On my trip to Chicago in September I did a guided food tour with Tastebud Tours which takes you to 5-7 food locations in the historic Chicago Loop and Millennium Park. Bring your stomach to this tour because the food tastings are enough for lunch and are included in the Tastebud ticket price (US $44.00 for the Millennium Loop Tour)

Be sure to wear comfortable clothes and shoes because you’ll be going to each spot on foot! This was good to ease the digestion of all the food you’re gonna eat. Haha.

The tour always starts at Pizano’s Pizza which is Vince Vaughn and Oprah’s favourite pizza restaurant! At 11am, there was already a line outside this restaurant!

Pizano’s is located at 864 North State Street, Chicago

This is the VIP room – where Oprah & Vince Vaughn would sit to hide away from the public.

At Pizano’s we got to try regular pizza and their famous Deep Dish pizza. In my opinion, this was much better than the Deep Dish pizza I had at Uno’s.

The next place we went to is Sarah’s Candies.

So many chocolates!!

Heart candies! Awww.

And various other sweets and cakes :) We came here and we got to try her famous brownie.

Next stop was The Drake Hotel on Lake Shore Drive.

The Drake Hotel is so pretty that this bathroom was voted the best bathroom! Never knew there was such a thing.. hahaha.

Our next location was Downtown Dogs at 804 North Rush Street, Chicago which is famous for the Chicago-style hot dog!

Heaven on Seven is a authentic cajun restaurant right in the heart of the city! That’s the most fantastic thing about Chicago is that you can find almost every food right in the city.

It has amazing atmosphere.

Here we got served some yummy rice with chicken and gumbo.

Look at all this hot sauce! Heaven on Seven recently had a promotion where if you brought in a bottle of hot sauce that they didn’t already have that dinner was on them! This is what led them to this awesome hot sauce collection. So cool!

Hahaha don’t you love the name of these sauces! Cracker.

The Billy Goat Tavern was our second last stop. Enter at Your Own Risk!

Do you recall the Saturday Night Live sketch in which a short order cook would yell out to incoming patrons? Cheezborger, Cheezborger, Cheezborger, No pepsi.. Coke!

Finally – our last stop was Candyality! This store has a variety of candy and is really unique because once you choose a bunch of candy in this store and checkout, they will give you a personalized analysis of your personality depending on the type of candy you’ve chosen!

I don’t remember my personality analysis at all but it sure was interesting! Haha

The store also has some interesting types of chocolate. No weight gain chocolate? Really? Hahaha. Lies.

Candyality can be found at 520 N. Michigan Ave, Chicago where all the other great shopping resides.

If you go to Chicago, you must do a food tour because you get to do a taste test of different restaurants and types of foods in the one day. You needn’t worry about getting your stomach too full though I was pretty stuffed after this tour. Tastebud Tours was great because it they really offered quite a unique experience.

On my first morning in Montreal, I asked the bellman at my hotel where the best place to have breakfast was. He recommended a French bakery not far from the Marriott Chateau Champlain (where I stayed).

Au Paine Doré is located on the North East corner of Saint Catherines and Peel. It is hard to miss with all the yummy looking bread in the window!

Once inside you’ll find many other delicious things to eat!

And out of all the above selections, I went with a Croissant and an Apple Pastry.

The croissant and the apple pastry was delicious! The pastry was so fresh and crisp. Really filling.

Look what I also took to go.

Macarons and a chocolate eclair! Yum!

The macarons weren’t as good as I expected however, but they were still tasty.

In February of this year, I flew back home to Australia for three weeks. I hadn’t been home for one whole year and had accumulated quite a list of things I wanted to see and do. One of them being to visit Pie in the Sky in Mount Dandenongs.

I’ve heard many people speak highly of this place and while I live quite close by, I had never been! I’d grown up on the great Aussie meat pie. I especially remember after my weekly netball game, my parents would buy me a good ol’ Four-N-Twenty Meat Pie. There was indeed also those days where I was allowed to buy canteen food at school for lunch and I would get either a meat pie or a sausage roll – a typical Aussie school lunch.

So why was Pie in the Sky such a priority in my list of things to do in Australia? Well, Pie in the Sky is known to be awarded 11 Gold Medals for their famous meat pies and being number 1 in all of Victoria. The pies are presented as main courses, accompanied by salad or vegetables and chips. Or you can also opt for traditional peas and mashed potato. You can also take home some of their pies (as seen above) if you just couldn’t get enough (like I did, haha).

I just love chips so I went for a Beef Burgundy pie with salad and chips. Yum!

Here’s what a Curry pie looks like with mashed potatoes, peas and tomato sauce.. Nom nom.

The place is quite large and seats a number of people, but it sure gets packed during lunch time! Make sure you head there early. The service is so lovely, typical friendly small town Aussie service.

While Pie in the Sky had some amazing pies, they serve the best scones ever! If you want a good Devonshire Tea (a cream tea taken with a combination of scones, clotted or whipped cream, and jam),  make sure you make it to Pie in the Sky :)

Pie in the Sky Restaurant Review
Food
Atmosphere
Service
Value

Overall
The meal certainly fills your sweet spot. I'm sure to be back to try the rest of the menu!