India, Dec. 19 -- I have seen so many Indians travelling abroad this season that I reckon we form a huge source of income for restaurant owners all over the world. Unfortunately, like most tourists, we don't always spend wisely or get value for money.

There are no foolproof rules for how to choose restaurants abroad, and what rules there are tend to change from country to country. But for what it's worth, these are the rules I follow.

Try not to eat at your hotel. India is an exception to global trends because hotels have been at the centre of the evolution of cuisine over the last 50 years. (Though that's less true now.) In most of the world, hotels serve mediocre, overpriced food. In the Far East, hotel cuisine is still designed to ap...