Travel Tip #38: 4 Tips on Picking a Restaurant on the Fly

Picking a restaurant while you are traveling can be tough — especially if you get cranky when you are hungry! Here are four tips to steer you in the right direction:

1. If there’s no one there  — beware!
   This is hands down the most important tip, whether you are traveling at home or a foreign country. If you walk into a restaurant during (culturally appropriate) mealtimes and no one is there, turn back around and find somewhere else to eat. A line is a good sign. (Also, keeping an emergency snack in your bag never hurts.)
2. Amateur food photos are a bad sign
   Quality restaurants don’t usually post photos of their food on the menu. 
3. Multi-lingual menus posted outside are a no-no
   Places with multi-lingual menus cater to tourists, not locals. And if the locals don’t want to eat there, why would you? 
4. Don’t believe the hype (man)
   If a restaurant needs an aggressive hawker, the food isn’t selling itself.
5. Bonus: Rules were meant to be broken 
   Some of my favorite restaurants break of these rules! (I’m looking at you AJ Bombers – and your hilarious hype men & women) However, if you need to pick a restaurant on the fly, keeping these tips in mind will help you find a delicious, memorable and non-food-poisony meal!