month who browse over 80,000 restaurants in 20 cities across six countries. It even launched a series of print restaurant guides last year.