Sydney Private Food Walking Tour With Locals: The 10 Tastings

While the host was lovely and very friendly, I ended up leaving after wandering around for about 2.5 hours of looking at graffiti because I was starving. Granted I do have a gluten intolerance-which the hostess asked about- but the first (and only) stop in the 2.5 hours I was with the group did not offer gluten free options. Look, it’s my intolerance so, my problem and I don’t expect to be catered to, but perhaps if the pacing was more balanced between the graffiti art and actually getting some bites, it would’ve been a more pleasant experience. I did make friends with someone who said they ended up eating later but I had to go grab a bite elsewhere and couldn’t wait any longer. Very nice guide, though! She definitely loves the art and I’m grateful for what I learned but I don’t know if I would’ve been better off packing snacks for a food related tour…? Seems counterintuitive.

Tour guide was 15 minutes late without explanation or apology. We were messaging Viator when he finally showed up in gym shorts, t shirt and flip flops. He was a VERY poor communicator. We kept having to ask questions get any information. He says he is not a foodie but likes to show people his favorite places. This was supposed to be a 3 hour tour with 10 tastings and stops at the Hub Studio and Newtown Courthouse. The food was good and each stop was one shared portion. At one stop our guide seated us at a table without food and left the restaurant for about 10 minutes. We had no idea where he went and were concerned we had been abandoned. He showed back up, again with no explanation as to where he had gone. After the last food stop 1 1/2 hours into the 3 hour tour, our guide Chris said he was done and heading in the opposite direction. The stops at the Newtown Courthouse and Hub Studio were not offered nor even directions to get to them on our own. I again contacted Viator about the issues and the missed stops. They said they would contact the guide about a partial refund. He has yet to respond and all Viator did was send me a copy of their refund policy which basically says they don’t stand behind the guides they hire and since he didn’t respond, we get nothing. Bad business.

Excellent excellent excellent. We visited NewTown

The tour guide was very nice and knowledgeable about the area of Newtown. This area can be described as eclectic or bohemian and run-down, trashy and not where I would choose for a food walking tour. There is a wide variety of food to be sure but only a few of the tastings were standouts. We actually had a cold piece of toast with Vegemite! The drinks consisted of water and a shared bottle of ginger beer. We walked down a couple of dirty alleyways to view a large wall mural. Not a good value for this price and would not recommend. I've been on several food walking tours that were excellent but I was very disappointed with this experience. Just walk around on your own and sample the food and check out the shops.

Australia has a great food culture which has many influences, from farming to immigration and from the aboriginal people. Unfortunately we didnt feel this captured any of it as there was no narrative to tie the restaurants together. We visited 10 restaurants and about 3 of them reflected Australian culture. Some great meats are reared in Australia and there is a huge fishing community but this tour contained none of that. What about anzac biscuits, lammington cake, BBQ's? We also went to some other great restaurants (Vietnamese etc) but it felt pretty random. It would have been nice if this was tied into some history i.e. some Vietnamese immigrants came here and have adapted their food to reflect local culture. We really liked Chris the guide and he was super knowledgable, but he had to stick to a preselected tour. To top this all off, I got sick from a lamb samosa on the tour and spent the whole night up being ill. Overall, I wouldnt recommend this tour (except for guide).

So far I have been on many food tours. On this one, I didn’t think I could get anything new, but I was wrong. Our tour guide introduced us to Turkish ice cream; different Aussie pies, rolls and cakes, and a Vietnamese appetizer. I was fascinated from the food tour and can only recommend to do it.

Chris, our guide, was very knowledgeable about the different types of Australian food. The experience was listed as food and drink and the expectation when drink is advertised that an alcoholic beverage be on the menu but it was not. I felt the tour was in an area less traveled by tourists. I would have preferred the venue take place in the CBD. With the exception of the tokyotaco and the thai food, the food was not very good. Not a good value for your money.

This food tour was an absolute blast! Chris, our guide, was a whole vibe and super knowledgeable about the food and local history. He was also incredibly patient with us snapping pics at every stop. Don’t be fooled by the portion sizes, we shared every plate and it was definitely enough for two. Dietary restrictions accommodated. TokyoTaco and Black Star Pastry were standout favorites - 10/10! Highly recommend and would definitely do it again!

My wife and I were in Sydney for a few days and decided to take a Foodie Tour. I had communicated with Robyn and she agreed to pick us up at our hotel. The Foodie Tour was in Newtown. Robyn was very knowledgable and personable. She was a wonderful guide. We had a great time. The food was excellent and Robyn knew some of the people who worked in the restaurants. So, we had a chance to get to speak and learn about their business. I can't say enough about how Robyn made this a wonderful tour to remember.

Robyn was fantastic. She was so knowledgeable about the food, culture and history of the area we toured. Thanks to her we learned the proper way to eat Vegamite! So fun. Highly recommend.

Guide never showed or contacted us. Viator refunded the cost, but we wasted a morning and some Uber charges. Guide later text and said she doubled booked. I would not recommend.

Completely enjoyed the afternoon we spent with Robyn touring through a neighborhood in Sydney tasting various foods and learning about the culture and history of the area. Highly recommend it to anyone visiting Sydney. She also went out of her way to help us navigate the train system to get to where we were touring and then back to our hotel.

Robyn was an amazing tour guide. She was super knowledgeable, and took us to so many great places. One we were able to go back to before we left. She gave us great tips for the area and some for when we go to NZ.

Robyn was inquisitive about what we hoped to see/do/experience--relatable to our party aged 20-54 and knowledgeable about the area. We enjoyed our time together. The amount of food and variety was terrific. The street art around Newtown was an added bonus. Overall a great experience.

This tour was only ok. Our guide was not very engaging and was a challenge to connect with. Three of the food stops felt unique to Australia but the rest was food we have at home in the US, including Thai and Indian food. None of the food was especially good.

Our tour and our tour guide were great. Had a three hour lunch and walk. Tasted so many different things. Could not eat all the food. Chris our guide was so knowledgable. Just a great afternoon

Chris was our guide. He was kind, thoughtful, and gave us a brilliant tour. The food choices were a great way to get to know Sydney, and Newtown in particular. Would recommend

Fantastic Experience! Our host - Robyn Vernon - was prompt, knowledgeable and kept our group of four moving at an appropriate pace. We had 10 gastric and beverage stops and truly enjoyed them all! The strawberry - watermelon cake at Black Star Pastries was incredible - as was Tokyo Taco, Robyn gave wonderful historical narratives along the way and made it a point to take us down several side streets to explain many of the murals and local artwork. I highly recommend this tour and suggest you request Robyn if you can.

Amazing experience! Our host - Robyn Vernon - was in regular contact and greeted us promptly at our prearranged location. She kept us moving at an appropriate pace and provided interesting and entertaining information about the Newtown area and bits on Australia overall. We thoroughly enjoyed our gastric and beverage stops - incredible amounts of food - such friendly hosts - just a great experience overall. Highly recommend this tour.

We had a wonderful tour with Darryl arranged by Tours by Local Tour. We asked for a tour of the city of Sydney with some knowledge of Jewish life in the city She did an excellent job showing us the Rocks, Bondi Beach, the Harbor Bridge various neighborhoods Got us ticket for the Opera House tour Showed us places to eat, gave us a tour of a local market open on Saturday Would highly recommend to anyone seeking a tour of the city. Michael

Robyn was very knowledgeable. Food scene is absolutely wonderful. Everything we ate was fantastic. Also learned about some history too. A little pricey though.

Robyn was knowledgeable and friendly. The food samplings were delicious and Robyn made sure to take our dietary restrictions into consideration and modified the tour accordingly.

The highlight of the walking tour was a stop at The Black Star bakery. Not only were selections works of art but very tasty. The watermelon cake had a slice of real watermelon in it.

Great guide and really cool neighborhood. Tour way overpriced for the food items. Good “street food” and fun way to get a feel for Australian food culture. Knowledgeable and fun guide. Was expecting much more relative to food, restaurants vs. counter service, ambiance, and ideally an occasional glass of beer/wine.

We thought the food tasting would be Australian cuisine. Instead, it was a tasting of other cultures which isn’t what we wanted to experience.

What a fabulous day we had on this food tour with Robyn! It was far more than just about food. We got to experience the local Sydney neighborhood of Newtown, learning about the area's history, culture and people as well as the food. Robyn was articulate, personable, highly knowledgeable, and interesting. She was easy to communicate with before our tour, quickly responding to my questions. She was also flexible, adjusting the tour to our group's needs, such as dietary restrictions. We went to a multitude of restaurants and a pub, tasting a large variety of foods and drinks. Everyone in our group loved the experience, and it far exceeded our expectations. We highly recommend it!

Chris gave a wonderful tour. His knowledge helped us learn about the area and it’s food. The tour was a good pace.

So, Robyn was a great guide. Great communication leading up to the tour and was very personable and engaging. The tour had a lot of food, because there are so many cultures mixing in. Robyn gave us a great flavor of the area, the culture and diversity of Australia and the Newtown area. It was well paced, and we had a great time. Many thanks to Robyn and her personal attention!

We have been on many food tours throughout the world and have not been disappointed until now. Normally with the tastings there would be a pairing of wine / cocktails/ mocktails and we had zero. We paid for a food tour for two but had to share everything. In addition to sharing with my spouse we had to share four of them with the tour guide. Example - one of the food tastings was a lemon tart the size of your palm and the guide cut it into thirds. We were left feeling we paid to feed the tour guide her favorite foods. Quality of food was excellent and knowledge of history was extensive but sadly we were very disappointed.

We have booked “tasting with a local” tours through Viator before and always enjoyed the experience. Our guide, Bonnie, was lovely. Unfortunately, we expected an Australian local. Bonnie is from Korea. She has lived in Australia for a while. She was difficult to understand and communication was a bit difficult. This is the first Viator tour I’ve ever regretted booking.

Awesome experience with Justin our guide! Very knowledgeable about history of bars. So much fun be introduced to some very local Sydney bars

We were disappointed with this tour. Our guide was late to arrive and basically took us to his favorite restaurants. We did not receive any background/cultural information about the city. When we asked him questions, he could not answer due to a lack of knowledge.

We enjoyed our food tour and our host. What a great way to see a part of Sydney we would otherwise not visit. Robyn was great. She’s very knowledgeable about the area, history of Australia and food.

Besides eating the varied and delicious foods on the tour, just seeing the amazing different ethnic foods in the Newtown area was a highlight. And talking with our guide Chris about himself, travels, and favorite foods was great.

Great tour very personalized. Definitely enjoyed great stories and food we would have missed had we not taken the tour.

Chris was very knowledgeable about the food we tasted and its history. The service was excellent at each of our stops.

What a fun time we had on our tour with Robyn! She introduced us to so many good foods and no question was off limits. We did the tour on the 2nd day of arrival to Australia and were then able to enjoy the Australian foods throughout our trip. Thanks so much!

Our guide, Robyn, was excellent. She wove in interesting facts about the neighborhood’s history and took us to an eclectic selection of restaurants. Highly recommend.

Robyn was great! She showed us some pretty unique foods and her knowledge about culture and history were wonderful. We loved every stop, the food was delicious, and the walk along the way in Newtown was great and learned a lot about the different cultures and history in the area.

We’ve done a lot of food tours traveling, but nothing comes close to our experience in newton. Our host, Robin, not only introduced to amazing food, but she gave us so many insights to the history of the area. She is so knowledgeable and fun to be around. We had the absolute best food and so much more. Cant recommend this highly enough!

Chris was friendly and made an excellent tour guide.I think this tour of another part of Sydney would be great if you want variety and an escape from downtown Sydney prices.Food was excellent and looking at the prices very affordable. Lots or Indian,Thai,and local Australian specialties that you don’t see in the downtown area. The area would be very comfortable to visit for a late lunch or early dinner.(PS the Vegimite was terrible….lol)

Robyn was a fantastic guide. She walked us through Newtown as she educated us about this charming, diverse community and its very creative and unique food. We tasted things we’d never seen or heard of. We were amazed with the creativity used with food. It was a wonderful and very delicious tour!

Lots of food. Tour should have been scheduled at least 1 hour earlier as the bakery closed at 4 pm. We had to hurry to take away dessert, which was our favorite food item of the day.

It was a wonderful tour. I had no expectations going in, so it was an overall wonderful experience. Robyn was very knowledgeable and talked about the food, the history, street art, and architecture of Newtown. I would recommend this to anyone new to Newtown and Sydney. It is a lot of food, so if you are just one person, be aware you'll have plenty of leftovers!

Newtown was an awesome city to do a foodie tour! After the tour you can shop & stop for your fav drink !

Robyn my local tour guide was great. Very informative about area and food. Would definitely recommend this tour to others..especially if you like to try new foods.

Very nice and open tour guide. Also good insights on history and architecture. Wide range of tastes. Thx

First of all, we loved the tour and would recommend to others. Great restaurants chosen. Food was delicious and Chris was a good host. Opportunity for improvement is consistent with other feedback about this tour. There was a scheduling mix up and we had to call to remind our guide that we had a tour that day. Good thing I had been able to get his contact information in advance. So, he arrived quite late but we were able to take the tour in the end. The other recommendation is to rename the tour because we also went to less restaurants than advertised. (They were closed on the day of our tour.) We were able to order extra food at other stops and we all felt that we had eaten plenty of food. However, it made the tour seem disorganized at best. At worst, this may frustrate customers and make them feel cheated / that they did not get their money’s worth. So, if you are flexible and book it with this in mind, you will have fun and eat great food like we did. However, if this less structured plan will bother you, I suggest that you book something else.

We had a wonderful time with Robyn in a Sydney neighborhood called Newtown. I had no idea what to expect from a food tour in Sydney (other than a mandatory tasting of Vegemite!)... and this was fantastic. Robyn gave us a wonderful taste, not only of food, but also of Sydney and Newtown. She talked a bit about history, architecture, development, street art, AND food. Tours like this are why I love food tours! We had a wonderful time with her and would highly recommend her if you're looking to explore Sydney via food and local culture!