Food

We attempt to portray the meals included as accurately as possible and do advise our customers to set their expectations realistic. If you look for fine dining at super-fancy restaurants, you should book with companies like Tauck or Abercrombie & Kent. Companies claiming to offer “5-star tours at 3-star prices” should be viewed with suspicion as corner-cutting is commonplace among them. With these companies, you’ll end up in tourist restaurants eating cheap, bland, watery food heavy on carbohydrates and light on protein. Whereas with Laurus Travel, you’ll eat at quality restaurants where it is rare to find tour groups, foreign or domestic. Our customers frequently tell us how much they enjoy the good food and how appreciative they are of our efforts in creating them a delightful and eye-opening epicurean experience.

Breakfast

Your daily breakfast is a feast enjoyed in the hotel where you stay. There is a wide selection of local and international dishes to choose from. Coffee and tea are served at table. Omelettes and noodles are cooked to order. Vegetarians will be pleasantly surprised by the variety of vegetarian dishes, fresh fruit and dairy products.

Lunch and Dinner

Lunches and dinners when included would be local cuisine served in restaurants outside the hotels. As gastronomes ourselves, we feel strongly that we should introduce to our travelers the best of the local cuisines of the regions we travel through. Tasting authentic local cuisine is an integral component of our tour programs and we want you to experience that to the fullest. We avoid tourist restaurants whenever possible. We choose restaurants catering to the local middle class, not tourists. In many of the restaurants we patronize we are often the only foreigners except in certain developing countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar where local middle class has not reached a critical mass.

Vegetarians

There are lots of vegetarians coming on our tours. Regardless of the reason for them to be vegetarian, we have no difficulty in satisfying them. That said, vegetarian customers are reminded to communicate with the guides about their dietary preference upon arrival at destination.

Food Allergy

Customers allergic to certain food ingredients such as nuts, MSG or sesame oil should disclose this information at the time of reservation and also remind the guides once on the tour. Every effort will be made to satisfy the customer’s needs, but for the sake of liability we cannot guarantee that dishes served contain absolutely no such ingredients.

Dietary Restrictions due to Medical or Religious Needs

Customers with strict dietary needs due to medical or religious reasons must disclose their requirement at the time of reservation. We cannot guarantee that such dietary needs or restriction can be accommodated and there may be additional charge associated with such requests.

Where to Eat on Days when Meals Are Not Included

We leave out some lunches and dinners to give you flexibility. The local guide will be pleased to recommend restaurants according to your preference and budget. In China and Southeast Asia, a couple with $50 to spend can have a decent meal in a mid-level restaurant. In Japan, we have solutions to keep your meals affordable without compromising on nutrition and flavour.

Some guests may come with a list of restaurants to try based on what they found on the Internet or in guidebooks. Generally, such establishments are overrated and overpriced. As a rule of thumb, you should stay away from fancy restaurants recommended in popular online travel forums because restaurants overrun with foreign tourists rarely get you good value. Ask your guide for better options.

Language shouldn’t be a barrier at local restaurants as menus include photos of the dishes accompanied by prices inclusive of all applicable taxes (gratuities not expected).

Always check the price before ordering anything to drink. In general, restaurants in China do not offer free tea as often is the case back home or in some other Asian countries such as Japan.

Street Food

Laurus Travel does not allow its tour leaders to eat street food while on duty. Customers who choose to eat street food in developing countries should practice extreme caution.

Western Cuisine

After a few days away from home, you probably might crave for a “Western” meal. Unless it is in your plan to eat in the hotel or visit those pricey restaurants run by Western expatriates (there’s no shortage of them in major cities across Asia), you should check with your local guide for best advice. You may be surprised when your Chinese guide recommends Pizza Hut, but you’ll realize the moment you step into one that a Pizza Hut restaurant in China indeed offers casual fine dining. The cost for one individual sized pizza or lasagna plus a tasty seafood salad and a soda or a small bottle of local beer should be less than 100 yuan or 15 US dollars.

Sushi making lesson in Tokyo