Our first stop is at the Quesadillas de San Juan. This is a traditional bakery and cafe where we will learn about the local Quesadillas which are very different to Mexican Quesadillas. We will have a great cup of coffee, hot chocolate or tea to drink while we enjoy a great view of Old Town and have great conversation.
After our first local snack we head down to the Central Market. I truly love this market and here you can find some of the best stalls and vendors offering tasty snacks, fruit juice, and much more! We will tour the Central Market, I will explain and comment along the way and we will taste Quito food essentials such as; local Fruit Juice, quirky and endemic fruits, mote surtido (hominy with a mix of grains and bits of pork) and take in the sights and smells of the market.
After our visit to the Central Market we will head for lunch at the first ice-cream shop in Quito - Heladeria San Agustin. San Agustin was the first Ice Cream shop in Quito which later upgraded to a full restaurant. This restaurant is located across the street from the San Agustin Monastery and dates back to 1858. This place feels like you travelled back in time to yesteryear Quito, during lunch you might get a chance to catch a show with legends and gossip of Old Quito and a couple of dance numbers. We will try empanadas de morocho as an appetizer and a Shrimp Ceviche or Goat Stew for the main course. We always finish lunch with some ice-cream.
After lunch we will walk around Old Town for a bit and go for the best Chocolate Tasting Experience in town. At Yumbos chocolate you will learn about the origins of chocolate in Ecuador. Your knowledgeable guide will have you taste a variety of chocolate, until you find your favorite. You will get a divine hot chocolate and the best brownie Ive ever had.
What a wonderful way to be introduced to the local food, culture, and a great tour director. Guanabana mixed with local blackberries is so unusual and tasty. The chocolate experience was different than ones we’ve been on before, very educational, and the variety of flavors were more than I expected. Jummy
The Galapagos Connoisseur is very knowledgeable and personable. It's an excellent investment of 4-5 hours. Highly recommend.
Eduardo was a great host as he took us to his favorite eating spots in Quito. From breakfast treats, a visit to the market tasting all the fruits and then onto lunch at a favorite spot for locals with delicious food and colorful entertainment. We opted out of the chocolate experience since we had already done one so we got to go to a cooking school for more treats and explanations about Ecuadorian cuisine from the chef.
Andres provided an excellent variety of tastings and extensive knowledge on local Foods. He is very friendly and speaks English fluently. He also explained the history of Ecuador very well. We highly recommend this tour.
A nice relaxed tour sampling some wonderful food. The itinerary was not exactly as described but that is irrelevant for this experience. Andreas is very friendly and knowledgeable. As an aside we told a unrelated local where we had visited and she said they were the best places in Quito to sample the food type. You will not be disappointed.
Anytime a fly into another country I enjoy scheduling a food tour to get a "taste" of what's to come. It is a nice easy way to start moving around in the new environment while getting rid of any jet lag that you may have. This tour did not disappoint - our guide was wonderful and showed us so many different flavors of things. My favorite was going to the local market where we could see and taste the local fruits, vegetables and meats. We ended with a chocolate tasting that was divine. Thank you for a marvelous time!
My wife and I had a terrific time with Andres on this excellent tour. We were treated to many delicious foods, including fruits we’d never had before. We loved the market visit and walking around the beautiful plazas in Quito. The chocolate tasting was also fun and informative. Andres did a great job working around traffic challenges since we happened to be here on a holiday, and we really appreciated his efforts. Andres is informative and clearly wants his guests to have an enjoyable time. Thank you for a wonderful introduction to Quito - we definitely saw more than we ever would have on our own, and we appreciated the architecture, history, and of course the food thanks to Andres’s tour. We highly recommend this tour for anyone visiting Quito!
Andres was very knowledgeable about Quito and took us to several cool places to sample food & drinks. Would highly recommend Andres for a culinary experience.
Great introduction to Ecuadorian food, and Quito. Andres is a wonderful guide, and is an obvious favorite around town. Do yourself a favor & try the mote & the empanada. Ricos! Gracias Andres!
Andreas was very informative about all the food and locations we visited. He was able to quickly navigate the closed roads and heavy rains to avoid missing any stops. Wish I knew to bring smaller bills to buy additional drinks/foods not part of the tour. When your Sprite is $0.75, they don’t want to make change for a $10 bill.
Andrés did a great job taking me and my family around Quito. We started in Old Town at Quesadillas de San Juan. It’s not the type of quesadillas like we have in the US. They were more like pastries for breakfast and paired well with the great coffee and empanadas. We then went to a market and tried local fruits and a mix of vegetables that I can’t remember the name of but were fantastic. We had a passion fruit drink mixed with raspberry that was very good. Then we went to the centro district and tried theee different types of traditional food at a local restaurant with some beer for the adults and some soda for the kids. My kids liked most of it even my 5 year old. Finally we went to a chocolate factory and learned about the process of making chocolate and how different it is in the US. Our guide was a connoisseur of chocolate similar to someone that is passionate about wine. We learned so much and tried chocolate from 100% to 70% and bought some to bring home with us. Our tour ended with Andres but we continued to explore Quito and ended up trying a different restaurant near San Francisco Catholic Church for supper and didn’t leave until dark. It was a day full of food, learning, and culture
I booked the private food tour in old town with Andres and his wife. What a lovely couple they are. We spent the day tasting traditional foods, fruits of Ecuador, and visiting local markets. Andres and his wife were super informative and friendly. I was able to visit a local chocolatier and taste test numerous samples and learn about the chocolate making process. We finished the day in the space where they have their private cooking classes. We enjoyed tomate de árbol and hot canelazo! What a treat!
I booked the private food tour in old town with Andres and his wife. What a lovely couple they are. We spent the day tasting traditional foods, fruits of Ecuador, and visiting local markets. Andres and his wife were super informative and friendly. I was able to visit a local chocolatier and taste test numerous samples and learn about the chocolate making process. We finished the day in the space where they have their private cooking classes. We enjoyed tomate de árbol and hot canelazo! What a treat!
We did this tour on our first day and it was a great way to get introduced to Quito and some of the typical foods of Ecuador. Andres was wonderful, giving us lots of information. We highly recommend this tour.
We really enjoyed our food tour of Quito with Andreas. He picked us up at the hotel and took us from place to place while explaining the rich and tasty culture of Ecuadorian food. He took the time to explain the nuances of each cuisine and at the same time we really enjoyed the tour of Old Town Quito. We would definitely recommend this tour. Total time was just under 5 hours.
Andre the operator owner could not have been more accommodating and helpful in some special attention we asked for. His willingness to attend to our ever need was never questioned. If you are considering a special culinary experience and adventure I'd recommend his tour. You won't go wrong. Was a pleasure working with is company.
I had to cancel. Notified the tour leader. And this company but got zero repky was hoping to get my money back as I canceled within the allotted tome
I have been on many food tours all over the world and this was by far the most disappointing experience. We paid a lot for this private tour and the first half of the tour was spent with a young couple who were doing a cooking class. We sat for about 45 min watching them chop vegetables in the cooking class while our guide parked the car. It wasn’t until the woman in the cooking class who spoke Spanish asked the chef to get our guide to start our food tour. We also paid for the guide’s lunch - something I’ve never seen on a food tour. The food we tasted was all very good, which saved this tour from being a single star. I would look for other food tour options in Quito. This tour was not worth the money.
We were looking for a half day tour which would give us an orientation to Quito after a late arrival the day before. The convenience of a hotel pickup made things very easy for us. Andres gave us a great introduction to the local cuisine, visiting landmark businesses we never would have found on our own. We had a lot of fun trying the amazing variety of foods based on the abundant fruits and vegetables grown in Ecuador. Walking through Old Town in pursuit of these foods made it perfect. Thanks to Andres for his great selections and knowledge.
What an amazing tour with Andres. Andes sounds like a native English speaker and is incredibly knowledgeable about Ecuador and food. And the food was both delicious and plentiful. Highly recommend!
Great, wonderful tour guide who was very easy to relate to. Truly enjoyed our conversations. Food choices were local and authentic. Would definitely do again.
Very good tour around the foodie places of Quito. Andres was a friendly, chatty guide and a pleasure to be with. My standout memory was rhe wonderful prawn and conch ceviche at a quirky restaurant opposite the St Augustine monastery. If you want to do this tour, do it with Andres but don't have breakfast first!!
Andres led us with our food tour through the market place with many tasty samples. I was concerned about sampling in the market place because I didn't want to start my trip with stomach issues. But there were no issues at all. We also had a big meal, ice cream, & then chocolate tastings. Definitely go hungry.
Really enjoyed the professionalism and staying away from normal tourist haunts. Wealth of general knowledge in addition to great food stops made for a very enjoyable four hours.
This was the second tour we booked after an amazing tour the day before exploring the Mindo Cloud Forest! We started at a local cafe for coffee and Quito style quesadillas. We enjoyed fresh juice and fruit tasting at Mercado Central, followed by lunch at the historic San Agustin. We then strolled Old Town Quito, stopping for a quick tour of Church of La Compañía before ending the day with a delicious local cocktail, canelazo. Andres helped us have another great day in Quito. He went over and above to help us find delicious local food, shared history of the area and was a lot of fun to hang out with! Having a guide who is in love with their city like Andres makes for a perfect experience!
Andres was a great guide. He picked us up right on time and took us to eat some great food. He was very kind and knowledgeable, and we had a great time. It was our first day in Quito and we were tired from traveling. It was a nice, easy tour for our first day. Don’t eat breakfast!
Andres picked us up from the hotel and the first stop was for a breakfast sweet quesadilla fresh from a local family bakery. The rest of the day was a walking tour of Old Town stopping for juices, fruits, sampling of various local dishes, lunch with local menu selections and finally a great stop for coffee. Andres was a great guide - he sure knows his food lol. It was a day we won't forget.
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