Hattie B’s in Nashville, Deanie’s in New Orleans, Rigazzi’s in St. Louis…there’s always that amazing restaurant known for the local specialty. Finding those gems is part of the trip preparation treasure hunt!

Creating a cuisine guide is a great way to organize restaurants or dishes you want to look out for and key phrases that will help you and the kids order with confidence.

We used our cuisine guide to help us identify dishes the kids might enjoy and show them images of what they could expect to have when we were in the Netherlands. (Our son was on the lookout for stroopwafels wherever we went.)

Cartagena is our next destination. After showing the boys the images in our cuisine guide, they are looking forward to cóctel de camarón (shrimp cocktail) but are a little skeptical of the fish head in mojarra rojo (fried full fish tilapia).

Check out the Menu Guide Directions & Template for more information on creating one for your next adventure!