I don’t know about you, but for me,
one of the must-dos in the travel bucket list is indulging in both the local cuisines
and your own set of comfort foods. Of course, eating is a basic need, but it’s
special when you’re out of the country. Food trip is always a phrase that’s
connected with travel. Travel is never complete without trying out the local restaurants.
Ironically, the must-include food
tripping can sometimes turn into a horror story—an inevitable part of
traveling. Food poisoning, bad customer service, facilities that lack proper
sanitation and weird flavors you can’t take are just some of the ugly experiences
when you happen to enter the wrong restaurant. Well, even in our own hometown, we
fell victims to awful restaurants. What more in other countries we’ve never
been?
But this shouldn’t worry you. There
are foolproof ways you can do to avoid this stressful situation.
Check Out Food-related Websites and Apps
These days, you’ll find many websites
and applications that are designed in providing valuable information about restaurants
in a particular city. Examples of information you can get are the menu, prices,
directions and reviews from previous customers. With just a click, you can have
access to these and more, even the macro shots of the dishes you’ll drool over.
When you’re out and about and you
have difficulty deciding where to eat, all you have to do is to google “restaurants near me” and several results within or near
your current location will show up. Then, check the reputation of these
restaurants through a reliable app like Foodporn. Why is it a good option
anyway? Foodporn has been around for decades, since the year 1997 to be exact. Don’t forget to visit it to check the best
deals as well as a particular restaurant’s reputation.
Go Directly to the Source—The Locals
Of course, if there’s anyone who
knows better than you about all the good eats downtown, those are the people living
there. They’re the ones who already probably had a firsthand experience of
dining in those places. Thus, they’re more credible to tell you where to get
the best pizza in town or the best seafood. Really, the locals are the living
Google. So, be sure to check out their suggestions especially if you run out of
mobile data or if you don’t have wi-fi access.
The locals are also the best source
if you have questions about the delicacies native in that town. They know how
it should taste like, the exact consistency, the appearance and more things
like these. Thus, you’ll get a better idea on what an authentic experience
should be.
See Where the Crowds Go
While taste is subjective, you’ll
usually never go wrong if you follow the crowd to where they line up. Why would
they endure the long queues anyway if the food isn’t worth it? Perhaps, it’s
really worth the try. You may even ask the one who’s standing next to you
what’s in that restaurant that people are willing to wait this long. You might
learn something interesting from that conversation.
Read Guidebooks, Travel Magazines and
Blogs
Writers of these publications put in
effort to maintain the credibility and reputation of their publication’s name. So,
they make sure that their content is always authoritative and useful to their
target readers. They do so by doing extensive research about the place in
question, getting a firsthand experience of a restaurant’s menu, interviewing qualified
sources and comparing other options available.
Before you travel to somewhere
unfamiliar, do as much research as you can—yes, even about the food. You don’t
know what you’ll come across later. Some tourists have been victims of food
poisoning just because they didn’t do enough research on where to get a safe
food to eat and water to drink. Read here to learn how you can
prevent it.
So, always ask around. Read as many
travel magazines, blogs and guidebooks as you can. After all, a bad-tasting
food can be chalked up to experience. But you surely wouldn’t want to
experience food poisoning in another place as much as possible!
Can you think of some other foolproof
food tripping hacks? Do share with us!
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