Saturday 31 May 2014

14 Great Cities Where You Can Eat Like a Cabbie

You are visiting a new city, loving it, yet... you loathe tourist traps. Where does the curious and adventuresome traveler go to eat like the locals?

LLoviendo Cafe
LLoviendo Cafe, Jorge Fernández-Trevejo Rivas
via creativecommons
Think about it. Who in the city, is watching their pennies, and has an appetite that needs ongoing love and attention?

Why the city's cabbies, of course!

It's a trick of the well-traveled: pick your cabbie's brain for the best cheap spots for good food in town.

How you ask the question makes a difference though: "Where do the locals go for breakfast around here?" or "Where do you and all the cabbies go for good, cheap food?", works better than "We're hungry. Where can we go for dinner?" (the latter runs the risk of being whisked off to his uncle's restaurant, or some diner where the driver gets a cut).

Leaving town before you find the best driver? Ask away and take notes; you never know when you'll be back. Bonus points if your driver mentions a spot you managed to find on your own!

AthensRestaurants in Athens (see mentions of George the famous taxi driver of Greece)
BerlinBerlin Food Adventures *
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires Food Adventures *
ChicagoEating like a cab driver
DubaiWhere taxi drivers dine: We visit the restaurants that fuel the city's cab drivers
Ho Chi Minh CityEating by taxi in Ho Chi Minh City
Hong KongTaxi Tales: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers
IstanbulEating & Drinking in Istanbul: 3 Taxi Driver Tips
LondonHail London's new TV star: Cabbie who knows where to find the capital's best food
Nosh and Knowledge: The lore, language and robust diets of  London's "black cab" drivers
New YorkLooking for a culinary trip? Follow that cab.
Famous Fat Dave: the Hungry Cabbie *
New York Food Adventures *
RomeWhere to eat in Rome - by the city's cabbies *
SingaporeWhat Singapore Taxi Drivers Eat For Lunch or “Uncle, 载我去吃饭!”
Top 8 hawker food centres taxi drivers patronise
TorontoThe top 10 restaurants for taxi drivers in Toronto
Washington DCWhere cabbies eat like kings
Created with the HTML Table Generator
*dated but likely still valuable tips

Just a sampling, of course. But rest assured, that if there is a city, and there are taxis, there are cabbies that know where the best eats are.

Berlin-Curry 36
The famous Curry 36 in Berlin
Google is your friend - but so is Layne Mosler (@taxigourmet) of Taxi Gourmet, who is turning her website dedicated to her pursuit of the cabbie's lunch trail into a new book. Driving Hungry, with croudsourced funding by Kickstarter, will be out in 2014.

Curious? Read this interview with Layne by @epicurious.


Related resources:
In case you missed it... here's the answer to the burning question: Do we really hate taxis?

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