A professional chef hosted us for a gourmet meal in her own home - here's what it was like

Sarah Jacobs

One of our courses was a glazed Atlantic cod with a white rice and scallion cake.

When you're traveling to new places, it's best to eat as the locals do. VizEat, which describes itself as the biggest social dining platform in Europe, is a website (and soon, an app) that pairs travelers with local chefs who can cook up gourmet, community-inspired meals in their own homes.

The platform, which launched in Paris back in 2014, currently operates in 65 different countries and has around 60,000 members and 10,000 local hosts.

The hosts range from professional chefs - like Food Network star and personal chef Danushka Lysek - to locals who simply want to cook and meet new people.

Since Lysek is based in New York City, we decided to test out the platform by trying out a multi-course meal she prepared for us in her own apartment. Here's what it was like.