How to eat like a local when traveling abroad

When I arrive in a new place, I don’t like to have a quick meal at the first restaurant that catches my eye. The food usually turns out to be disappointing and the service even worse. Being stuck in a bad tourist-trap restaurant is such a waste of a first evening in a new and exciting town. Instead, I like to take the time to enjoy a really nice meal. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a four-course event at a fancy place, or a hole-in-the-wall take-out. I’m determined to find something that I’ll enjoy, and fits the occasion. With the multitude of review books, sites and even (offline) smart phone applications available it’s pretty easy to find something within walking distance on the fly no matter in which corner of the world I’m staying.

Food is often, in addition to transportation and hotel accommodations, regarded as the biggest contributor to overall cost of the trip. Common sense tells us it must be really expensive to eat in large metropolitan cities like New York and Tokyo, just to…