Flavours of San Juan Food Walking Tour – Review

In February while in New York I went on a wicked food walking tour and had just been on one that previous month in Seattle so when I found my next destination to be Puerto Rico of course I searched for one there and I came across the “Flavours of San Juan” food walking tours.

Unlike the previous food tours I had been on the Flavours of San Juan food tour that I was on was different because instead of just being a taste of various cuisines from around the world that the city had to offer it featured foods that were uniquely Puerto Rican.

Flavours of San Juan offer two main food walking tours, their signature Dinner tour and their “Foodie Lunch tour” which I went on along with offering private group tours and cooking classes. Each tour takes place in historic Old San Jaun and aside from being filled with delicious Puerto Rican food it of course includes lots of history and facts about the city and culture.

My tour started at Plaza de Armas one of the main squares in Old San Juan and then we quickly moved to the first stop on our tour Cafe El Punto where we had 3 delicious bites of food.

A pumpkin calabaza soup, a tostone made from plantains with chicken a side of rice and the probably my favourite thing of the whole tour.

A Mango and passion fruit smoothie OMG #meganoms, refreshing and perfect for a hot day, I bet it would taste lovely with a little Don Q in there as well.

After a great first tasting we pounded the blue cobble stone streets, enjoying the sun and learning more of the history of Old San Juan and a small church called “Chapel of Christ the Saviour”. Past the church we could see a view of the water, the Bahia de San Juan and across the way we could see the Barcardi Factory which I then learned is responsible for making 83% of the worlds Bacardi. Crazy!

We made our way to Cafe Aromas and enjoyed more plantains and some Chicharrones de Pollo (fried chicken) and then my one true Puerto Rican love, the Piña Colada! San Juan Puerto Rico, is the home of the Piña Colada with two different places making a claim that they invented it first. As long as it tastes delicious it doesn’t matter to me who invented it. I also then learned that Piña Colada actually means “strained pineapple”.

I could of had a few of those Piña Coladas but we had to move on to our final stop on the tour Cafe La Princesa. Located along the Paseo de La Princesa just a couple doors down from the once jail now tourist office, Cafe Princesa is nestled against the outside of the wall that surrounds all of Old San Juan. A fully out door Cafe with plenty of trees and vines around for shade you could tell this place knew how to make good coffee just from the feel of it. I would like to say I tried it and agreed on this statement for sure however I don’t really enjoy coffee, so although I did taste it, its beyond me if it was good or not, but it sure did look pretty.

The day was finished off with a tasty  homemade Puerto Rican Flan dessert, yes it was as great as it looks.

We had a treat on our tour as it was a small group and it was guided by the owner herself, Leslie an American “mainlander” now living in San Juan with a passion for the city’s culture and food. I would definitely recommend looking up the Flavors of San Juan tours if you ever make it to Puerto Rico and whatever you do make sure you try a Piña Colada!

I leave you with this pretty photo of one of the icons of Old San Juan, a look out tower along the old wall.

 

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