It took us—a media group on a food tour of SM Mega Fashion Hall’s restaurants last week—four hours to go through some 20 dishes in more than a dozen dining outlets scattered over the mall’s five levels. Whew! If you ever find yourself on a similar food tour, here are a couple of reminders to make sure your tummy survives the journey.

The burgers at 8 Cuts

1. Listen to your guide. Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet, our tour guide for the evening, tells us right off the bat to pace ourselves. Taking it easy on water would be good too, he says—a reminder I was most grateful for because I actually had a water bottle with me to hydrate myself along the way. It would have been a very bad move.

2. Control yourself. I’m a sucker for ice cream, especially in this crazy weather. And so when we sauntered over to Bono Gelato, I had to muster all my willpower not to finish off everything they served.

Bono Gelato’s ice creams are smooth, soft, and creamy, probably because they’re made on the spot. Some flavors were better than others (the ube and pistachio needed some tweaking in my book), but the Mango Sake and Brownie Fudge were absolute delights.

Unfortunately, I did a poor job at controlling myself at Lugang Cafe. More than the Xiao Long Bao, whose soup was utterly flavorful, I fell hard for the Spicy Sliced Offal. Made of thinly sliced ox tongue, pork ears, and beef tripe, it is a textural delight with a spicy good kick at the end. I just downed those babies like there was no tomorrow, and would have been very happy had they offered us another serving.

3. Make friends. On food tours, you’re bound to be grouped with people you don’t know. Don’t be shy. Introduce yourself and make friends. Keep in mind that the dining experience becomes richer with interesting company. Fortunately, I found myself with a good group, who were open to sharing notes with strangers.

We liked the meaty and tasty gyoza at Osaka Ohsho. I preferred dipping it in the miso sauce. The regular sauce is great too, but better with a hint of chili. The chicken karaage I found oily, but as one of my tour mates advised, it’s better taken with radish as it balances out the oil.

The Quiche Pie at Salon de The was popular with the group as well. Filled with mushrooms, artichoke, and roasted pepper, my seatmate said it was a great way to serve eggs.

Boqueria’s paella served with sangria

4. Take it easy on the rice. If you’re going on a food tour, this is one very important rule. Rice, like water and iced tea, will fill you up easily, so better steer clear of it, or just take tiny spoonful of it as you go.

The slow-cooked Lamb Adobo at Abe, was served with rice. I only took a spoonful of the rice as the adobo did not come up to my expectations. Or perhaps I had set too high a bar for it, because Abe is one of my favorite restaurants.

Well, I didn’t have a choice but to eat rice at Boqueria, as they served us Paella Queso Hamonado. The rice was tender and the cheese made everything gooey, and a tad oily. But because it was accompanied by a glass of sangria tinged with red wine, it came out just fine.

5. Bookmark your favorites. The machang at Tim Ho Wan is also a rice dish, but I didn’t care, it was so good. It’s glutinous rice with chunks of meat, mushroom, and chorizo wrapped in lotus leaf. Yummy! Of course, everybody was waiting for its famous Pork Buns—and these did not disappoint. The bun is not the siopao variety. It’s more of a pastry actually, but soft and crumbly. You have to try it yourself! Although the lines were long, I will definitely be coming back to Tim Ho Wan.

6. Enjoy yourself. It was our last stop for the day. The itinerary said we were going to be treated to a 10-minute buffet over at Vikings. I didn’t know what to expect exactly. I was thinking I’d just scoot on over to the seafood section, and get myself some oysters.

Chez Karine’s pudding

But no, the folks over at Vikings had prepared something special for us: a selection of amuse-bouches that showed their chef’s prowess. It was a delightful little plate of black caviar blinis, cured salmon in vodka, and Angus beef with truffle sauce coming out on top of the heap.

Plus, Pinkberry sent over little cups of their delicious frozen yogurt to cap the night.

Pressed for time, some of the dining outlets wrapped up stuff for us to bring home—and I was glad because I was able to enjoy the goodies at leisure. The Chocolate Poppers—macaroons wrapped in chocolate like a sambo—from Gigi Custaroonery were just an explosion of flavor.

We were also given a Cinnamon Roll from Cinnabon, which has always been a favorite of mine, most especially their Chocobon, and a jar of Muscovado Royal Pudding from Chez Karine, which tasted to me like a leche flan-flavored panna cotta. They were just the right treats to end a long and tasty day.— BM, GMA News