J. Kenji Lopez-Alt for Serious Eats on how Anthony Bourdain gets restaurant recommendations:
Bourdain’s slightly more rascally approach? Invoke “nerd fury.” Hit up any message board with an active international or travel community, and rather than simply asking them for advice, outright lie to them.
Get online and write something along the lines of, “hey guys, I just had the absolute best chicken rice at [restaurant x] in Singapore, no questions asked, hands down, everything else pales in comparison,” then sit back and enjoy the show as the internet foodie elite each jump into the fray to defend their own picks to the death. You’ll get a much bigger response, more passionate praise, and it’ll probably end up being a little fun to boot.
Love it. Who knew that “troll-sourcing” would be ever be a solution for anything in life? God bless the internet.