How to remember the restaurants your friends recommend

Recommendations arrive everywhere: a message in a group chat, a story someone shared, a voice note, a conversation over dinner. So they end up everywhere too: a screenshot in your camera roll, a pin on a map, a line in your notes app, or nowhere at all.

When you finally want somewhere to eat, you'd have to search five places. So you don't, and you end up at the usual spot.

1. 01Save it the moment you hear it. Not tonight, not later. Ten seconds while it's fresh beats ten minutes of trying to remember.
2. 02Keep one list, not five. It doesn't matter much which tool you use. What matters is that every recommendation goes to the same place.
3. 03Write down who recommended it. "My sister said the fish is incredible" is worth more than any star rating, because you know your sister.
4. 04Add the detail that matters: what to order, when to go, who it's good for. "Go for lunch, get the shakshuka" turns a name into a plan.
5. 05After you go, close the loop. Mark whether you'd go back, and tell your friend. It's the best way to get the next recommendation.

Nobody searches their list alphabetically. You search by moment: a date night, a quick lunch near work, somewhere for your parents' anniversary. A few simple tags like these turn a long list into an answer.