I attended a complimentary culinary tour with Charleston Culinary Tours to review with my husband and I am thrilled to be able to share my experience with you!

Being from Charleston and having just moved back into town, I’m loving relearning the city! So much has changed in the past 5 years since I graduated from the College of Charleston. It’s amazing!

When I heard about the culinary tours held on upper King Street in downtown Charleston, my husband and I jumped on the opportunity to go!

We met up with our tour guide, Guilds, and 12 other people taking the culinary tour at HōM. HōM’s claim to fame is a burger boutique and ping pong lounge. We sampled the calamari that was amazing and not chewy at all. It was my first taste of calamari…can you believe it?!

We also tried a Thanksgiving inspired turkey burger and a pimento cheese and bbq topped flat bread. Oh. My. Goodness. I can’t wait to work my way through the rest of HōM’s menu!

HōM’s decor is very industrial and clean and has a giant room in the back of the restaurant just for ping pong! So fun.

Next up, Guilds took us on a little history walk to Sugar Bakeshop, which I’ve heard great things about. We quickly tried some tarts (I had a pecan and chocolate chip) and a chewy to go. Yum!

I was eyeing the cupcakes, so I’ll have to go back and indulge a little more!

We made our way down Coming Street and weaved over to John Street to 39 Rue De Jean where I had my first mussels and holy butter and garlic, were they good! We also had some french fries…appropriate since we were at a refined French cafe and bar, right? 😉

Haha!

39 Rue De Jean has a rustic feel and classic French decor. It reminded me of the French restaurant in Epcot at Disney World, for those of you Disney lovers like me! Lucky for us, there’s a macaroon boutique right down the street (Logan and I stopped in for a treat after the tour…here).

Lastly, we walked towards Calhoun Street on King Street to the Francis Marion hotel’s Swamp Fox restaurant. Their specialty is to make delicious and simple Southern comfort food. We were served a crostini with toppings and pimento cheese and a braised rib dish. Delicious!

The Swamp Fox’s decor is classic and comfortable. They even have a private room for parties up to 30 people!

Along the tour, while we walked off some calories before our next nibble, Guilds told us all kinds of history about the buildings, restaurants and the general upper King Street area. It’s amazing how up and coming it is now and how many amazing restaurants are popping up like the following:

1. The Ordinary – Fancy seafood
2. The Grocery – Small town grocery feel
3. Two Boroughs Larder – Good all around food
4. Dell’z Deli – Vegan/Vegetarian restaurant

We also got to see some famous/old/important buildings on the tour:

5. Bluestein’s Men’s Clothing Store
6. People Matter – Tech Company
7. Abandoned building on King/Mary Streets that has been that way for YEARS!
8. Morris Street Baptist Church – Martin Luther King Jr spoke here

If you’re ever in Charleston, I would highly recommend doing a culinary tour. Be prepared to be filled with great food and history! They have five types of tours to choose from and they sell out, so be sure to order your tickets in advance. 🙂

Five Culinary Tours:

• Historic Downtown
• Upper King Street (this tour!)
• Chef Showcase at the Farmer’s Market (Spring-Fall)
• Chefs’s Kitchen
• Mixology

Disclosure: I was given a complimentary tour to review. All opinions are my own. Please read my disclosure policy for further information.