Old Beijing Dinner Tour
Description
Beijing’s dinner time cuisine is so much more than the crowded tourist markets featuring bugs and mystery meat on sticks! Join this small group food tour as you explore delicious, traditional dishes shoulder-to-shoulder with Beijingers in a traditional Hutong neighborhood. You’ll meet your bilingual guide and small group at a convenient location, then head out to try traditional dishes that Chinese chefs have been perfecting for thousands of years.
Tour Options
Itinerary
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.
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.
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.
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.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- 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
Reviews(372)
We thoroughly enjoyed our first Untour Food Tour and Xian was an excellent host full of interesting and funny background stories.
We’re so glad your first UnTour experience was such a positive one. Hope to see you again on another adventure soon!
Great tour! I learned a lot and tried new things despite having lived in China before and having been pretty adventurous with trying food then. I also better understood Chinese culture better from what our tour guide shared. When I am back in Beijing I hope to do this again and would also like to try some of their other tours.
Hi Shannon, thank you for the great review! We love hearing that even someone familiar with China can discover new dishes and new perspectives on the culture. We’d be delighted to welcome you back for another tour on your next visit!
Had an amazing food tour last night with Untour Beijing. Sian was such a great guide — super patient, passionate, and really thoughtful with everyone’s dietary needs and preferences. Loved how she explained the history behind each dish and showed us around parts of Beijing too. The hand-cut noodles with fresh garlic were unexpectedly one of the highlights of the night. Highly recommend this tour if you’re visiting Beijing. Two thumbs up!
Fantastic group photo and thank you for the fantastic review! We’re so glad you enjoyed the mix of food, history, and local culture with Sian. And we have to agree, those hand-cut noodles are pretty hard to forget! Thanks for the recommendation.
Jesus and Sian were incredible hosts. So knowledgeable and friendly. I loved this tour SO much, would thoroughly recommend it. We had a group of 16 people, and had the best time. Would never have known about some of the treasures we stopped at had it not been for their knowledge and relationships with the vendors. Thank you for the memories!!
Thank you for the amazing review! We’re thrilled your group had such a memorable evening with Jesus and Sian. It’s always special to share some of our favorite local spots and hidden treasures. Thanks for joining us!
Awesome trip into areas of Beijing a tourist, without a guide, would not see. We experienced hidden away gems. Great food, drinks, and our English speaking tour guide made for a memorable night. Highly recommended.
Thank you for the fantastic review! Love your advice to skip lunch beforehand. We’re so glad you enjoyed discovering some of Beijing’s hidden corners along with all the food and drinks. Thanks for the recommendation!
We had a fantastic experience with Sian! She was friendly and provided lots of information about the food we ate and the history around it. At the end, we were also given tips and various recommendations about the food scene in Beijing which proved invaluable. Overall, we had a great time and I would highly recommend the tour.
Hi Jeremy, thank you for the wonderful review! We’re so glad you enjoyed both the food and the local history that Sian shared throughout the evening. It’s great to hear the recommendations came in handy too. Thanks for joining us!
Nice mix of 7-8 stops. Enjoyed the mix across the venues of larger plates, nibbles, rice wine, yoghurt etc which showcased some of the food & drink options in the hutongs. Appreciated Sian sending the list the day after of where we’ve been and what we’d had! Sian is a friendly and informative host who judged the group of 8!well. It was a pacy evening out of necessity so if you like to sit and enjoy long discussions over food then this may not work for you. Chinese wine is gaining momentum to this is suggested as an option for consideration for the future. Thanks to excellent pre-tour responses from Unfood I knew this was not an option so expectations were managed well. Overall, a fun night out and a nice experience to share with other travellers. Thank you.
Thank you for the thoughtful review! We’re glad you enjoyed the variety of food and drinks, as well as the chance to meet fellow travelers along the way. Thanks also for the suggestion regarding Chinese wine – we’ll keep you posted!
What an amazing experience! I would 100% recommend this food tour. Our guide Jesus was so knowledgable and passionate about Beijing and this really shone through on our food tour. We had so much fun and got to experience the kind of places you wouldn't go to without someone 'in the know'. The food (and drink!) we tasted was incredible and Jesus followed up with more recommendations for us to visit during our stay, all of which were excellent.
Hi there, thank you for the amazing review! We’re thrilled you enjoyed exploring some of Beijing’s hidden gems with Jesus. You were wise to follow up on Jesus’s recommendation – the guy knows the city well!
Good fun, good food and takes you off the beaten track. A great evening out. Highly recommend.
Thank you for joining us and for the recommendation!
What a lovely way to explore a small bit of a city the size of Beijing which has such a rich gastronomic history and range. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves wandering around, sampling so many goodies along the way.
Great photos - thank you for the great review! We’re so glad you enjoyed exploring Beijing’s food scene with us.
