I had pre-booked this tour after deciding to take my teenage daughter with me on a business trip to NY for the week. She loves food, is an adventurous eater and had never been to NY before. I let her choose which tour we went on - and since she loves both Italian and Chinese food, this was a no-brainer.
First, all of the pictures I had seen on Yelp and other sites looked like the foods we'd be tasting would be small sampling sizes - splitting a dumpling in half, only a couple of bites here and a couple of bites there. So, when I kept seeing advertised that we'd leave with full bellies, I wasn't really trusting. I should have listened!
To start, our tour guide Maryana was amazing. Her enthusiasm and passion was undeniable and moreover, she knows everything about the foods in this area and was able to suggest the best way to eat them, the order to eat them in and which sauces, etc. go best. What a huge help! She was engaging, fun and made the history portions of the tour so much fun!
Now the important stuff - the food!
Stop 1, when we first met we had a tea tasting that included some jasmine green tea and everyone had their own Chinese egg tart. It was definitely a polar item - I loved it, my daughter didn't - and I think the group was 50/50 on it. It was lightly sweet, slightly eggy and a great way to start the day. Then we moved on and learned more about the violent history of the area while we ate amazing (and huge!) barbecue pork buns. Walking some more, we learned about tenement homes, the progression of the city and how it's grown and developed and tried pork and chive dumplings that were out of this world!
With the Chinatown portion over, we walked over to Little Italy and sat down outside as a group and had the most amazing eggplant rollatini. Many of us on the tour admitted we weren't huge eggplant fans, but it was sliced so thin and seasoned with breadcrumbs, filled with ricotta, baked with mozzarella and sitting in the most delicious San Marzano sauce...you didn't know you were eating eggplant. By now I'm full...like "need a nap" full, but there's no stopping. Next stop, the shop in Little Italy that all restaurants in the area use to get their homemade pastas from for a tasting of homemade ricotta gnocchi. This was a smaller tasting of about 6-8 pieces of gnocchi each in a sauce that was sweeter than the one our eggplant was in. Delicate, pillowy bites! Next - two cheese shops for homemade mozzarella and prosciutto - and then a sheep's milk cheese, a cow's milk cheese and a few olives meant to help cleanse the palate. Finally - our last stop...dessert! We finished the tour (which was just over 3 hours long) with a mini cannoli from one of the country's most famous cannoli bakeries.
Hands down, next time I'm back in the city I'm going on another tour - it was the best experience. But I definitely recommend the following tips:
1. Bring a bottle of water with you. You won't have the option to get yourself something to drink until over an hour into the tour and you'll really want one to help you stay hydrated and help digest!
2. If you're staying in NY for several days, don't save your tour for the last day. Set your food tour for the first day or two so you have some great ideas and thoughts on places to eat your meals throughout your week. I regret not doing that this trip.
3. Be open minded about what you like to eat...