One of the fun parts of taking a holiday is that most of the time, you don’t have to cook or worry too much about preparing meals, somebody else does that for you. But rather than relying on your hotel to feed you every time, it’s great to get out into the local streets.

Here are a few tips for enjoying your restaurant meals when you’re travelling abroad

When possible, avoid the restaurants that clearly target tourists, and only tourists. If you can’t see any locals sitting there, move on. You can also pick a touristy restaurant by the abundance of English signage (presuming you’re in a non-English speaking country, of course!) and along with that, the inflated prices.

Know what you are eating

Taking a phrasebook with you can be handy. One reason travellers often stick to tourist-focused restaurants is that reading a menu in a foreign language is difficult. Make it a fun challenge instead and try to interpret some of the menu items.

Language phrase books often have entire chapters devoted to food vocabulary, or you can plan ahead and find a page or two off the internet which translate common words you’ll find on a menu in the country you’re going to visit.

Eat what the locals are eating

Don’t be afraid to look at what other diners are eating and do a bit of (polite) pointing. If you see something tasty, just gesture to the waiter that you’d like the same. The restaurants of Japan have got it right, I think, displaying (surprisingly realistic) plastic versions of their dishes in the window, so you can just take the waiter out to the window and point to what you want.

Adventurous eating

Be courageous. Unless you have particular food needs or allergies, then just take a chance by choosing something at random, even if you’re really not sure at all what it is. The chances are good that you’ll enjoy it, or you might even discover a favourite meal that you’ll come back for the next day, too.

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