An Awesome Secret Foodies Tour sneak preview - a marathon of dining gourmet foods

If you are a big eater and wish to have a big bite for gourmet foods or would like to satisfy the someone else's big appetite, you should join and bring along with you your someone special to the Awesome Secret Foodies Tour at the Megaworld Lifestyle Mall dining haven in Tuscany, McKinley Hill. 

It’s either you will regret for not trying or you will regret that despite trying you will end up giving up halfway in the tour as you take everything what the food tour can offer. You will, because foods are aplenty that you can hardly take all that this awesome secret foodies tour would offer.  Well, you can take your time dining. Savor well the many  flavors of gourmet foods that originated from other countries

Call now for reservation as they can only accommodate a group of at least thirty people each tour schedule. Don’t mind the joining fee of at least P1,000.00/head. Believe me, you will get ten folds worth of gourmet foods in the entire trip. You can fill up your tummy up to your throat and you can even hold extra more in your mouth before you sign off the tour. I'm sure, will get much contention even while halfway along the tour.  

Once you hopped in to the bandwagon and tour around the Tuscany food strip, always remember to take your time dining. Don't hesitate to sample each offering and helpings, it's up to you if you observe moderation to last long or be in hurry and end up resting for a while in each resto you are raiding. Enjoy the tour – it would surely be an awesome secret food tour.  

The food strip of Tuscany in McKinley Hill of Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City where An Awesome Secret Foodies Tour is taking place

Take note that participants may choose their preferred date for the public tour on a first come first served basis.  There are no rebooking of tours and no ticket reservations.  Reservations will be done over the phone and tickets must be claimed in person at the designated redemption booth.   

For more inquiries and reservations, dial these numbers:  709-0888 / 709-9888  / 0917-838-0111 (Globe Telecom)

I was invited last week to join a gang of food bloggers to cover the sneak preview of one of a kind gourmet food tour dubbed as the Awesome Secret Foodies Tour. On my way, I found myself struggling to bet the heavy traffic in Metro Manila so I could catch the service transportation at the agreed meeting place in Makati City.  When I did not make it, I took a ride instead on PUV but the heavy flow of traffic choked the road halfway along the McKinely road.   

The only viable mode of transportation that kept on moving were the motorcycles that passed by freely on the sidewalk. I should have hired rather a habal-habal motorcycle while I was at the foot of eastern side of Ayala MRT station if I only knew earlier that traffic was that bad. 

The whole stretch of Ayala Avenue extension (that part of McKinley road from EDSA-Ayala to 5th Avenue of Bonifacio Global City (BGC)) is not more than a kilometer long but it took more than an hour to reach the western side of BGC where traffic virtually froze. 

 
When I saw several people disembarking from PUV and starting to go on foot to get their every destination, I decided as well to walk on my way from the BGC intersection to McKinley Hill.  Somehow it was relief to walk on the roadside of Lawton Avenue where green nature is abounding and panoramic. I found out that walking helped me in conditioning my tummy for the unusual marathon I would be participating later at the Tuscany when I get there.   

It was incidental that I managed to burn lots of calories before loading more, more, more, and more at the awesome Secret Foodies Tour. Actually, I have no idea how it was going to be with a gang of food bloggers that evening in Tuscany. Opps, I would rather say, I have no idea how would I deal with the sumptuous gastronomic offerings this food tour has to offer.

When dusk covered the McKinley, I was walking hurriedly along the entire stretch of North Road that leads me to the corner of Tuscany Private Estate.  When I finally set foot on the grounds of Tuscany, I came on time with a warm body and a hungry stomach – all set and ready for the awesome food tour. 


Pairing wines at Planet Grapes

Planet Grapes introduces their concept of wine pairing with Pinoy street foods themed as "wine meets street food."

The first door that swung open in the tour was that of Planet Grapes. It was all about wine and wine pairing. For me, the wines served became my second set of conditioning. It cleansed my palate and reconditioned my guts (Read and see more photos here...)


Sampling the fresh flavors of Italian cuisine at Tratorria Poggio Antico

The next stop of the tour was at the Trattoria Poggio Antico. It is one-of-a-kind  of resto that combines passion for cooking with the love for travel.  The owner, Mr. Roland M. Lorilla was inspired from a memorable family vacation to the farms and meadows of Italy and wanted to bring home with him the fresh flavors of Italian cuisine. He hires a chef with 15 years of training and experience of Italian specialty and make sure to use all organic ingredients and homemade breads and pasta for his dining customers to enjoy with. The restaurant also served imported fine wines (read and see more photos here...)


The flaunting Mexican flavors of B&T Mexican Kitchen

With our stomach hall full, we moved to our third destination - the B&T Mexican Kitchen - where lively and energetic ladies welcome us with a hearty smile and sumptuous array of Mexican foods. 

The exotic Mexican flavors excite our palate that include the classic staples of crunchy nachos with three kinds of dippings, the mango glazed habanero chicken, the smaller version of wet burritos the called flautas a rolled taco resembling a flute (flauta in Mexican-Spanish) and of actual size and served with lots of taco salad (read and see more photos here...)

Finding the authentic gourmet bagels and more pastries in L.E.S. 

When we found the place of L.E.S (Lower East Side) Bagels, we thought it was our last stop of the tour as we are now going to have lots of sweet pastries aside from the gourmet bagels. I supposed, it was a mistake that we came in here early that part of the tour and munched cubes of brownies. The brownies were so irresistible, much more when you realized that in each cube there's big chunk of chocolate mass. It served us good as an after-meal dessert. The freshly baked bagels slathered with authentic New Yorker's deli spread had expanded in my tummy that I could sense it was getting almost full. It was late when I realized that (read and see more photos here...)

It's delicious, healthy, naturally sourced, and cooked the Sauceria way

This time, we started complaining of full tummies. But when the owner of Sauceria started explaining to us how they sourced their ingredients and researched their own menu and cooked them in artisan way, defining what they can call as their own discovery of deliciousness and their own way of capturing the interplaying taste of flavors and naturally sourced ingredients. I started to crave what this multi-national inspired restaurant can offer us. First, we were offered with a distinctively designed and favored Catalan flatbread pizza. It was laid on a board of flattened bamboo served with a glass of freshly brewed drink, which actually was a concoction of various herbs and (read and see more photos here...)

Marciano's authentic, flavorful Italian foods are magnificó

After about three times of passing by through and through the alley of our sixth destination in the tour, at last we finally made a stop and entered the door of Marciano's in Tuscany, McKinley Hill (Taguig). This time, most of us were either already tired of eating nice stuffs in the first five restaurants or too tired to walk in our tour along the food strips of Tuscany. It's no wonder why one would easily tire walking on less than a hundred meter long walkway. Blame it on  (read and see more photos here...)

Main Street could be your first and the best Canadian inspired hangout in Metro Manila

On the center stage of the Main Street are the poutine or the Canadian classic fries and the Wagyu cheese burger. My fellow awesome secret foodie bloggers train their lenses at the Canadian traditional comfort foods. 

Adam Tacderas-Tan used to be a Canadian-based restauratuer before he decided to bring home his dream on the food strip in Tuscany, McKinley. He brought here and offers magnificent culinary  pieces of traditional Canadian comfort foods, and of course, very cold beers. He made it available for the first time here in Metro Manila, specially for Filipino diners who look for a new twists to old favorites (read and see more photos here...)

A happy place made with love by Sophie's Mom

Why Sophie's Mom? You may ask. That is so, because this dainty cupcake and pastries store in Tuscany really started its business with Mom Sophie actually catering to her daughter's friends in high schools years back then with those scrumptious cupcakes and other delicious and beautifully designed pastries, drinks, and that later on she would include nice party dining wares and other feminine party designs (read and see more photos here...)

Other restos to explore in Tuscany

If you missed to get a slot of the most coveted reservations of the Awesome Secret Foodies Tour. Don’t despair. Try to spend some good time with someone special at the other restaurants in Tuscany. For sure, you will still have a wonderful fine dining in Ukkokei Ramen Ron (the first-ever ramen house in Metro Manila), MilkyWay  (a coveted classic loved across all generations), Banapple Pies and Cheesecakes, Serenitea, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Black Canyon Coffee, Terry’s selection, Wursty Wursty, TAKA Modern Japanese Cuisine, San Francisco and  BBQ Chicken & Beer.

• Planet Grapes

• Tratorria Poggio Antico

• B&T Mexican Kitchen

• L.E.S. (Lower East Side) Bagels

• Sauceria

• Marciano’s

• Main Street

• Sophie’s Mom Bakery Cafe

• Mckinley hill: How to get there