Ever since our first food tour in Vancouver, Jarden and I have pretty much vowed to try a culinary tour of every new place we go to. Food tours are a fantastic way to learn the history of a city, and also explore the culture through drinks and tastings. In Portland, we got our gastronomy on with Forktown Food Tours.
Forktown Food Tours has 5 different tours to choose from. We initially chose the Pearl District tour, but I mistakenly booked that for a few hours after we were supposed to fly in. (Note: never book an activity the day you fly in!) After finding out about a 4 hour flight delay, we informed Forktown and they graciously rescheduled us to the next day on the North Mississippi Avenue tour. Thank goodness they were so understanding and accommodating!
Our first stop (1 of 6!), took us to Mee Sen Thai eatery, where we introduced ourselves, drank white wine, and started off with a yummy shrimp salad. Our first tasting and we already had wine? I already knew this was going to be a great tour.
Stop #2 at Sidecar 11 took us to an eccentric hole-in-the-wall bar. Here we had 2 cocktails (yes 2!), goat cheese, and roasted hazelnuts. We were 3 drinks in, slightly buzzed, and very happy at this point 😀
Next we stopped at a small food pod, which is basically a permanent cluster of food trucks. Portland is pretty much known for their extensive food truck scene, so this was pretty awesome. Here at MF Tasty we had my favorite of the day, a Spanish frittata with saffron aioli.
At this point we were pretty stuffed, so I’m not sure how but we continued on to a brewery. While we aren’t beer drinkers, we appreciated this stop as Portland is huge on micro breweries. We had a flight of 3 beers here, as well as fruit and cheese.
Our next stop at The Meadow featured gourmet salts and chocolate, a tiny specialty shop of fine goods.
And with our final stop, there is always room for dessert! Presenting one of the most famous ice cream joints in Portland, Ruby Jewel Scoops.
Lemon Cookie with Honey Lavender ice cream & Chocolate Chip Cookie with Vanilla ice cream.
Our 3 hour culinary tour was definitely a huge highlight of our Portland trip. We definitely got a good intro of the city, learning about it’s rich history and tasting the culture through the food. Our tour guide was so friendly, informative, and we had a blast in the artsy Mississippi Ave!
We really liked how accommodating Forktown Food Tours was, and the general ease of the tour itself. At each stop we had time to relax and enjoy what we were eating slowly, while also mingling with our tour-mates. When we one day return to Portland, we will definitely be trying another on of the 5 tours!
To learn more about Forktown Food Tours, click here.
Forktown Food Tours
(503) 234-3663
info@forktown.com
