Turning European meals into lasting memories

  • By Rick Steves
  • Friday, March 25, 2016 11:10am
  • Life

Eating in Europe is about more than just the food. The best dining experiences are sensory, where you’re not only eating tasty cuisine; you’re also enjoying the patina of age, the colorful clientele and their chatter, and the crunchy sound of knives cutting through freshly baked loaves of bread. After years of travel, I’ve found that just as important as museums and churches is experiencing culture through the hearth, through the kitchen, and through the dining room table.

To have a memorable meal, you don’t need to eat at a place with a Michelin star, wait in a long line, or use a website like TripAdvisor to tell you what’s hot. All you need is a few trusty recommendations on where locals eat — just ask a hotelier or shop owner.

You’ll find the most authentic dining places have a small selection on a handwritten menu in the native language. The menu’s small because they’re going to cook up just what they can sell out for the day, it’s handwritten because it’s shaped by whatever’s fresh in the market that morning, and it’s in one language because they’re targeting local, return customers rather than tourists. At the end of the night, you may be joined by the chef, who wants to luxuriate in the fun people are having because of his cooking.

A great place to eat with locals is at a market hall, such as Frankfurt, Germany’s Kleinmarkthalle; Copenhagen, Denmark’s Torvehallerne KBH; or Florence, Italy’s Mercato Centrale. All over Europe, Industrial Age, glass-and-steel farmers’ markets are getting a new lease on life as trendy food halls. They still come with the farmers’ market dimension, but they’ve been spiced up with great eateries, priced for local shoppers and serving the freshest ingredients. As many are geared toward the working crowd, they tend to be most vibrant at lunchtime. To choose a stall, look for a line of nine-to-fiver natives: They eat out every day and invariably know the best place for an affordable, fill-the-tank bite.

I’m not a happy-hour cocktail kind of a guy, but in Europe I like to wind down from a day of sightseeing with a hard drink and munchies out on the town square. In the evening, at bars throughout Europe, students and fun-loving people are out having their spritz. Although you generally want to avoid eating at these places, I happily pay too much to enjoy a cup of coffee or a cocktail on the most expensive piece of real estate in town and watch the scene go by. Think of it as renting a spot to enjoy the show.

It’s said that in much of Europe, smart eaters can identify the region and month by what’s on the menu at a good restaurant. I tend to order daily specials, which usually highlight what’s seasonal (or I look at what locals are eating). For instance, white asparagus is a treat for your palate in spring … but comes out of the freezer the rest of the year. If French onion soup and cheese fondue are on the menu in summer, the place is a tourist2 trap — a restaurant for locals wouldn’t serve these winter dishes in July.

I also make it a point to try regional specialties, such as cassoulet in the southwest of France, “cochinillo asado” (roast suckling pig) in Segovia, Spain, or “bistecca alla fiorentina” in Florence (made from the white Chianina breed of cattle grazing throughout Tuscany). Barnacles in Portugal are expensive, but so worth it — the best seafood I’ve ever eaten.

Whenever possible, I order family style so I can eat my way through more of the menu. Sometimes, rather than getting two main courses, my travel partner and I share a little buffet of appetizers or first courses — they’re filling, less expensive, and more typically local than entrees. These small plates go by different names throughout Europe: tapas in Spain, “mezedes” in Greece, and antipasti in Italy.

One of my favorite rituals after an epic meal is to walk back to my hotel and take in the quiet scenes of a village at night. Several times, I’ve spotted a chef docked in a chair outside his restaurant, sipping a glass of wine or liqueur and puffing on a cigarette.

For me, a memorable European meal is a holistic experience. It’s hiking 20 minutes to a Greek seaside taverna and choosing from a display case of dishes prepared with market ingredients and the day’s best catch purchased directly from the fishermen, or feasting for three hours on a full-blown Italian dinner with multiple courses and unending glasses of liquor, then chatting with the chef when the dinner rush ends. It’s all part of the European culture of eating, and what makes travel here so special.

&Copy;2016 Rick Steves, Distributed By Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

Sarah Jean Muncey-Gordon puts on some BITCHSTIX lip oil at Bandbox Beauty Supply on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Langley, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Bandbox Beauty was made for Whidbey Island locals, by an island local

Founder Sarah Muncey-Gordon said Langley is in a renaissance, and she’s proud to be a part of it.

A stroll on Rome's ancient Appian Way is a kind of time travel. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves on the Appian Way, Rome’s ancient superhighway

Twenty-nine highways fanned out from Rome, but this one was the first and remains the most legendary.

Byrds co-founder Roger McGuinn, seen here in 2013, will perform April 20 in Edmonds. (Associated Press)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

R0ck ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Roger McGuinn, frontman of The Byrds, plans a gig in Edmonds in April.

Mother giving in to the manipulation her daughter fake crying for candy
Can children be bribed into good behavior?

Only in the short term. What we want to do is promote good habits over the course of the child’s life.

Speech Bubble Puzzle and Discussion
When conflict flares, keep calm and stand your ground

Most adults don’t like dissension. They avoid it, try to get around it, under it, or over it.

The colorful Nyhavn neighborhood is the place to moor on a sunny day in Copenhagen. (Cameron Hewitt)
Rick Steves: Embrace hygge and save cash in Copenhagen

Where else would Hans Christian Andersen, a mermaid statue and lovingly decorated open-face sandwiches be the icons of a major capital?

Last Call is a festured artist at the 2024 DeMiero Jazz Festival: in Edmonds. (Photo provided by DeMiero Jazz Festival)
Music, theater and more: What’s happening in Snohomish County

Jazz ensemble Last Call is one of the featured artists at the DeMiero Jazz Festival on March 7-9 in Edmonds.

Kim Helleren
Local children’s author to read at Edmonds Bookshop

Kim Helleren will read from one of her books for kids at the next monthly Story Time at Edmonds Bookshop on March 29.

Chris Elliott
Lyft surprises traveler with a $150 cleaning charge

Jared Hakimi finds a $150 charge on his credit card after a Lyft ride. Is that allowed? And will the charge stick?

Inside Elle Marie Hair Studio in Smokey Point. (Provided by Acacia Delzer)
The best hair salon in Snohomish County

You voted, we tallied. Here are the results.

The 2024 Kia EV9 electric SUV has room for up to six or seven passengers, depending on seat configuration. (Photo provided by Kia)
Kia’s all-new EV9 electric SUV occupies rarified air

Roomy three-row electric SUVs priced below 60 grand are scarce.

2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE Premium AWD (Photo provided by Toyota)
2023 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE Premium AWD

The compact SUV electric vehicle offers customers the ultimate flexibility for getting around town in zero emission EV mode or road-tripping in hybrid mode with a range of 440 miles and 42 mile per gallon fuel economy.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.