Ethnic cuisine can be especially daunting to someone who wants to know what’s in everything (lest a potentially evil ingredient find its way in to my meal). Descriptions on menus rarely do food justice, nor make me feel any safer about what I’m about to eat. I’ve found Indian restaurants to be especially good at using the ol’ “meet with SPECIAL sauce” routine on a menu, but never letting me know if I’m going to bump into black licorice flavors (which are still gross, no matter how many times I try them), etc.
For this reason, I’ve found it especially helpful to explore ethnic food with people who know what they’re doing. Either they grew up eating a certain cuisine, or really enjoy it enough to know what’s what and can interpret the menu against my interests. They’re also good at knowing the ingredients and flavor profiles, so they can warn you ahead of time if you’re about to veer way off track and spend good money on something you’re going to really dislike.
I’ve been able to enlist the help of friends as food guides, but this really depends on having ethnically diverse friends, which is easier to do in a bigger city than the middle of nowhere (so is eating ethnic food, for that matter). If you can’t find anyone, a couple of other options are to do some internet research before a dinner out to find things that others recommend, and/or to look up recipes from menus to see what kinds of ingredients go into things (I did this once with Indian desserts before I went to dinner). Another option is to try a buffet, which will allow you to test small portions of things before deciding what you like and want to eat – sometimes this flies in the face of my tip about trying new things at the best places (buffets aren’t always great), but it is possible to look around for a reputable buffet that will have well-prepared options.
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