Culinary Backstreets vs FOODING®
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Culinary Backstreets
Discover authentic local eateries in major food cities worldwide. This app provides curated reviews and integrated maps to help you find hidden culinary gems beyond typical tourist spots. Explore unique regional cuisines and enjoy offline access to content.
- Curated local food reviews
- Integrated maps for easy navigation
- Offline content access
- Vivid food and people photography
- Content from global food correspondents
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Download the application for free and purchase each city volume of reviews for only $3.99 each, with a lifetime of free updates! The definitive guide to eating locally and authentically in several of the world’s greatest food cities, including Istanbul, Athens, Barcelona, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City – with more to come! Each city volume within the application is purchased separately for $3.99 with free updates to the database forever. Beyond the kebab, souvlaki, tapas, soup dumpling, feijoada or taco – and what you will find listed in most guidebooks for these cities – lies a wide range of unique regional cuisines and restaurants with hints of cooking from all around. Most of these spots, though, are found far off the eaten track. With Culinary Backstreets as your trusty guide, you will know what to eat and where to eat it. Application features: -Content provided by Culinarybackstreets.com, the online global guide to local eats. -The absolute best of Culinary Backstreets’ local correspondents’ eating experiences: hundreds of opinionated reviews of local and authentic restaurants, street food carts, bakeries, dessert shops and more. -Search functions and integrated maps that make finding the perfect meal easy. -Vivid photos of food and the people who make it. -Content always available in off-line mode. About Culinary Backstreets: Partnering up with some of the most knowledgeable and passionate food writers and bloggers across the globe, Culinarybackstreets.com is a hotline for the hungry traveler, bedside reading for the foodie voyeur, and a heavily bookmarked index for those who live among the culinary backstreets featured in our pages. Dispatching from Istanbul, Athens, Shanghai, Barcelona, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Tbilisi (with more cities on the way), Culinarybackstreets.com is a community of readers and writers who follow their stomachs to the next destination. Praise for Culinary Backstreets’ Istanbul app: “Finally, a guide that truly shows you how to eat like a local in Istanbul!” -Anya Von Bremzen, contributing editor at Travel+Leisure, author of “The New Spanish Table” “…. The insiders guide to the back streets, hidden gems and tasty bites in the glorious old city on the Bosphorus. I love it.” Richard Engel, Chief Foreign Correspondent, NBC NEWS “Affectionate, funny and delicious. A must-have road map to the tastiest secrets in this beautiful city. I never leave home without it.” -Ivan Watson, International Foreign Correspondent, CNN “The brains (and stomachs) ….you want guiding you through the vast culinary treasures of one of the world's most interesting eating cities.” -Seth Kugel, Frugal Traveler, New York Times “Brilliant insider guide to the best eats in Istanbul.” -The Guardian
FOODING®
Discover over 2,000 curated restaurants, hotels, bars, shops, and cellars across France with a geolocation map. Find new additions and favorite spots near you, with advanced search filters and easy reservation options. Personalize your experience with a "My Fooding" account to save and share lists.
- Geolocation map of 2,000+ venues
- Hundreds of new additions annually
- Efficient search with precise filters
- One-click restaurant reservations
- Personalized "My Fooding" account
- Save and share favorite places
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- Over 2,000 ingenious restaurants, stylish hotels, bars d’auteurs, stand-out shops and spirited cellars from across France, all included in our handy geolocation map feature. - Hundreds of new additions to the guide each year, plus all our favorite spots nearest to wherever you are – from neighborhood bars to neo-bistros, not to mention all the bakeries, coffee shops and wine bars… - Our new search engine is more efficient than ever before (with ultra-precise filters). - Make reservations at hundreds of restaurants in the click of a button. - Exclusive features via your My Fooding account, where you can create and share lists of all your favorite places and must-try spots, and personalize your alerts so you don’t miss any new publications that you’re sure to love. Fooding® is a registered trademark.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: FOODING® at 4.7 against Culinary Backstreets's 2.6. FOODING® also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 7) and ratings volume (314 vs 12). Culinary Backstreets's advantage is iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Culinary Backstreets sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. FOODING® asks for nothing beyond the download.
FOODING® holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 2.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: FOODING® has 314 ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 68% of Culinary Backstreets's written reviews are positive against 71% of FOODING®'s.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 14, 2026.
| Parameter | Culinary Backstreets | FOODING® |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.6 (12 ratings) | 4.7 (314 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 67.7% of reviews | 71.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 12 | 314 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 16 MB | 45 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Culinary Backstreets | lefooding.com |
Customer experience
Culinary Backstreets
FOODING®
In-app purchases
Culinary Backstreets
- IstanbulFree
- RioFree
- Istanbul$3.99
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- Athens$3.99
- Barcelona$3.99
- Shanghai$3.99
- Mexico$3.99
FOODING®
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Culinary Backstreets free?
Is FOODING® free?
Which has better reviews, Culinary Backstreets or FOODING®?
Do Culinary Backstreets or FOODING® have ads?
Which is updated more often, Culinary Backstreets or FOODING®?
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