The plastic chair rule

You know how they say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Well, you should definitely judge a restaurant by its chairs. This rule came in handy many times in the past and so far it was quite reliable as well. You can only use it in the summer though…the time when all restaurants are showing off their garden chairs.

Basically the purpose of this rule is to find a cheap restaurant. If you want to eat cheap you should search for restaurants with plastic chairs…the uglier and the more worn out they appear the cheapest food there is to expect. Usually by the end of the trip when you feel particularly poor you should go for white plastic chairs that crack if you move around a little too much. The quality of food can be debatable at this point but in the end you just want to fill up your tummy and sometimes plastic chair restaurants can surprise you as well.  

In my experiences I usually start a trip with a comfortable chair covered with pillows and the feeling of lying on the clouds while eating my favourite food. Later on that feeling becomes a distant dream and then reality strikes and gives you a white plastic chair with the chair pad on in the best case scenario. By the end I settle for anything that looks like a chair and hope that I found one of those hidden restaurants that got run over by time but still haven’t lost its soul and tasty food. I’m usually wrong. To conclude people also say what you see is what you get and those people know what they are talking about, but they are not young and broke so until you become so smart stick to the plastic chairs.

Hard Rock Cafe, Budapest (Hungary)

Beijing (China)