The flavors of Charleston tour offered a variety of food and a nice bit of history.
The tour begins at the actual building for Bulldog tours. This is much preferred to meeting a guide on a random street corner! There we waited on benches, and were offered free water bottles.
We went to five restaurants. The first was the noisy oyster, where we had hush puppies, fish stew, and red rice. They were the best hush puppies I have ever eaten, and the fish stew surprised me too! Next, we went to the spice and tea exchange. This was interesting...we tried different dips and snacks. I only wish that they would have saved this for last, because some of the seasonings were very strong, and they overwhelmed my palate for the remainder of the trip. Then we went to Market Street Sweets. We have several pieces of samples, such as peanut brittle, bear claws, pralines, etc. These were truly just tastes. Next we went to Low Country Bistro, and had a grilled oyster, a crab cake slider, and a deviled egg slice. I hate oysters, but this was delicious! Lastly, we went to Cumberland Street Smokehouse, where we had a healthy portion of pulled pork, mac and cheese, pork rinds, collard greens, and homemade pickles. The food was good, and the walking portion was not overwhelming, and I traveled while 6 months pregnant! I appreciated the variety of food that was included. They could probably do without the spice exchange, but all places were well-chosen.
Brilliant tour with a very informative guide. We were given history of the city and colony and history of the food influences in the Low Country. Everything we tried was excellent, and I feel that we got a real flavour of the varied food available in Charleston and the Carolinas generally. Amazing flash fried oysters and crab cake slider! I ran out afterwards to buy a local cookery book in order to bring some of the flavours home with me. Thanks so much for a great tour.
The guide was nice and very knowledgeable, however only went to 2 restaurants, a spice store and candy shop. Biggest complaint, I don't know why people with food allergies, vegetarians and picky eaters choose food tours. Of the 7 of us, 4 fit into these categories and decrease the overall experience for everybody. It was somewhat difficult with a group of 7 a large stroller and wheelchair in the tight confines of some of these old buildings. The proprietors obviously had difficulty accommodating us without advanced notice of the needs of the group, Certainly not the tour equivalent of the Boston food tour.