You do not need a restaurant list to eat well abroad. Restaurants are businesses trying to sell you food; the best ones are often the ones doing it for locals. Three rules find them consistently.
Follow the lunch crowd, not the reviews
A place full of people who work nearby at 1pm is telling you something real: the food is good, the price is fair, and the turnover keeps everything fresh. Lunch crowds are the most honest reviewers on earth.
Watch what people are ordering, then copy
Sit for a minute and watch. Every table is eating the same two or three dishes — that is the house special, served reliably. Ordering it is the lowest-risk decision in the restaurant.
Go where the menu is in another language
A menu you cannot fully read, with ingredients you half-recognise, is rarely a mistake. If half the room is clearly regulars and the cook looks bored by his own speed, you are in the right place.
The one thing worth booking
When someone who really knows a place — a host, a driver, a shopkeeper — tells you where they eat on a special occasion, book it. Local pride is the rarest reservation you can get.