“Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.”
Voltaire
Eating and drinking: 2 simple pleasures that have the ability to open our minds and tantalise our senses. During my first trip to the city, I was invited by Taste Porto Food Tours for a tour of the city’s gastronomic scene. A foodie at heart, and a sucker for local food tours, I didn’t hesitate to say yes.
Taste Porto Food Tours – what to expect
Our guide for the tour was the charismatic Porto born-and-raised, Andre, whom we met near Bolhao market. Running by on 5 hours sleep after attending the second night of a music festival was no easy feat. Yet, Andre’s lively mood quickly snapped us out of our slumber.
It was clear early on that food and drink wouldn’t be the only focus of the tour. Andre was keen to show us ‘my Porto’ which included historical facts and anecdotes about the city.
The food – and drink– we sampled, matched the enjoyment of the walking tour. Though I enjoyed just about everything, I also had my favourites.
The culinary delights don’t have to end with Taste Porto. There are more specialised food tasting tours that are ideal for families and foodies alike.
A Loja dos Pasteis de Chaves
A Loja dos Pasteis de Chaves specialises in flaky pastries from a town called Chaves not far from the Spanish border. It’s difficult deciding between the sweet and savoury fillings, but they’re both so good, you can easily eat a few more.
Flor dos Congregados
The unique cave-like interior of Flor dos Congregados is a must-visit, and a must to eat at place too.
It promotes ‘slow food’, a concept that every country should adopt! Essentially, it’s all about savouring your food, and not rushing everything down your mouth. The restaurant has a traditional wood fire oven, from which we feasted on the scrumptious Terylene sandwich. This mouth-watering combination of slow-roasted pork, sandwiched between a crusty bread roll was heaven on a small plate. We combined this with a sparkling red wine, bringing a refreshing end to an unforgettable sandwich.
Bagus
Specialty food store Bagus deserves a mention, if not just for the impressive furniture that its owner designed. Here we tried intense satiny cheeses, meaty full-flavoured sardines, and not forgetting my new favourite red wine, Meio Quijo.
Would I recommend Taste Porto Food Tour?
The Taste Porto Food Tour is truly an excellent way to see the city, and from a local’s perspective too.
Andre made the experience that more special because of his added personal touches, and stories of the city. His love for Porto shines through, not only from his love of the food and wine, but also for every street, monument and building that we passed.
He went out of his way even after the tour ended to see if we needed more information. It was a thoroughly enjoyable 3 and a half hours, and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it all over again.
If you’re looking for a boutique hotel to stay in Porto, you should consider Carmo’s Boutique Hotel. It has an central location, individually designed rooms and the kind of excellent service you’d expect from a boutique.
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Lisssssa! All of the reasons why I love my birth city. Reading your post is making my mouth water, remembering all of the tasty treats I ate in Porto when I was young. The site looks A-MAZING! So happy for you. Keep the posts coming.
Your NYC Sister,
Ana
Ana! Thank you for your comment, I never realised you were born in Porto, such a beautiful place, can’t wait to return 🙂
Hmm, tapas and wine. I am in! The Pasteis look delicious. I like both sweet and the savory variety.
It’s all delicious and you can walk it off afterwards!
This looks like an impressive tour! Being in a wine lover, I’ll definitely enjoy this tour I guess!
Slow food in an upcoming concept and I really like it too! Pastry with sweet fillings plus wine – sign me up now!!
It’s even more delicious in person! The sandwich was divine, and the wine, well, don’t get me started!
I love that the food tour had some history as well. What a great way to learn about a place and culture –through food. The Pasteis de Chaves look so delicious!
They’re super yummy and moreish too! The good thing is you can walk it off while discovering beautiful Porto 🙂
I once tried one of the traditional custard pies brought back from Porto and was absolutely blown away; I bet Porto has some gorgeous food! What are the vegan options like there do you think?
I’ll be honest Hannah, I don’t know anything about the vegan options in Porto! There are plenty of veggie options available, but the next time I return I’ll find out 😀
A food tour is my kind of tour! This is a great way to sample the delicacies of a city/country! That cheese and bread platter looks amazing! These delicious treats make me want to go to Porto…stat!
Porto’s one of my favourite cities, and the food is incredible! I urge you to try it and see for yourself!
Oh my gosh! You are making me very hungry with this post! I have my eye on that pastry. I love to try the food wherever I travel and I think the best guide is always a local. Did you get a chance to try a Portuguese egg tart? I had one in Macau but I would love to taste the original!
Oh yes! Actually the best egg tarts were in Lisbon 🙂 Still these pastries were gorgeous, and one wasn’t enough!
Girl…I have GOT to stop reading these posts when I’m hungry! Okay, so that Voltaire quote? Amaze-balls! Andre seems like a pretty awesome guy, and I’m glad he helped snapped you out of your slumber! It would have been a bummer to miss all the yummy food and history of Porto!
Lol my apologies for making you hungry, but I can assure you it was soooo good! Ha, and thank you for the feedback on the Voltaire quote; I think it’s pretty awesome too 😀
OMG the food looks mouth watering . I love to try different foods while I travel and I guess i should put this place on my list for my future use. Thanks for sharing
It’s a wonderful city and one of my favourite cuisines!
You are one lucky person ! Who doesn’t like to get invited to a food and wine tour and specially when the food looks so delicious and the wine acts as the perfect accompaiment ! Loved the quote in the first line.
I know right?! I was very lucky, and really enjoyed the tour when I was there. I wouldn’t mind a second go 🙂
Porto tours look great due to food and wine combined so beautifully and explained by their lovely guide Andre. For knowing place fully we should taste regional cuisine and food tour completes any tour. Pastries with sweet fillings called Chaves sounds delicious and more better when accompanied with wine. Thanks for sharing!
The chaves pastries are delicious and really moreish too. I’d highly recommend the food tour as it’s well worth the price and Andre was the perfect host 😀
I love food tours, relishing on the yummy local food is one of the best part of travelling. All the places you mentioned sounds very interesting and the food looks delicious too. It’s great your guide made the tour even more fun and memorable.
It’s a fabulous food tour, and one I recommend to anyone visiting Porto 😀
The food tour sounds legit. i totally agree on integrating and supporting the “slow food” concept, i feel it just tastes better and is by far more healthier. the dishes and plates looks amazing too.!
I love the slow food concept, especially as I’m a slow eater too! And yes, everything was delicious!
Mmmmm, that red wine looks delicious! What is the base for the wine? Is it sweet? It’s 9am here and for the first time I actually want to eat lunch for breakfast because of this post.
That’s the kind of response I love to read! I’ll need to find out about the wine, it shouldn’t take me long, I’ll send you an email!
Whoa, I am drooling after seeing these pictures. I am a big foodie and excited to taste these. I hope they have enough options for vegans like me as well. The setting in earthy tones look so appealing as well.
Excellent! I’m sure now they will cater for vegans – there’s a lot of good Portuguese dishes to try 🙂
What a great way to explore a city combining food with history. Food tours we believe are an ideal way to dive into the culture and lifestyle of the locals. And guides like Andre make it worthwhile.
I totally agree. Taste Porto Food Tours is fantastic, and yes Andre really made the day more special.
Its tough to say ‘No’ to food tours and when its something like this, definitely not.
Food is a great way to learn about new things about a place. I would love to explore a city through its food.
And I am glad they used slow cooking concept. Its healthier too.
Yes, i didn’t think about it being healthier, but you’re right! Porto’s wonderful and it’s a great food destination.
I am not a big fan of food and wine tours. But taste porto food tours took you to legit places and people went out of their way to help you get relevant information, just for that I would readily give them a try. Apart from that, Porto seems like a place where even people like me wouldn’t mind indulging in a bit of gastronomical experience and have a taste of their world famous wine!
Aww that’s a shame you don’t like food or wine tours. Maybe this would be different as Andre did a historical tour at the same time. Porto’s beautiful and should be on everyone’s list 🙂