Michele Topor, Inc.

I took this tour by myself and enjoyed it very much. My first time to Boston and I could have stayed in the North End. I would love to take my daughter on the Italy Tour for her senior trip in a few years. She would love it!

This is a great tour for food and related history of the North End. It suits neophytes and foodies alike. You don't have to be Italian to love it! Tempting tastes along the way from sweet pastries to real olive oil and real balsamic vinegar. This whets your appetite for hitting a local restaurant at the end of your tour. Jim is a great guide, well informed and helpful.

This was an amazing learning adventure in Chinese food that was a lot more than you would ever expect from a typical culinary excursion. Jim, our capable and highly articulate tour guide, may well be the only Caucasian former chef who also speaks fluent Mandarin and Cantonese, has lived in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong for long periods of time and knows Boston's Chinatown inside and out. As a result he was able to take us behind the scenes and give us a thorough introduction to both the food and history of successive waves of Chinese immigration, and how this group's unique culinary assimilation impacted Boston and the US. In addition to the yummy tasting stops at an authentic barbecue restaurant, traditional and modern Chinese bakeries, an Asian supermarket, a Chinese-style waffle stand and a generous dim sum lunch spot, we were also given a great introduction to the thin line that separates food and medicine at a Chinese herb shop, where all the mysterious teas and packages were demystified for us. A well-written handout also maps out the tour guide's favorite restaurants, banh mi Vietnamese sandwich joints and local resources for Asian ingredients. This is a not-to-be missed Boston food tour and a terrific value for the money at $65. Give it to someone as a gift or as a present to yourself, and you'll remember the experience for many years afterward.

Beth was a wonderful guide with a rich background in food, cooking, and local and Italian culture and history!

I thought I knew the North End. Little did I know. There was so much more to discover and learn. I fell in love with the North End all over again. thank you! thank you! thank you!

Jim was extremely knowledgeable. His manner was warm and friendly, but professional. He shared information about wonderful products, history and customs. He also recommended several restaurants that met my needs exactly.

the fresh noodles and bolognese sauce at monica's a must to buy . pastries at maria's very decadent .

This was a nicely paced and informative tour of the North End's Italian culinary culture. The food samples were not as varied or as numerous as other culinary tours I have taken in other cities (Seattle, Chicago).

Our guide in the North End was Jim and he was superb; he was enthusiastic, knowledgeable, funny and open to questions. I have spoken so highly of the tour to many of my friends. What an absolute delight !

I would highly recommend this tour, I felt like I was in Italy! I am full blooded Italian and a caterer and still learned so much!! I so enjoyed the knowledgable tour guide Jim, a former chef. The foods were wonderful and we ate at a few places recommended on the tour and were very pleased....don't miss this wonderful Experience of Boston's North End!!

The tour was fun, informative and well done.

I would recommend this food tour to anyone that loves food and a bit of Boston history too. You sample appetizers all the way to desserts and wine too. Most of the shops are 'ma and pa' shops that give you a taste of tradionality. The only critism would be that there is no time to visit the shops and buy some of the food items and when the tour is done, some of the shops are already closed

Not nearly as many tastings as other tours I've been on. disappointing

This was my first trip to the North End and I loved it! The closed in streets, compact shops, open air restarurants and welcoming residents made this visit a pleasure. When I signed up for the tour I wasn't sure what I would be shown but thought that the description seemed interesting. This was not just interesting, but turned out to be my favorite activity during my stay in Boston. I was lucky that the tour was at the beginning of my vacation because I was able to return to the North End two more times, once sharing everything with the wife of my husband's office mate and in the evening for dinner with my husband. They were as captivated by the area as I was. The tour guide was very knowledgable. She took us into shops and shared her expert knowledge on Italian cooking. We sampled food, olive oils, basalmic vinegars, spices, pastries, and visited a wine shop. I came away with glimpses into so many things that I had heard about but had never understood about Italian eating. Someone in my group had also attended the tour of Chinatown and was just as impressed. That will have to be done on my next trip to Boston!

First of all, the price nearly scared me off, but I was touring alone and thought what could it hurt. This tour was worth every penny and more! I never thought I would become so attached to a tour. When the tour ended I was so sad! Jim, my tour guide, has an incredible amount of knowledge about food, Boston, the North End, and the people who live there. We stayed away from the tourist traps and saw the real North End. Amazing!