One Saturday afternoon, after a day of exploring Monaco I made a dining decision that forever changed how I select restaurants when I travel. We approached the hostess desk at one of the most celebrated restaurants in the world, without a reservation and we got in. For context, Louis XV has three Michelin stars and a waitlist that stretches months. It’s the kind of place where people plan entire trips around a single dinner booking. To make it even more compelling, neither of us were “appropriately” dressed for dinner at this level of establishment. And while it felt like ending up there was an accident, it most certainly was not. We chat with a retail associate in the mall, who pointed us in this direction with the caveat “It’s impossible to get in”. But since we were already here in Monaco we were tried and we got in. This was one of my first lessons in learning to eat like a local when traveling internationally.
Food can be the best part of an international trip or the most stressful. And interestingly, most travelers leave it entirely to chance. They wander into whatever looks good, ask the wrong people for recommendations, or end up in the same tourist rotation as everyone else on their tour bus. But you deserve better.
This post is about doing it differently.
This week’s Travel Tip Tuesday goes deeper on this topic. Watch the reel here 👉 DINING ABROAD
Why Most Travelers Get Food Wrong Internationally
It’s not for lack of trying. It’s a system problem. No one goes on vacation thinking they are going to eat generic food in a place that is nothing short of a tourist trap.
When you arrive in an unfamiliar city, the path of least resistance leads you directly to these places. The restaurants closest to the landmarks. The ones with a host standing at the door waving you in. The spots with photos of every dish laminated onto a menu that’s been translated into six languages. These places exist for the tired, hungry, disoriented visitor who just wants to sit down.
The food is almost never worth it. The prices almost always are inflated. And you will leave feeling like you missed something without knowing exactly what.
Then there’s the viral restaurant problem. Social media has created an entirely new category of dining decision. The famous pancakes in Tokyo or the must have black pepper buns at the night market in Taiwan. Some spots have a lottery system just to get a shot at a table. It’s exhausting. But just because a restaurant is viral does not mean it will be good. And a long wait to be seated will tarnish the experience before you ever pick up a fork.
I spent 45 minutes standing in the cold outside a famous pancake restaurant in Japan once. By the time we sat down I was starving, frustrated and questioning every life choice that had led me to that sidewalk. Were the pancakes worth it? Honestly, I’m not sure I was in any state to properly evaluate them.
Finally there’s decision fatigue. Three meals a day across seven days is twenty-one food decisions in a foreign city where you may not speak the language and have no frame of reference for what’s good. Without a strategy that exercise becomes exhausting quickly.
The answer is not prayer (although it couldn’t hurt). It is a simple framework that handles the decisions before you land so you can actually enjoy the meal when you get there.
Consult the Experts: The World’s Best Restaurants List
If you’ve never heard of this list, that is the point.
The World’s Best Restaurants list is published annually and ranks the top restaurants in the world by destination. It is free. It is searchable by country. And it is one of the most useful pre-trip research tools available to any traveler who cares about food.
Before every international trip I cross-reference our destination against this list. Not to book every restaurant on it. That would be exhausting and expensive. But to identify one or two anchor meals worth adding to my dining possibilities.
One or two. That’s it.
The goal is to identify the meal or meals that you will remember for years and then leave everything else flexible. One great planned meal per trip is infinitely more satisfying than seven mediocre ones you stumbled into out of hunger and convenience.
This is how we ended up at Central in Peru. Lima Peru was already on the itinerary. A quick search of the World’s Best list told me it was there. I noted it, we decided it was worth attempting and we made plans to be there. The experience was unforgettable.
A few things worth knowing about using the list effectively. High-end restaurants on this list typically require reservations made months in advance. Once you know you are going to be there, get started with making reservations. But also know that walk-in attempts are sometimes worth trying, particularly for lunch service or on quieter days of the week. The worst that can happen is they say no.
And if your destination doesn’t have a restaurant on the list, that’s perfectly fine. The exercise of looking still sharpens your awareness of what’s available and often surfaces restaurants just below the list that are equally extraordinary and significantly easier to access.
Who to Ask for Recommendations
This one might surprise you. Stop asking the concierge and front desk staff.
I know. It seems counterintuitive. The concierge is literally there to help you. They know the city. They speak the language. And they seem to have an answer for everything.
Here is the truth. Concierges and front desk staff at most hotels have working arrangements with a small rotation of local restaurants. Sometimes they even receive commissions, referral benefits or simply have standing relationships that make certain recommendations automatic. Every guest who asks gets directed to the same handful of places. Those restaurants know it and they price and operate accordingly.
You need a better source. And they are all around you.
Ask the housekeeper. Check with the bellman. Ask the person working the shop on the corner or the uber driver who picked you up from the iconic site. Ask them a very specific question: where do you eat when you have a day off and you want a genuinely good meal?
That question gets you a completely different answer. It gets you the restaurant a few blocks away that doesn’t have a website. The spot where the kitchen staff goes after their shift. The lunch counter that has been in the same family for thirty years and has never needed to advertise because the neighborhood keeps it full.
I have had some of the best meals of my international life from recommendations from people in places that most travelers walk past without making eye contact.
Ask the people who actually live there. They eat there every week and they will tell you the truth.
When You’re Out Exploring: Two Rules That Never Fail
As much as you plan, there will inevitably be a day when you are wandering around enjoying your day when hunger hits unexpectedly. You find yourself totally unprepared.
Here are the two rules I use every single time.
Rule one: Step away from any major tourist landmark. Walk at least two blocks away before you sit down anywhere.
This is not a complicated rule. It is simply a recognition that restaurants within immediate sight of famous landmarks exist almost entirely to capture tourists at their most hungry and least discerning.
The moment you turn a corner and walk a few blocks in any direction the dynamic changes. The menus get more interesting. The prices come down. The clientele starts to look like people who actually live there.
Two blocks is the minimum. Four is better. Six is often extraordinary.
Rule two: look for restaurants that don’t have a polished English menu ready at the door.
A laminated English menu displayed at the entrance is a signal. It means this restaurant has been waiting for you and has optimized its operation with the tourist in mind. That is not necessarily a bad thing but it is worth knowing.
The restaurant that doesn’t have an English menu prepared where the host pauses, exchanges a glance with the other staffers and goes to find the one staff member who speaks a little English that is almost always your spot.
I have walked into restaurants in Italy, Japan, and Taiwan where the entire interaction of ordering involved a lot of pointing, some translation app assistance, and a staff member being called from the back who knew approximately forty words of English. Every single one of those meals was remarkable.
A perfect English menu means they have been waiting for tourists. Scrambling to translate means they are feeding locals. Find the scramble.
The Mindset That Makes All of It Work
Strategy only gets you so far. At some point you have to actually embrace the experience and order the unfamiliar thing. Perhaps you’ve heard about it but never actually seen it true form.
This is where a lot of travelers stop short. They find the local spot, no English menu, full of people who live in the neighborhood and then they order the most recognizable thing they hear. The safest option. The one that requires the least explanation.
I understand the impulse. International travel comes with enough uncertainty without adding the anxiety of not knowing what you just ordered.
But the menu items that confuse you are usually the ones worth trying. The dish with the name you can’t pronounce, described in terms you don’t fully understand, that the server seems particularly enthusiastic about; order that one.
That is where the real experiences are.
And one more thing. Walk if you can eat there at home it has no business appearing on your international itinerary. I’m not making judgements about chain restaurants or fast food. I am making an observation about opportunity cost. Every meal you eat at a chain you already know is a meal you didn’t allow you to immerse yourself in somewhere you’ve never been. Across a seven-day trip that is a meaningful number of missed experiences.
The best food I’ve had across more than 60 countries came from completely immersing myself in something unfamiliar. That choice is available to you in every destination, at every meal, on every trip.
My Perspective
Food is one of the most direct ways to understand a place and its people. A meal at the right table in the right neighborhood tells you more about a destination than most museums ever will. Street markets help you to experience the culture and The World’s Best helps you see just how creative some of these countries can be.
The strategies shared here are not complicated. Research one or two anchor meals before you leave. Ask the people who actually live there for their recommendations. Walk away from the landmarks before you sit down. Look for the scramble. Order the unfamiliar thing.
That is all it takes to eat extraordinarily well internationally. Save this post before your next trip.
Want more on international travel strategy? Read:
- What I No Longer Tolerate When I Travel
- The First 48 Hours of International Travel
- Simplifying Travel Planning: How to Get It Done Without the Stress
FAQs About Eating Like a Local When You Travel Internationally
What is the World’s Best Restaurants list and how do I use it for travel planning?
The World’s Best Restaurants is an annual ranking of the top restaurants globally, searchable by country and region. Before any international trip, search your destination on the list to identify one or two anchor dining experiences worth planning around. It is free to access and regularly updated.
How do I find restaurants that locals actually eat at when traveling internationally?
Skip the concierge and front desk staff who often have referral arrangements with tourist-facing restaurants. Instead ask hotel housekeepers, bellmen, or gift shop staff where they personally eat on their days off. That question consistently produces more honest and memorable recommendations.
Is it safe to eat at restaurants without English menus abroad?
Generally yes. In fact restaurants without English menus are often the most reliable indicator of an authentic local spot. Use a translation app on your phone to photograph and translate menus in real time. Google Translate’s camera function works well in most countries and languages.
How far should I walk from tourist landmarks to find better restaurants?
A minimum of two blocks in any direction will typically move you outside the immediate tourist trap radius. Four to six blocks is even better. The further you walk from the landmark the more the clientele, quality and pricing tend to shift in your favor.
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