Find the best meals on your own

[Chuckanut]

What became the most memorable meal of the trip reminded me of other times I’d ditched online restaurant lists and reviews, and found my meals the old-fashioned way.

A recent article in last weekends WSJ has the above comment. I find it true.

One example:

I was in Rome the night before leaving to return to the USA. We went to a restaurant recommended by others and after a few minutes, the vibe felt wrong. I can’t pin down shy, but I thought why stay at a place where my instincts tell me I will be disappointed.

We wandered another block or two and found another place. Somehow the vibes were positive. It might have been the view of the causally dressed staff in the kitchen, the waiter seemed genuinely pleased to seat us, and the ease of finding a nice table. I can’t pin it down. Nothing really stood out other than I felt better being there the moment I walked in. And, we enjoyed a great meal!

 

[Gremlin]

I love surprises like that! My friend and I were in Rome a few days prior to taking a cruise and were headed to a recommended restaurant by foot. We got lost and found a random place because we were starved. Wound up being our best meal of the entire trip!

 

[TheWizard]

Often times, it's not just the place you go to, but what you order there that matters.
Don't always order a cheeseburger ...

 

[brett]

We will no bother with a restaurant where the menu is in five languages near the door. If we walk into a restaurant in Rome and all we hear is English we do not stay. We never bother with the Ric Steves or tripadvisor recommendations.

Most often we look for a small family restaurant. Does not matter if they speak English. Our preference is for a place where most of the customers are local. Sign language and a bit of French often works. Several times we have just pointed to other diners selections or indeed been taken back to the kitchen.

 

[Koolau]

A recent article in last weekends WSJ has the above comment. I find it true.

One example:

I was in Rome the night before leaving to return to the USA. We went to a restaurant recommended by others and after a few minutes, the vibe felt wrong. I can’t pin down shy, but I thought why stay at a place where my instincts tell me I will be disappointed.

We wandered another block or two and found another place. Somehow the vibes were positive. It might have been the view of the causally dressed staff in the kitchen, the waiter seemed genuinely pleased to seat us, and the ease of finding a nice table. I can’t pin it down. Nothing really stood out other than I felt better being there the moment I walked in. And, we enjoyed a great meal!

When you know, you know!

 

[Lorenzo]

We wandered another block or two and found another place.

I have often wondered if there is a psychological bias toward something that you feel you found through dumb luck (or fate)? In the context of restaurants, for some reason it has always felt exhilirating when we "wandered another block or two" and stumbled upon a tiny restaurant on some hidden plaza, filled with locals, and had the time of our lives (or at least the most memorable meal of the trip). The place may very well have been on tourist radar and written up somewhere, but it didn't look like it at the moment, and the food may very well have been average, but for whatever reason the restaurant, the food--the whole thing--just felt right to us. I wonder if part of the reason is a bias from that feeling that we had "found" a treasure?

This same psychology may come into play in the dating game. We may feel a potential partner is more "right" for us when we found them through what we would like to believe was sheer good fortune rather than a "search" (as in some types of online dating). I think we humans like the idea of fate, whether it's finding a soulmate or stumbling upon the best meal of the trip.

Am I getting too deep here for what started as a thread about meals? Probably.

 

[brett]

We never, ever eat on the main drag or in tourist areas. A few blocks over and a few streets down.

 

[Ronstar]

We almost always rely on yelp and TripAdvisor reviews when choosing a restaurant in a town where we seldom go to. Or sometimes by good vibes from a drive by or walk by.

 

[TheWizard]

We never, ever eat on the main drag or in tourist areas. A few blocks over and a few streets down.

I'm nowhere as dogmatic. On longer trips, I'm often looking for a particular type of cuisine that day, maybe Sichuan Chinese, or Neapolitan pizza, or chilli crab at a Singaporean place, or maybe a Sunday Roast somewhere in the British empire or maybe a good steakhouse in Omaha, or maybe Indian food, especially that spicy vindaloo style.

So I search on my smartphone ahead of time and almost always find something that turns out quite well...

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I have often wondered if there is a psychological bias toward something that you feel you found through dumb luck (or fate)? In the context of restaurants, for some reason it has always felt exhilirating when we "wandered another block or two" and stumbled upon a tiny restaurant on some hidden plaza, filled with locals, and had the time of our lives (or at least the most memorable meal of the trip). The place may very well have been on tourist radar and written up somewhere, but it didn't look like it at the moment, and the food may very well have been average, but for whatever reason the restaurant, the food--the whole thing--just felt right to us. I wonder if part of the reason is a bias from that feeling that we had "found" a treasure?

This same psychology may come into play in the dating game. We may feel a potential partner is more "right" for us when we found them through what we would like to believe was sheer good fortune rather than a "search" (as in some types of online dating). I think we humans like the idea of fate, whether it's finding a soulmate or stumbling upon the best meal of the trip.

Am I getting too deep here for what started as a thread about meals? Probably.

Nah. In fact, we research and plan our meals when we travel, and try to hit well-reviewed places, and I find that when we take a chance on a local place with no prior research, we're often pleasantly surprised. Our expectations are not high at all, since we know we're taking a shot in the dark, and so sometimes we're more pleased with the outcome than when we get the excellent meal we expected from a highly rated restaurant.

 

[tulak]

I’ll use Google maps to find places in the neighborhood, but I always try to stick to local places.

This reminds me of a trip when I visited the center of Rome, by Piazza Navona. You’re not going to find any local restaurants in this area, which was confirmed when I asked the reception at our small boutique hotel what he’d recommend in that neighborhood. He had no recommendations, since he never visited any restaurants in that area.

Future visits to Rome were in a local neighborhoods. The options were much better.

 

[oiseux]

We never, ever eat on the main drag or in tourist areas. A few blocks over and a few streets down.

I'm never that dogmatic about that, as you can genuinely miss out on a gem. In our second home in the South of France, excellent restaurants (highly rated or not) are sprinkled throughout the tourist zones. The ones on the major squares and the main pedestrian street tend to be weaker as a whole, but there are exceptions. There are a few good restaurants outside of the center, but not as many as you might expect.

I agree that a menu in five languages is a big warning sign, but more so I don't eat in places with menus where the food spans more than 2 to 3 pages. It is a reliable indicator that most if not all of the the food is not cooked onsite. A single page is a plus, changing with availability/season is better.

I don't dismiss tripadvisor in Europe as they are linked to the Fork, which captures more local views as they are a pretty common reservation engine. Google reviews can run the gamut, and be contaminated with paid pumping, but at a certain scale the masses do speak. I also consult the professional food guides (Michelin, G&M, local experts). I find guide books are OK in their choices, but include some outdated clunkers whose heyday was long past (like they were selected for a guide 10 years ago and didn't maintain the same standard/chef/owner).

The worst restaurant meal (far from the tourist center) and some of the best I've eaten in Rome. It is really a hodgepodge.

 

[TheWizard]

The five language menu thing just depends. I found that on a Greek island (Rhodos?) frequented by Northern Europeans on holiday.
I'm not sure I'd call that a real negative.

Of course nowadays, savvy folks can use Google Translate with their smartphone camera to figure out a menu in any language, so maybe that changes the game?

 

[brett]

Very much agree on the short memu. As soon as we see a place filled with locals with three, sometimes five choices on the board that is for us.

Even more so when there is not even a printed menu...just a board or the servers patter. Our very best meals in Portugal last year were like that. And the red plonk was quite often..from my brothers, my cousins, my wifes father's vineyard!

 

[motley]

I read tripadvisor but with a grain of salt. I will say if there are a lot of bad reviews I will probably avoid it...similar to how I avoid movies which are almost universally panned.

 

[rodi]

Our rule of thumb is try to find where the locals eat. It can be in a tourist area, or not.... But if a lot of locals are eating there if tends to be good

There's a place in Florence my son discovered that has a line every night 30 minutes before they open.... But it's all locals. Staff (all family members) don't speak English. Their seating is family style. They are packed every night... But it's not a tourist place. Some of the best food in Florence. (I will not be sharing the name of the place)

 

[jollystomper]

When we have traveled overseas to countries where DW is fluent in the local language, it has been easy to find good places recommended by the locals. DW likes to chat up the workers in the places we are staying, and they are surprised (and pleased) at her language fluency. We have never been steered wrong with their suggestions.

 

[Sunset]

Our rule of thumb is try to find where the locals eat. It can be in a tourist area, or not.... But if a lot of locals are eating there if tends to be good

We at a place in Vienna, where locals filled the place, and all the menu's were not English. It was a McDonalds

 

[SecondAttempt]

A few years ago in Rome in a neighborhood near the US Embassy we ate at a small local pizza place. Few tables but our co-diners were some Swedish diplomats and a local family. The local family had you kids and my partner, an elementary school teacher, interacted with them. Then the restaurant brought them pizza dough to play with...parents and partner were thrilled with teacher doing her thing with kids! No words exchanged but plenty of smiles!

 

[Lorenzo]

We at a place in Vienna, where locals filled the place, and all the menu's were not English. It was a McDonalds

The great thing about McDonald's while traveling is that the restrooms are reliably clean, and you can duck in without feeling obligated to buy something.

 

[Koolau]

We at a place in Vienna, where locals filled the place, and all the menu's were not English. It was a McDonalds

I'm reminded of the scene in Pulp Fiction where Vincent explains to Jules why in France, they call the Quarter Pounder "Royale with cheese." (They use the metric system and quarter pound would be meaningless.)

 

[audreyh1]

We don’t worry about it. In Europe we rarely eat at a place where we don’t enjoy the meal and some are so good we return within a day or two. It’s often serendipity but we do research ahead.

I’m usually looking for some local specialty and in several cities looking up the best restaurants for X dish has usually led us to a good place. Or just finding out about the local specialties like in Prague.

We certainly ate very well on this last long Europe trip. And at several different kinds of places.

We generally skip lunch, eat a large breakfast at the hotel assuming it’s good, and go for an early dinner if we can (although France forced us to their strict schedule).