Food How do you discover new restaurants?

CrackBerryCream

CrackBerryCream

The Edge of Glory
O.G.
Oct 26, 2012
2,596
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#1
I was wondering how you search for / discover new places to eat? Do you use apps, get advice from friends, family, colleagues? Do you use a different approach when travelling vs. in your home town?

I'm currently seeing many interesting places (or rather dishes of places) on various IG accounts and save those in my collections. Then go over to Google Maps to find the location and also save them in my "Want to go"-list.
 
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#2
Hi,

I'm fortunate to have quite a few friends that share the same appreciation of great food. We exchange information about locations/restaurants and shops via E-Mail from time to time - and obviously upon request from each other.

I find it important to highlight "appreciation of food" -> a great meal, the taste, great ingredients, a location/people that make you feel welcome. It's not about who can spend most on some arbitrary "it" dish or drink.

We also share recipes, as all of us enjoy cooking.

Even if a question can't be resolved inside this group, most likely someone knows someone ...

That's my primary source, because I know I can trust the intel.

Another source is indeed Instagram, Yelp and TripAdvisor - pretty much in that order. This way I get a general idea, and go, see for myself.

When I absolutely can't risk a fail, I rely on my own experience or the group.

No difference between home town/country or travel.

Rarely (and highly situational), I might pick something up from my newspaper's weekend/lifestyle edition or articles in general. But only if it's centered around food. I don't need the "kiss and tell" aspect of "it"-locations/restaurants for the sake of it. It's always focussed on the food - if that then happens to be a "it"-location that is OK, but food first. ;)

Kind regards,
Oliver
 
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#5
I also share lists with friends (have several with tagged places on Google, either by "First choice" - my highest ranked ones and "Favorites" - which are very good too, just not quite as much). I do find them cumbersome though as I can't filter by cuisine or anything for that matter when it comes to making a decision. The tags are always shown ranked by vicinity... and the other lists shared are texts with bullet points and short descriptions. But always messy to search for them ("who was the last person who asked me for recommendations and did I send it on WhatsApp, Slack...) and then filter out options in addition ("I want local cuisine only"). Do you use a certain structure in your emails? Like rating by the attributes you mentioned? taste, ingredients etc?

Also very interesting with Instagram as several of my friends also cited that. Only few people I know still use Tripadvisor (mostly passively) and Yelp I only heard from a tourist who picked it up while she was in the US. Well I live in Berlin, so Yelp and Foursquare aren't as well known compared to the US.

the_black_tie_diyer said:
Hi,

I'm fortunate to have quite a few friends that share the same appreciation of great food. We exchange information about locations/restaurants and shops via E-Mail from time to time - and obviously upon request from each other.

I find it important to highlight "appreciation of food" -> a great meal, the taste, great ingredients, a location/people that make you feel welcome. It's not about who can spend most on some arbitrary "it" dish or drink.

We also share recipes, as all of us enjoy cooking.

Even if a question can't be resolved inside this group, most likely someone knows someone ...

That's my primary source, because I know I can trust the intel.

Another source is indeed Instagram, Yelp and TripAdvisor - pretty much in that order. This way I get a general idea, and go, see for myself.

When I absolutely can't risk a fail, I rely on my own experience or the group.

No difference between home town/country or travel.

Rarely (and highly situational), I might pick something up from my newspaper's weekend/lifestyle edition or articles in general. But only if it's centered around food. I don't need the "kiss and tell" aspect of "it"-locations/restaurants for the sake of it. It's always focussed on the food - if that then happens to be a "it"-location that is OK, but food first. ;)

Kind regards,
Oliver
Click to expand...
 
#8
CrackBerryCream said:
I also share lists with friends (have several with tagged places on Google, either by "First choice" - my highest ranked ones and "Favorites" - which are very good too, just not quite as much). I do find them cumbersome though as I can't filter by cuisine or anything for that matter when it comes to making a decision. The tags are always shown ranked by vicinity... and the other lists shared are texts with bullet points and short descriptions. But always messy to search for them ("who was the last person who asked me for recommendations and did I send it on WhatsApp, Slack...) and then filter out options in addition ("I want local cuisine only"). Do you use a certain structure in your emails? Like rating by the attributes you mentioned? taste, ingredients etc?

Also very interesting with Instagram as several of my friends also cited that. Only few people I know still use Tripadvisor (mostly passively) and Yelp I only heard from a tourist who picked it up while she was in the US. Well I live in Berlin, so Yelp and Foursquare aren't as well known compared to the US.
Click to expand...

Hi,

oldschool. ;) Everything that makes my list is added to my journal. I have a general one with multiple (a gazillion) tabs. This is not a classic filing system, it's more some sort of personal shorthand on the tabs, pretty much unusable for anyone else. I remove tabs, I add tabs as I work with the journal.

For the big cities I travel to, I keep City Notebooks from Moleskine and use their tabs, for City's that don't have a designated Notebook, I use the Voyageur model. https://us.moleskine.com/en/special-notebooks/city-notebooks/020303-2 / https://de.moleskine.com/spezial-notizbücher/city-notebooks/020303

Every place I have been to and fit my expectations, I try to get a business card from - otherwise I create a label of that size. I have a big folder in my desk for business cards. This has regular tabs: Business, Family, Friends, Acquaintances, Personal, Local Restaurants, Shops, City A, City B, (...). I file everything, and try to put some Information on the back of the card or, again, create a label to add to. I keep specific Information on that: Like reservation in advance needed/ if yes how long, recommended by, what Name to drop, (...)

This is pretty helpful, as I can greet a Chef, the Sommelier or Maître d'hôtel/headwaiter by his/her name if still there.

So if I need something fast and reliable - or a favor in that regard, I use that file/folder.

Picked that up from the secretary of one of my higher up bosses, during my "crazy vacation into corporate world". ;) One of the few really useful things I learned while being there. lol. ;)

But that secretary, she was notorious with keeping that file sorted and up to date. Every business card, from everyone and "everything". Really impressive/ useful. And she would prepare a small one with copies/sometimes originals for the boss in case of travel.

So yeah, that's how I do it.

Recipes/Ingredients are another, separate, journal. But I only add the truly great, and repeatedly used recipes to it. Also by hand. Others I only print, some I keep/file - others go to trash. (Everything I have translated to post here, or in other places, I have also digital, tagged recipe on my Mac.)

But writing with my fountain pen is my therapy/escape from the internet, keeps me sane ;)

Greetings to Berlin, from a small German town between Duesseldorf & Cologne! ;)

Kind regards,
Oliver
 
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