How to find the best restaurants in the world, according to Anthony Bourdain

The chef recommends avoiding any restaurants where Americans are eating

Anthony Bourdain shares his tips for finding the best restaurant (Getty)

Good food and good restaurants are universal but when travelling it can be hard to decipher the good from the bad.

To make the search for the perfect restaurant easier, no matter where you are, chef and TV host Anthony Bourdain shared a few tips.

Bourdain, who’s travelled to over 130 countries as the host of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, knows that it can be difficult to decide where to eat - especially if you are somewhere you may not speak the language.

So first on the list, look for a restaurant with no photos of the food.

According to Bourdain, who spoke to Time magazine, the best restaurants are the ones where the locals go to eat - so pictures or language translations are a giveaway that you may be at the wrong restaurant.

The 61-year-old also suggests looking for menus that only offer about three items.

Although such a minimal menu may sound like a red flag, according to Bourdain, it means the chef knows the cuisine and knows it well.

If it looks like the restaurant has been whipping up the same few meals for a long time, that is also a good sign - as practice makes perfect.

The next few pros on the list, dirty bathrooms and pets, may sound unsanitary but, according to Bourdain, they are reliable indicators of a good restaurant.

“I used to say a dirty bathroom was a sign you should not be eating in a restaurant. I've learned the opposite is true. Some of the best food experiences I've ever had are places they really don't give a s**t about that. They know their food is good and that's enough," he said.

Bourdain also recommends avoiding anywhere a tour group is eating - even if it is a tour group you are part of, and following the crowds instead.

Following the lead of strangers in a foreign place may sound intimidating, but the result will likely be good food.

And even if it is not, the TV host thinks the former is still better than following any restaurant advice of: “All Americans seem to like it” - which he believes “ensures that you will have a bad meal.”

In general, Bourdain advises avoiding Americans altogether in your search for the perfect restaurant - even in America.

“If you go to New York looking for a deli, you don't want to go to a deli with people filled from the Midwest taking pictures of each other. You want to go to a deli that's filled with New Yorkers. Not because New Yorkers are particularly nice, it's just that, chances are, that's a good deli," he said.