It was a crisp Saturday morning when Lilly Jones and I set out to take a food tour of downtown Charleston. Being locals, we are pretty well acquainted with the best spots around downtown for some snacks, so we embarked on our self guided food extravaganza. We had a big craving for some good sweets or chocolate, so naturally the first spot of the day was Sweet Belgium on King Street. I am a little regretful to give away our favorite underground waffle spot, but this place deserves the hype and the business. With freshly baked Belgian waffles and gourmet toppings, Lilly and I regularly frequent this quaint shop in between shopping downtown. We shared a loaded waffle with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, crushed Oreos, and strawberries. The waffle was barely visible underneath the toppings, which is definitely the way to go. For my waffle newbies, I recommend a chocolate-strawberry flavor combo, which is my go to order.

After our little dessert brunch item, we continued our journey. After roaming King Street and feasting on our waffle, we were thirsting for the elixir of youth, aka Starbucks. We walked over and purchased a strawberry açaí lemonade refresher, as well as a birthday cake pop to keep as a snack in case we got hungry later in the day. Now I know Starbucks is a chain, and not unique to Charleston, but I am truly a fiend for a refresher so I had to include it in the tour. Lilly introduced me to getting lemonade in it too, which is so so good. It tastes like a strawberry lemonade swirl of deliciousness. If you’re not into the whole refresher thing, this is definitely a good pit stop for water or a coffee.

After walking out of Starbucks, our nostrils were hit with the delicious aroma of Sabatinos pizza. Now we had a big sweet tooth that day, but the smell of scrumptious homemade pizza was irresistible even to our sugar cravings. We each purchased a slice of classic cheese pizza, which only cost us 7 dollars and some change. This was a pretty good deal, considering the slices were bigger than my head. We sat in Marion Square to enjoy our delectable pies. This pizza did not disappoint. The cheese was perfectly melted onto a crisp crust layer and balanced with scrumptious tomato sauce. Though Sabatinos may seem underwhelming, as it is just based out of a small shop/stand situation, this pizza shop is no joke. Mr. Sabatino Corollo himself claims to make authentic New York pizza, saying it’s “straight from the Bronx.” While browsing the website for this article, I also found out that they do pizza consulting, which I did not even know existed. Needless to say, this pizza shop is run by the real deal professionals.

At this point, our stomachs were full and we were slipping into food coma, but we persisted for our final dessert course. The final destination was La Pâttisserie, a French bakery located in the Hotel Bennett. To sum it up, this shop is the encapsulation of the word boujee. Eating in this bakery makes you feel as if you are a French fashion model stopping for a bite to eat in Paris before your next runway show.  I purchased a Ruby tart, which was a raspberry and chocolate vessel of greatness. It was the perfect light dessert to end the day, with a fluffy dark and white chocolate inside and smooth raspberry syrup cover. It also came on a gold colored stand, which I thought was an excellent touch. This was our final stop, and after a long day of eating we were exhausted. Hopefully we inspired you to try some of our recommendations the next time you are on King Street! Until next time Raptors.