If you want new wanderlust stories delivered to your email inbox once a month, make sure you sign up for my newsletter, the Grapevine. Imagine that! No passport required. I get it. Figuring out the norms and customs and rules of dining out in a foreign country can be tricky at best. To ease your culture shock, and heighten your experience, I present, for your very-much-dining-pleasure, my.
This used to be easyβstroll down a tourist-free street until you found a crowded restaurant with no English on the posted menu. For years, I used this trick to discover the spots that locals gathered for a reliably solid meal. I remember two decades ago, Keith and I ventured just a few blocks away from the duomo in Florence and found a packed osteria with no English on the menu. We hesitated a touch before entering what seemed a different world. I may be making up how the action stopped when we stepped over the threshold.
But maybe not. I do remember how we barely spoke, watching people call over our heads while the cook strolled out to sit with diners. Keith and I toasted each other with house wine over an excellent meal, sure that we had won some Italian lottery.
Also, and more on this later , Americans keep wacky meal hours. Therefore, an empty restaurant may just be a sign that you once again jumped the gun, rather than you found a dud.
So my suggestion? Go where you are sent. Yes, you can certainly drive yourself crazy comparing on-line reviews, but really what it comes down to is that all restaurants have some amount of hit and miss about them, so the ratings will only tell you so much.
