From Music Snobs to Food Snobs — Why We Built Vota

If you’ve used HasItLeaked, you probably already know where this is going.

You care about taste — not the Netflix-algorithm kind, but real, lived-in, obsessively-curated taste. You argued about whether The Money Store or No Love Deep Web was Death Grips’ best. You refused to let Pitchfork tell you what was good. You shared links to leaks because you wanted people to actually hear the thing — not just nod along with the press release.

That mindset? We’ve now applied it to food.

Meet Vota — the restaurant app built for people who compare everything.

We’re not here to replace Yelp. Yelp can stay in whatever hell it crawled out of, stuffed with 3-paragraph reviews and fake 5-star ratings for sushi chains in strip malls. Tripadvisor? Worse. White Guide? Out of touch.

Instead, Vota does something brutally simple: It lets people vote between two restaurants. Head-to-head. “Which one’s better?” That’s it.

It’s like when you argue whether Channel Orange beats Blonde. There’s no perfect answer, but the comparison reveals more than any star rating ever could. Over time, patterns emerge. The noise fades. The good stuff floats up.

Why do we think this matters?

Because good taste deserves better tools. And because a 4.2-star average tells you nothing. Is it a romantic place? A late-night dive? A tourist trap that’s gamed the algorithm? Vota cuts the nonsense. No reviews. No photos of half-eaten burgers. Just opinions from locals, visitors, and food nerds who’ve been there — and care.

It’s quick, addictive, and democratic in the way the early internet used to be before brands started yelling at you on TikTok.

And yeah — this isn’t our first time messing with ratings.

One of us (Heini) built Vivino, the wine app that let 50 million people skip the BS and start drinking better wine. I (Staffan) helped HasItLeaked and Vivino grow. And we’re applying the same “do less, make it better” logic to Vota.

We’re starting local. You in?

Right now, Vota’s live in a few cities — including Copenhagen, Stockholm, Gothenburg, and some Danish islands you’ve probably never been to. But we’re expanding fast. Add your city, suggest your favorite spots, and be part of shaping something new.

Because if you’re the kind of person who cares whether My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy actually holds up — you probably also care about where to get a decent bowl of ramen.