How to Find the Best Food (not the most expensive food)

The LifeStyler knows his way around a good feed, but he’s also a tight arse. So we asked him for his ultimate guide to some good grub, without the inflated price tag.

The LifeStyler loves a good feed and is always on the search for a new place to try.  Traditionally that search was aided by reading reviews in newspapers and affiliated publications like the Good Food Guide or even just googling “Best Burger in xyz” which will deliver a wide range of publications suggesting the best around.

I will point out an observation here that the number of these places in close proximity to Surry Hills is uncanny.  I only presume these journalists live or work near Surry Hills.  What about the rest of us – we live in the suburbs and although we are happy to drive to Surry Hills there are amazing places all over the cities we live in.

Case in point, have you ever had Persian fast food? I have and I found it at North Parramatta. If you are looking for an amazing Filipino restaurant, there is a great one with plastic tables at Rooty Hill.

Let’s backtrack to how you find these places. The answer of course is Google but not probably how you think.  We all use Google Maps but how many of you have noticed at the bottom of the app on your phone you actually have three options.

1. EXPLORE – the one we all use to find something or navigate to our next destination
2. COMMUTE – Handy when going to and from work to help you with traffic, public transport etc
3. FOR YOU – Makes recommendations on upcoming events and restaurants to try

So, FOR YOU is where you start your food journey. Not dissimilar to Chrome this function in Maps starts to learn what you like to eat and where you like to eat it.  You can customise this by going into settings and selecting the types of food you like e.g. Italian or what areas you are happy to visit.  The FOR YOU tab starts to make recommendations and you have the option to click a button that says “want to go”.  Once you get going a % match circle appears based on how interested Google believes you will be. If Google gets it wrong you select not interested.  You get the idea.

Now the fun begins! Based on you selecting “want to go” a green flag appears at the top of the page with the number of places you have flagged you want to visit.  You will even get a notification when you are close to a place you want to try unprompted (you can turn it off).

Now I did say not the most expensive food.  This is really up to you and your choices, but as every restaurant is rated by recommendations and price you can quickly find those amazing hole-in-the-wall places with the best food without the big price tags.

The LifeStyler’s recommendation is New Star Kebab at Auburn in Sydney.  

Cheers until next week!