Restaurant Quests: How To Eat Out While Travelling
Restaurant Quests: How To Eat Out While Travelling
We’ve all been there. After lounging for hours on the beach with a cocktail, getting a tan, hunger strikes!
Hours later of trawling the dusty streets looking for an appealing menu, sun beating down on your (now blistering red) back, you end up wearily settling for a busy restaurant with white plastic tablecloths. The restaurant is like a cattle-pen; packed with tourists hollering at downtrodden, weary-looking staff, and the food that finally emerges is a bland, greasy cheap imitation of the local cuisine.
Of course, you could cook from home from your rented villa, or save some money by eating in the hotel. But it’s just not a holiday without a good meal out.
So, here’s how to pick an authentic, good-quality restaurant while you are abroad.
1. Pay Attention To The Locals
The locals know their hometown or city best. They have lived there for years, if not their whole lives, and they have their own work and professional lives to cater for. As such, on the rare occasions that they have to go out, they will want to make the most of it – and not just settle for ‘any old place’ like most of the tourists. And they know the best places for it.
So when you go out, pay attention to the nationalities in each restaurant. A restaurant swarming with tourists is likely to be full of English food, Anglicised-versions of local dishes, and/or cheap quality ingredients. A restaurant which is full of locals, however, will be more likely to have authentically-prepared local cuisine and will likely be better quality.
Remember: a restaurant running on tourism will have custom regardless of the quality of the food, as there will be new holidaymakers every year. A restaurant run on the support of locals, however, has to make a good impression every service to uphold their reputation in the area.
2. Family-Run Restaurants
Once again, the locals know best!
Families with restaurants have their reputations to uphold and children to support, so every ounce of their commitment and passion is put into running that establishment.
These restaurants have done consistently well to last throughout the generations; there is often a sense of pride in the family business and this shows in the quality of the food. Restaurants such as these will usually serve more traditional dishes, making them ideal for an authentic bite.
For a bonus: Befriend the owners. They will be able to advise you on good places to visit, give you inside knowledge on good activities in the area, and tip you off if there’s something you should be aware of when visiting.
3. Avoid The Town Centre
As a general rule, restaurants in the town-centres of holiday destinations tend to be catered towards tourists. That means that they are likely to be more expensive, lower quality, and busier.
This means that your quiet night out with your family, friends, and a bottle of sangria is likely to be disturbed by noise, cramped conditions, poor food, and a shocking bill at the end.
Don’t bet that the huge queue outside means good food – it probably just means that location is a tourist trap. Save yourself the half-hour wait for entry and go somewhere quieter.
4. Don’t Rely On Attractive Photography
Photography is used in advertising for a reason.
A good photographer can make even the most disastrous of meals look like a Michelin-star plate.
But that is not the meal you will necessarily receive. There are a multitude of tricks to make food look good under the camera, such as adding liquid soap to beer to make it frothy, using shaving cream instead of whipped cream, and making food look glossy with hairspray.
Restaurants in tourist hotspots will be earning enough to hire the best photographers to make them look better. So don’t dismiss the small restaurants with the pixelated or yellowy food shots – it might just be the best meal you’ve ever had!
5. Learn The Language (Or At Least The Basics)!
As above, if you want authentic food, you should opt for the restaurants popular with the locals.
However, be aware that this means that these restaurants have no need to appeal to foreigners to make a living! As such, it is unlikely that their menu will have an English translation.
Try to at least learn enough of the language to get you around (or at least fed!) when you’re out and about. Understanding the local language gives you much more freedom of choice when choosing somewhere to eat, and enables you to make a few friends while you’re there!
6. Be Nosy!
Look at what others around you are eating before sitting down somewhere. If you see someone eating something you like the look of, sit down, make conversation and ask them what they’re eating!
Equally, if you don’t like the look of what comes out, eat somewhere else!
7. Keep An Open Mind
‘But eww! I don’t want to eat bull’s testicles/chicken’s feet/seaweed!’ I hear you say.
In that case, I’m going to hazard a guess you have never actually eaten it before. People have eaten these foods for centuries, and many have grown up with them as a favourite childhood dish.
How can you tell if you don’t like something if you never try? And what have you got to lose from trying something new?
The most authentic restaurants will serve dishes that tourists don’t eat. So even if you’re not brave enough to try, keep an eye out for them – they could be a useful indication of where to find genuine local cuisine.
8. Expensive Doesn’t Always Mean Better
An easy trap to fall into is thinking that more money + posh restaurant = better quality ingredients = better quality food.
But this isn’t always the case. A restaurant in the town centre will have higher rent, therefore higher prices. In addition, if they rely on the tourism industry, they will only be busy for half the year, therefore they will need higher prices during tourist season to keep them open.
9. Ask For Recommendations
Experience is best shared, so talk to people!
Ask everyone you come across for a recommendation and pick the place that is mentioned most often. You might ask your hotel manager, another guest, or a local you get chatting to in a bar. People are usually happy to share their experiences and talk about an enjoyable night they’ve had, so don’t be shy to ask!
For example, if you happen to be visiting Busan in South Korea and the locals recommend going to the Haeundae Room Salon, then it is likely to be a suggestion worth considering.
10. The Details Count
The mark of a really good restaurant is attention to detail. Detail shows that thought has been put into every aspect of the eating and dining experience.
Pay attention to the little things. Plastic glasses or glass? Paper tablecloth or cotton? All of these things will give you an indication of how much time and effort has been put into the restaurant.
Use these tips wisely, and you will not only enjoy the night of your life, but support small local businesses and families, and expand your horizons into a different culinary world!
Article by Caterquip
