Our first ever Eat Rio food tours went out on the backstreets of Rio in 2013. In the following seven years, my little team of guides and I took more than 6,500 guests out on small group walking tours, eating and drinking our way across the city. We made countless friends and received hundreds of massively positive reviews, in TV spots and newspaper articles to guidebook recommendations and, most importantly, our guests recommending us to other travellers through word of mouth and on review sites. We won TripAdvisor’s “Certificate of Excellence” every year from 2015 onwards, leading to induction into their “Hall of Fame” in 2019.
Good times and happy guests in the early years of our Rio food tours.
The end?
In short, things were going really well, and we were on the verge of launching an exciting new venture, Eat São Paulo. Then the pandemic came to Brazil and we realised that everything had to stop. In late March, Vinicius took a group of 5 guests out on what was our 929th tour – at the time, we had no idea if we’d ever run the 930th.
After so many years of hard work — developing delicious new culinary and cultural experiences; providing magical moments to guests from around the world; forging friendships with waiters and market traders — it was heartbreaking to think it had all come to an end. Against that dark background, we kept our heads down, stayed indoors, worked on side projects, and hoped that one day we could return to doing what we love.
The return of our food tour in Rio
Well, that day has finally arrived! Although the Covid situation is far from being resolved globally, here in Rio many small businesses such as ours have adapted and reopened for business. Hygiene was always of utmost importance to us — long before the pandemic, my guides and I had huge stashes of alcohol gel and latex gloves as part of our tour gear. And the majority of time spent on our tours has always been out in the open air, getting to know the city at ground level (we were never interested in those tours where guests sit in air-conditioned coaches while a guide reads out scripted information using a microphone).
Long lines to gain entry to severely overcrowded tourist attractions are a thing of the past.
Rio’s bars and restaurants have adapted too, with more distance between tables, regular sanitation of tables, chairs and menus, alcohol gel all over the place and masks for staff at all times. Brazil is welcoming travellers from all over the world and Covid tests here are now quick, affordable, reliable and readily available in pharmacies (I took a test recently – it was a pin-prick on the finger and I had the result – negative – in 15 minutes).
So while we recognise that there may be some further bumps in the road, we foresee a gradual movement towards the world opening up, reduced restrictions, and people beginning to travel once more. With that in mind, we’re delighted to announce that Eat Rio Food Tours are open and ready to take you on a delicious day out!
Even with a reduced number of tours this year, we were delighted to discover that we were ranked in the top 10% of attractions world wide!
We’re on Netflix!
More good news for Rio. The Netflix show, Somebody Feed Phil just visited Rio (Season 4 Episode 1) and (spoiler alert) Phil loved it here! I took Phil and his crew to one of Rio’s fantastic street markets where we ate amazing exotic fruits and delicious street food. Later on we stuffed our faces, along with an assortment of Rio’s most important chefs and foodie types, at a churrascaria. Take it from Phil (and me) – Rio is an unmissable and most delicious travel destination.
Get in touch and book your own food tour experience now!
Phil Rosenthal in in Confeitaria Colombo for Somebody Feed Phil (Season 04 Episode 01). NETFLIX © 2020
التعليقات