Recommended by local people

I just met a good friend a few days ago and stayed at his place. Every time I visit him, we always eat a lot. He has his own map of cuisine and in particular, in the city he lives. He never let me down.

While traveling, I like to taste local food. However, I don’t really like to taste food recommended by a travel book or a blogger. Normally, I like to ask local people to know what they like. On my first trip to Italy, I stayed in a hostel in Roma. One morning, I asked a staff member in the hostel to see whether there’s a good place to eat pasta. The staff began to draw lines on a map. He told me that there was a good restaurant nearby the hostel and I could walk to that place.  The other day, I decided to get there for lunch. I followed the map and arrived at the restaurant. I saw an Italian guy at the counter and asked him if this was the place. That Italian guy smiled confidently and said, “Yes.” A restaurant staff guided me to sit and began to help me order the pasta that could work for me. In the end, I ordered pasta with fish. Well, I don’t know whether that’s the right combination. But, when I saw the pasta, it looked good and when I tasted it, yes, it’s the right place. I arrived at the right place to taste pasta. That was probably the best pasta I tasted. I was so happy. I couldn’t speak Italian, however, with some help from local people, I could reach a good place to taste Italian food. A few years later, I did the same and I tasted good pizza and pasta in Bologna. Additionally, I learned that there’s something called Bolognese sauce.