Dear Authentic Local Restaurant, stay just the way you are
Almost all of us have this desire when we travel, to stumble upon and experience what should technically be easy to find, yet somehow remains pretty hidden: the authentic local restaurant. Let’s imagine it for a moment. Small in size, just a handful of tables…
It’s unpretentious ~ the walls are raw, the plant pots lined with cracks from years of use. The menu is only in its native tongue, perhaps handwritten, or better yet, there’s no menu at all because they only cook with the freshest produce they manage to get each morning.
It feels homey because it’s a reflection of the family that runs it. You can hear the mum calling one of her sons in the kitchen now. You hear them laugh. Nothing is for show; everything is just as it is. You’re treated just like one of them, not an honorary guest they need to impress.
The food is heartwarming, the house wine served in a dented tin carafe is delicious, and when the bill arrives, it’s more than reasonable. Before you can leave, they bring out dessert ‘on the house’ ~ a small, simple gesture that says, “Nice having you here.”
As you drink in every impression and every detail that makes up such a place, you leave not only feeling full, but fulfilled. Emotionally satisfied ~ knowing that you found a gem.
It’s funny, isn’t it, that we call such places that? A gem ~ or more specifically, a hidden gem. By definition, that would mean that it’s ‘something special that isn’t widely known or noticed by most people, offering a surprisingly delightful experience once discovered and a unique reward for those who find it.’
Why We Want to Find Hidden Gems
But the fact that more and more people are craving to find these spots surely speaks volumes about human nature, or its evolution. That more of us no longer feel content with those places that have been man-made to perfection by hired stylists, sculpted and moulded into instagram worthy ‘check-in’ spots.
Beauty on the outside, yes, but we sense their soullessness, because our own has nothing to say when we’re there. Instead, we want places where the stories simmer in the walls, layers of past lifetimes that capture us when we take a seat.
Like the spot in Paris that originally opened in 1966, a restaurant so tiny you have to climb over the table to get to your seat. You sit wedged between strangers with a choice of two things on the menu that hasn’t changed, and you imagine the conversations and people that must have passed through.
Or the spot in Hoi An, with its three tiny plastic tables and equally small stools, where the man who runs it comes over barefoot with a smile as the common language and cooks their specialty in the kitchen just a few feet away as his granddaughter hangs on his leg.
What Makes These Places Special
We want places that teach us something new. Whether it’s how to properly eat with your hands in a little shack in Sri Lanka, moulding food into little balls before gently scooping it into your mouth with your thumb.
Or how squeezing lemon juice on your hands after eating fish, doubles as a natural hand wash in Greece. When you’re somewhere local, surrounded by locals, all you need to do is look around and listen, and your lesson about your new environment and its culture is right there.
It’s the history, the stories, the speciality dishes passed down from generations. The simplicity. The realness. These are the places that move us, touch us, connect us, teach us.
Dear authentic local restaurant, stay just the way you are.
My favourite authentic spots
When I live in new places for months at a time, I consciously spend time away from the typical recommendations that show up all over the internet and social media and seek out these lesser-known authentic spots instead.
If that’s also your preferred way to travel, I’ve created six downloadable digital guides featuring my favourite 33 spots in Berlin, Paris, Hoi An, Ubud, Oaxaca City and London. Places that I have come to know very well. These are my hidden gems ~ which I hope you’ll love just as much as I do.
“If I could describe this guide in one word it would be “authentic”, with unique places and unique recommendations, this guide made my trip and it’s for the people who really want to know the place in a special way and go to spots with an aesthetic/ magical atmosphere, that sometimes are really hard to find.”
Marco from Mexico (Hoi An guide)
The insider tips in this guide are pure gold. They lead you beyond the usual tourist traps and into the heart of local life. Each recommendation felt like a secret shared between friends, making my experience in Ubud deeply personal and profoundly enriching!
Catalina C (Ubud guide)
This is the second guide I bought from Paris, this time, Oaxaca!! I LOVED IT! As a slow traveler and digital nomad myself, i can always trust the insights and knowledge of Paris. She put so much love into it! I highly recommend checking the guide out if you are heading to any of this beautiful locations!
Sylvia (Oaxaca City guide)
