- PlateDiary
- Restaurant journal
A restaurant journal app
A restaurant journal that fills itself in.
Snap one photo of the table. PlateDiary cuts every dish into a save, files it under the place and the night, and remembers who you were with — so next time you know exactly what to order again.
Free on iPhone and Android. No account, and it works with no signal.
Kōya
Your usualTuna steak
Here again
The tuna, probably. Four of your six visits ended with it, and last time Ana stole half.
How it works
One photo, the whole table. About three seconds.
Most restaurant journals ask you to type at the table. PlateDiary asks for one photo. On-device machine learning finds each dish and drink and cuts it out — no tracing, no typing — and the saves group themselves into a moment by place and time.
Snap
Point at the table
The camera opens inside the app, instantly. Photos you already took can come in too, and keep the place they were taken.
Keep
Every dish becomes a save
Name them now or never. Your own past dish names come back as one-tap chips, so the same dish counts as one.
Remember
Place, night and company
Same place within about ninety minutes is one moment, with the people you tag and a “last time here” thread.
Places
Every restaurant you've been to, and your usual there.
Places lists every spot you have eaten, searchable by place or by dish. Open one and it reads like your own menu: your usual, every dish you have had there with a count beside it, every visit, and who you usually go with. The full map is a tap away.
Forgot to set a place? Add one to any moment, or find every moment without a place in one list.
Free for everyone
Companions
Who was across the table.
Tag who you ate with and each of them gets a page: where it started, your usual together, your spots and every table you shared. Nothing is shared with them and no contacts are read — it is your own memory of the night.
Ana
Where it started
Loaded nachos
Your usual togetherTuna steak
Your spots
What to order again
Dish by dish, not just place by place.
A restaurant rating tells you a place was good. PlateDiary remembers which plate was. Give any save stars, a note in your own words and a few tags; add what it cost or scan the receipt on your phone. Then find it again by search, by tag, or in a collection — even one that fills itself from a sentence like “date nights at Kōya”.
Search, tags, prices and receipt scan are free. Collections come with PlateDiary Premium.
Eaten 4×
Every time you have had a dish, counted for you.
Stars and notes
“Crispy edge, soft middle. Ana stole half.”
The bill
Optional prices, a bill per moment, receipt scan in your own currency.
Collections and tags
Date nights, worth the drive, Sunday roast — up to 200 saves a page.
Why not just…
The camera roll, a notes app, or a restaurant journal?
| Camera roll | Notes app | PlateDiary | |
|---|---|---|---|
| At the table | One photo | Typing | One photo |
| Each dish on its own | No | If you write it | Cut out for you |
| By place | Mixed in with everything | If you sort it | Places, your usual, a map |
| Who you were with | No | If you write it | A page per companion |
| What to order again | Scroll and guess | Search your notes | Stars, counts, your menu there |
Yours
Private by default, and it works with zero bars.
Photos, saves, notes, places and companions stay on your phone. There is no account to make and nothing to sync. Capture, cutouts and browsing all work offline — which, in a basement restaurant, matters. If you want help naming dishes, PlateDiary AI is optional and asks before it reads anything.
Questions
Before you snap the first table.
What is a restaurant journal?
A restaurant journal is a record of where you ate, what you ordered and how it was, so you can order the good thing again. PlateDiary keeps one for you from a photo of the table: each dish becomes a save, grouped by place and night.
Can I rate dishes, not just restaurants?
Yes. Every save can have its own stars, a note and tags, and PlateDiary counts every time you have had a dish, so a place page shows your usual and your menu there.
Do I need to type anything at the table?
No. Snap and keep is the whole thing. Names, stars, notes, prices and companions are all optional and can be added later, or never.
Does it work offline, and is it private?
Yes. Capture, cutouts, places and browsing all work with no connection, and your journal stays on your phone with no account. Backups can keep a copy in your own iCloud Drive or a Google Drive file you pick.
Can I see my restaurants on a map?
Yes. Places lists every spot you have eaten, searchable by place or dish, and the full map is one tap away, with your saves as the pins.