How to Find Actual Local Food (Not the TripAdvisor Version)
The best meal I ever had cost €4 and wasn't on any list.
There's a pasta place in Rome near Trastevere. No sign. Eight tables. The menu is handwritten in Italian with no translations because why would there be.
A cab driver told me about it. He goes there every Thursday. His father went there. The cacio e pepe costs €8 and it's the best I've ever had.
It has 12 reviews on Google. The #1 restaurant on TripAdvisor has 4,000 reviews and a 45-minute wait.
What Happens When a Restaurant Gets "Discovered"
Here's the lifecycle:
- Great local spot exists
- Travel blogger writes about it
- TripAdvisor ranking climbs
- Tourists show up
- Prices increase
- Menu gets "simplified" for international tastes
- Wait times explode
- Locals stop coming
- Quality drops because the new audience doesn't know the difference
That "hidden gem" with 2,000 reviews isn't hidden. It's been optimized for people who won't come back.
Walk Until the Tourists Disappear
This is the simplest strategy and it works everywhere.
Pick a direction away from the main attractions. Walk 15 minutes. The restaurants change. English menus disappear. Prices drop. Portions get real.
Look for:
- No English menu (or only handwritten translations)
- Mostly local customers
- Plastic chairs (a good sign, honestly)
- Lunch specials with weird names you can't Google
Ask the Right Questions
"Where should I eat?" gets you tourist answers.
Try these instead:
- To hostel staff: "Where do YOU eat on your day off?" Not what they recommend to guests. Where they actually go.
- To taxi drivers: "Best cheap lunch near here?" They eat in every neighborhood.
- To shop owners: "Where do people who work around here eat?"
Eat When Locals Eat
Every country has different meal times. Learn them.
- Spain: Lunch at 2PM, dinner at 9PM. If a restaurant is busy at 7PM, it's tourists.
- Italy: Lunch at 1PM, dinner at 8PM. Avoid places open between 3-7PM.
- Southeast Asia: Street food peaks around 6PM. Morning markets for breakfast.
- Portugal: Lunch at 1PM, dinner at 8:30PM. Petiscos (tapas) from 5PM.
Follow the Workers
At noon, watch where construction workers go. Where office people walk. Where the woman from the pharmacy eats lunch.
These people eat in the same neighborhood every day. They know what's good. They know what's overpriced. Follow them.
Sometimes You'll Pick Wrong
The meal will be mediocre. The service will be weird. You'll wish you'd just gone to the reviewed place.
That's fine. It cost €6. Tomorrow you'll find the cacio e pepe place and it'll be worth every bad meal that came before.
Polo's hidden gems come from local blogs, not tourist rankings. It's not perfect, but it's a start.