reading a restaurant menu takes on a whole new meaning

So I'm on a journey of trying to eat simply, cleanly and smartly. Now this is where it started to get difficult. I went out to lunch today and gosh was it challenging.
When you cook at home its easy, you know exactly what goes into the food you are eating and can work out the kilojoules/calories associated with the meal.
When you go out to eat you may as well just say as small prayer to the nutrition gods and leave it in the lap of the gods.
So looking at the menu there obviously are a few different simple tricks:

• look for anything vegetarian or with a large portion of the meal being vegetables
• look for a dish that separates the sauce or where you can ask for a sauce on the side
• find a dish that looks like it is caught in a broth or water option, soup or thin liquid rather than a gravy or creamy sauce 
• look at the meat at try and look for the leanest cut of meat or a cut that has been cooked for a long time to become more tender
• look at meals that look balanced in all food groups ie not excessive carbs or excessive fat
• look at what other people are eating to get a sense of serving sizes of food, portion sizes and order accordingly
• take the smaller option ie entrée size meal instead of a super size

So how did i go, well, not too bad i think.

I chose a poached chicken dish, with minimal fat, nice thin chicken soup/broth and a large serve of rice that i cut in half with my fork and only ate half of it. With it was a nice side of fresh bean shoots so there was a balance between carbs, veg, protein and fat. 

How do you go when you go out ?

What are your go to healthy foods that help you balance your dining out with eating in?