In Madrid earlier this summer, I visited a food market I’d read about on a “must-eat” list online. I settled on a busy stall and ordered the tortilla española. Bad idea: The gloppy, bland dish and rushed service left me bereft—and hungry. Unwilling to return to my hotel defeated, I wandered around until I came across a small cerveceria.
Its anchovies-on-toast, deliciously salty and a little oily, paired well with the house white. Before long, I had joined a table of Madrileños who insisted I stay for one more drink. Slightly buzzed, I felt emboldened to put my rusty Spanish to use, asking my new friends to build out the rest of my itinerary in their town.
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.
The temptation to pull out your phone and start googling can be overwhelming—but can also lead to the same place every other tourist goes. To learn alternative strategies, I reached out to a few seasoned travelers who are passionate about eating well. Here, their top tips.
Nathan Thornburgh, co-founder of Roads & Kingdoms, a food-and-travel publication that hosts food-focused group trips, considers planning overrated. “Allow yourself the possibility of having a bad meal,” Thornburgh said. “It’s like anything in life—the risk and reward go together.”
Relying on chance opens up opportunities for dining experiences like the one I had in Madrid—or the one Jamie Barys, who lives in Shanghai and Singapore, had in Osaka. Amid a sudden downpour, Barys and her friends took cover under an awning on a small street. Turns out, they’d parked themselves in front of an “amazing izakaya.” Experiences like that one inform the ethos of Barys’s company, UnTour Food Tours, which works with what Barys calls “expert eaters” to show visitors the places in China they won’t find on best-of lists.
For Elizabeth Hays, a life coach in Buffalo, N.Y., tethering yourself to technology can shatter the illusion of living like a local. Instead, on a recent trip to Paris with her family, Hays, 43, went to the same bakery in the 2nd arrondissement every morning—initially out of convenience, but then for the convivial atmosphere and delicious pastries.
In Novello, a small village in Piedmont, Italy, Thornburgh fell hard for a wine bar he initially assumed would be mediocre. He kept going back, night after night. “The food was incredible,” Thornburgh said, but beyond that, coming back made him feel like a part of the community.
Of course, nothing compares to asking a local for recommendations. But it helps to be specific, said Barys. Ask: “’What is your favorite everyday place to go for lunch or dinner, somewhere you eat at regularly but don’t see many tourists at?’” If you’re looking for something on the fancier side, ask a local where they go to celebrate special occasions. Remember to solicit tips on specific dishes to order, Barys says.
For the best recommendations, strategize whom you’re asking. In China, Barys always pays attention to where her sources are from: “Don’t ask a Shanghainese person for the best Sichuan restaurant in town,” said Barys. It also pays to be aware of your source’s intentions or professional obligations. While a hotel’s concierge might offer more obvious tourist-friendly recs, asking the bartender or the housekeeper instead might lead you to a more rewarding, less predictable local experience.
Even savvy travelers often overlook the dining customs of the destination. Don’t just go where the locals go—find out when they go. “Save your meals for when you know the good meals are happening,” Thornburgh said. In Mexico City, for example, where Thornburgh was traveling when we spoke, “it’s not midday tacos; it’s late-night tacos.”
If you can’t access that information, follow the crowd—the real, physical one, that is, not the one generating hype on social media. Colleen Newvine, a life-and-career coach living in Brooklyn, says she and her husband, who wrote a guidebook to New York’s bars, follow a simple piece of advice from Newvine’s father: Never eat at a place that’s empty. “If it’s lunchtime and a place is dead, there’s probably a reason, and we’ll keep moving,” said Newvine.
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