Two of the most wonderful things in the world: finding a twenty-dollar bill in the back pocket of your old jeans and discovering a lowkey restaurant that turned out to be your new favorite restaurant.
Chef in the kitchen - Michael Browning Unsplash
There is something special about finding a hole in the wall that most people don’t know about. You claim this restaurant for yourself, like an adventurer who discovered a new land. But there is a feeling even more special than discovering that secret restaurant- and that is sharing it with the people you care about.
Chinese Lo Mein - James Sutton Unsplash
When you take your friends to this little restaurant you accidentally stumbled upon and your friends happen to LOVE the food, you get a sense of unexplainable pleasure. It’s like finding a funny meme on the internet, showing it to your friends, and them actually laughing at it (and not the fake kind of laughing). Your friends will shower you with compliments: “Wow! The food here is amazing! I can’t believe you found this spot.”, “Thanks for bringing us to this awesome restaurant!”.
Did I Eat That Sign - Jamie Mato Unsplash
It's addicting to have your opinions agreed with. You crave more funny memes to show your friends and you crave more secret restaurants to take your friends to. The next step? Usually Google. The key here isn’t to find the best restaurants because those are already popular; it’s to find the obscure, niche restaurants that also uphold a high standard of excellence.
You’re a food hunter, a restaurant discoverer, a local Columbus for your friend group. And this article will provide you a treasure map to discovering your next artifact.
If you find the right subreddit, you can find anything. There are plenty of subreddits dedicated to the discovery of great local eats in your area. As long as you live in a city with a population of over 100, I guarantee you, there is a subreddit for it. And if you live in a big city, there are subreddits within subreddits where you can find the most niche things imaginable in your city.
Reddit Screen - Kon Karam Unsplash
To start your food hunt on Reddit, I recommend you google “best local restaurant (enter city name) Reddit”. From there, you should have a few subreddits that cater to what you’re looking for. Narrow down your search by going deeper into the subreddits that appear on the google results.
Food-related Facebook groups
Similar to subreddits, there are Facebook groups for practically anything imaginable. Looking for niche food groups might be a little trickier than Reddit. You will need to start broad from the Facebook search and then narrow in on what you’re looking for.
Facebook Screen - Kon Karam Unsplash
If you’re looking for local Chinese restaurants in Seattle, start by looking for Facebook groups based in Seattle. From there, dive into the restaurant groups in Seattle and then narrow down to the type of restaurants you’re searching for.
With Facebook, you can find out about good local restaurants by making a blatant post asking for local restaurant suggestions.
Asking in person
This is for the extroverts and the bold adventurers who are not afraid of awkward conversations. Go to any local restaurant and ask the staff directly for other restaurant suggestions. Usually, you don’t want to ask the owner (because why would they tell you about competitors), but servers on the other hand will tell you a lot for a decent tip.
People talking at a Sushi bar - Ian Pham Unsplash
This is the most effective way of finding something super amazing but also the most tedious. This could also be a good chance to build social skills!
If you do ask, ask for a restaurant that is in a different category to avoid major conflicts.
Well adventurers, that is all on the treasure for today. Good luck out there in your search of the next wonder and once you do, please reach out to us, and tell us all about them!