"Steves recommends that travelers take look at an outdoor menu or request one from the host to check for three things: its length, whether or not it's handwritten, and whether it's written only in the local language. According to Steves, "A small menu means the establishment is concerned with serving food profitably, but at a good price. It's handwritten because it changes frequently in order to serve ingredients that are in season. And it's one-language because they are catering to locals, rather than tourists.""
"It may sound intimidating to dine at a restaurant with a small menu in a foreign language, and it's even possible that your servers won't be able to translate each item for you, especially if the primary customer base is local. But simple, modern tools like Google Translate make it easy to read a page of text at the click of a button and even hold a conversation with your server."
Inspect an outdoor or requested menu for three features: short length, handwritten format, and presence of only the local language. A short menu indicates a focus on profitable yet reasonably priced cooking. Handwritten menus reflect frequent changes to use seasonal ingredients. Menus written solely in the local language show a focus on local customers rather than tourists, increasing the likelihood of authentic dishes and lower prices. If language is a barrier, use tools like Google Translate or dedicated devices such as the Vasco Translator V4 to read menus and communicate with servers even without Wi‑Fi.
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