Hello,
Does anyone have any personal experience with food tours in Paris? I've looked around a bit on the internet and found several, but not always with a lot of reviews. The ones I've found range in price from 35 euros (without included tastings) to 90 euros (with tastings), which seems about typical. I'm not a super "foodie," but such a tour seems like a great way to get a glimpse of Paris. I know this is a pretty vague query, but any input/suggestions/reviews would be welcome.
Thanks!
~C
Hello C,
Check out Paris by Mouth (use Google to take you to the official website), which offers several types of food tours in various Paris neighborhoods. My husband and I will be taking one soon, as we are traveling to Normandy and Paris starting next week. There are many terrific reviews for PBM's food tours on its actual webiste, but I also checked out the reviews on Trip Advisor, and it appears to be a good choice. All of the tours include tastings, so expect to pay close to 90/100 Euros per person. However, that's for a three-hour, small-group tour, and 5 to 6 stops with detailed information and a history lesson of the neighborhood that you choose to tour. No tip expected.
We are taking the Marais food tour when we arrive in Paris, to allow us to familiarize ourselves with the neighborhood we'll be staying in and to obtain the tour leader's specific recommendations on nearby patisseries, boulangeries and restaurants, since we'll be staying in an apartment with a kitchen.
Happy planning!
Jen
The best food tour that I took in Paris was the Evening cooking class and market tour offered by Cook'n with Class. You go shopping with the chef who gives you an education along the way. You then go back to the cooking school andprepare dinner in a small group. Great food and wine and even though it is expensive, they are extremely generous with the food and wine and it is a lot of fun. It is a small group (around 8).
I took a market tour and demo with Le Cordon Bleu. You tour a local market with a chef and translator. After the tour, there was a demo. I enjoyed the market tour, but didn't really care for the demo. The chef just prepared one plate of each course. There were about 30 people in the class, so no tastes and no written recipes were provided.
I took the Saint Germain tour offered by Paris by Mouth and was disappointed with it. it was ok. I thought they were somewhat stingy with the tastings considering the price and I just did not learn as much as I did with the Cook'n with Class tour. However, when I took this tour, I'd already been to Paris a number of times and had been to a number of the shops on the tour (Pierre Herme, Androuette, Patrick Roger) so to be fair, this might have been more interesting for a first time visitor.
I took the Chocolate tour offered by Paris Walks. The tour was excellent and it is a great value.
If you want to learn about food shops in Paris, I highly recommend David Lebovitz's website.
http://www.davidlebovitz.com
Last month, I took the Paris Walks "Taste of Paris" tour. I think it's only offered once a month. It was reasonably priced ( €35) for the many tastings we had. I recommend it. I've taken their chocolate tour in the past (offered about 2-3 times a month). They have a Les Halles walking tour that goes through the ares that the Taste of Paris tour does. That could be an alternative.
I looked into a couple other tasting tours last month, but they were pricier than my budget allowed.
The tour was the highlight of our trip to Paris. Our tour guide, Catherine, was charming and very knowledgeable about the local foods, customs, architecture, and history. We visited a variety shops and met the owners while sampling delicious food which included a variety of cheeses, charcuterie, bakery items, macarons, and chocolates. At the end we had a lovely celebration at a local wine store while sampling the many different foods we selected along the way. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone looking for a unique experience in Paris.
John, that's great, but which tour was it?
