Old Beijing Dinner Tour: An exploration of traditional Hutong neighborhood cuisine
4.9
237 Ratings
Dongcheng
Experience the authentic flavors of Beijing's traditional Hutong neighborhood cuisine on this small group food tour. Discover delicious dishes perfected over thousands of years and dine shoulder-to-shoulder with locals.
Duration:
3 hours
Cancellation:
1 day
learn more
Highlights
- UnTour Beijing Food Tours - Our walking culinary tours are designed to get visitors off the beaten path and into authentic local shops where they can eat shoulder to shoulder with locals. Since 2010, UnTour Food Tours has taken thousands of guests to our favorite mom-and-pop-owned shops.
Beijing’s dinnertime cuisine is so much more than the crowded tourist markets featuring bugs and mystery meat on sticks! Instead, join our small group food tour and explore delicious, local dishes shoulder-to-shoulder with Beijingers in a traditional Hutong neighborhood. You’ll try authentic dishes that Chinese chefs have been perfecting for thousands of years, and learn about the history and culture of Beijing along the way.
- Hutong Tour - Head deep into the hutongs with us as we explore some of the best food in the city. These wandering alleyways are bustling with local neighborhood life, and some of the best mom-and-pop shops are buried deep down the lanes.
- Nuoyan Rice Wine Shop - Historians believe rice wine (mijiu) was first brewed by the Chinese in 1,000 BC. The rice wine method then spread from China to other parts of East Asia; in Japan it was made into sake, in Korea, cheongju and makkoli. We’ll head to a modern, local boutique mijiu producer to try a six-cup sampler of their craft rice wine. The delightful flavors range from osmanthus to rose to the beguiling original flavor.
- Ghost Street (Gui Jie) - Meet your guide at the end of Guijie, or Ghost Street, and see why this is one of the most popular streets in the city to come to for snacks.
What's Included
- Expert guide leadership
- Comprehensive post-tour packet with local recommendations and tips
- Refreshments, including bottled water, soft drinks, and local alcohol
- Dinner featuring local cuisine
What's Not Included
- Gratuities
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
Additional Information
The evening meals in Beijing go beyond the busy tourist markets showcasing insects and unknown meat skewers! Participate in this intimate food excursion as you dig into appetizing, established food alongside the locals in a customary Hutong area. You’ll connect with your multilingual guide and small assembly at an easy-to-find spot, then set off to sample time-honored dishes which Chinese culinary experts have been fine-tuning for millennia.
- Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking advanced notice is required to be able to cater to any dietary restrictions.
- Standard group size is 8, but in some cases groups can be up to 12 people with a second guide
Location
Beixinqiao station
Departure Point: Beixinqiao Metro Station (Line 5) - Exit B. Taxi Directions: 北新桥地铁站B出口在东直门内大街和雍和宫大街路口的东北角. Public Transport Directions: By metro, take Line 5 to Beixinqiao. Walk out of Exit B of Beixinqiao Metro.Your guide will meet you at the street level entrance to Exit B.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.9
(237 Ratings)
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14davidev
May 27, 2024
Amazing experience - Amazing culinary experience! Our guide Garth was an amazing and pleasant person who really made the experience all the more enjoyable. We went to places where I would probably never have gone to if I were to wander alone in the hutong streets. Highly recommend to anyone, alone or with friends/family. Would definitely do something similar next time I will come to China.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Luigid281
May 20, 2024
Must do - Great tour. Excellent local food options, interesting explanations, nice guide, always ready to help. Definitely a must do in Beijing.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
33barist
May 18, 2024
amazing guide -amazing food - We lucked out and were the only bookings on our tour so we got the private tour experience. Garth was a fantastic tour guide. Extremely knowledgeable and understands the area just like any local. The food was fantastic. This was my second experience with UnTour so I'm confident to recommend this 100% to anyone in Beijing. I wish they did other countries as well!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
599lennartl
May 12, 2024
A very rewarding food tour that you should do early in your trip - The food tour was excellent, especially thanks to our guide Garth. In addition to telling us about the food, Garth also talked about parts of China's history and could answer questions we had about China. A very rewarding and interesting food tour. However, my partner and I wished we had done this earlier. Unfortunately we did this on our last day of the trip, which we regret. If we had done it earlier, we would have known more easily what to order for the rest of our trip.
The food was varied and didn't consist of strange things like scorpions or the like. It was also suitable for those who are a bit sensitive to spicy food.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Andrea_g
Apr 18, 2024
A tour in the history through the food - With our guide Garth we visited very peculiar diners in the Beijing hutongs around the Lama temple area. They were hidden gems we would have never found by ourselves, offering authentic and genuine food, which we truly loved! We also listened to Garth’s fascinating tales on the origin and history of some Chinese meals and food culture. From Mongolian invasion to the silk road, from the Ming dynasty to the dairy tradition… ending up in a private house usually hosting crickets’ combats! A delicious way to start our discovery of China marvellous world, a must-do in Beijing!
Review provided by Viator
Ripat9
Apr 18, 2024
A tour in the history through the food - With our guide Garth we visited very peculiar diners in the Beijing hutongs around the Lama temple area. They were hidden gems we would have never found by ourselves, offering authentic and genuine food, which we truly loved! We also listened to Garth’s fascinating tales on the origin and history of some Chinese meals and food culture. From Mongolian invasion to the silk road, from the Ming dynasty to the dairy tradition… ending up in a private house usually hosting crickets’ combats! A delicious way to start our discovery of China marvellous world, a must-do in Beijing!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Traveller1968
Apr 14, 2024
Excellent dinner tour - Great dinner tour. We went to 5 sitdown places and stopped to try a couple of street food options as well. Our guide Garth was very knowledgeable, friendly and also very attentive. We only went to small off the beaten track establishments and all the dishes we tried were typical Beijing specialties. We paid $80 per person which also included all drinks. The booking and communication was all easy and went smoothly including when we needed to change the date of the booking. Overall an excellent experience and I’d highly recommend the tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Cmoes87
Apr 10, 2024
a MUST if you are coming to Beijing! - If you’re planning a trip to Beijing, you should DEFINITELY include a foodtour with UnTour in your plans!!! Our host, Garth was amazing, very warm and welcoming and most importantly, a fantastic guide with an endless resource of information. We bombarded him with questions because we were just so excited about the whole experience and he answered them all with a smile! We absolutely loved the food tour and can’t wait to come back for round 2. What to expect, next to great hospitality, is a lovely wander around town stopping in at hole in the walls that we - even though we are experienced travelers - would’ve never found ourselves. The food options were very varied and our drinking cup was never empty. We 100% recommend this tour, just book it, you will not regret it!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
610ejm
Apr 2, 2024
Superb - Brilliant tour, highly recommend it. We went on our first night in Beijing and i'm so glad we did. Our tour host Garth was great, very informative and good company.
We were shown how things work out there and what their different ways of eating are etc... which really helped for the remaining duration of our trip. I would suggest doing this on the first day/night of the trip.
oh and the food was great and kept us guessing!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sandypq8426fy
Mar 31, 2024
Delightful Experience - This tour took us to the hidden gems of Beijing’s Hutong, where we sampled so many of the local snacks and food. Not only was it a thrilling experience for the tastebuds, Garth also took us on a journey of tales and history about each of the foods we sampled. He was knowledgeable, is clearly passionate about the food and the culture, but above all he was sensitive to his customers’ needs (thank you again for those cough lollies).
We ended the experience in a lovely old man’s home, where he cooked us the most delicious dish, showed us his crickets and birds and shared with us snippets of his very colorful life. This element alone made this wonderful food tour so much more than meets the eye. Absolutely the highlight of our trip.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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