Beijing’s hutongs are the soul of the city—but most tourists only scratch the surface, herded into overcrowded lanes where the authentic local vibe gets lost in the crowds. What if you could trade the tourist hordes for the quiet charm of a true Beijing neighborhood, guided by someone who calls these alleyways home? Introducing our Dong Si Area Off-the-Beaten-Path Food Walking Tour—your ticket to experiencing Beijing like a local, one mouthwatering bite at a time. Led by a local guide with intimate, insider knowledge of the area, this tour isn’t just about food—it’s about stepping into the daily lives of Beijingers, exploring hidden corners few visitors ever find, and savoring 20+ authentic tastes you won’t find in any guidebook.
Our expert foodie guide will be with you every step of the way, sharing fascinating insights into Chinese culinary traditions, the unique flavors of different regional cuisines, and the stories behind the specialties you’re tasting. Feel free to ask questions, share your food preferences, or dive deeper into Beijing’s food culture—this tour is all about your experience. And for the adventurous eaters? Just whisper “You are real foodies” to your guide, and we’ll surprise you with a special off-menu treat that’s sure to delight (or dare!) your taste buds.
Included will be 20+ different food tastings at various diverse locations, such as markets, shops, bakeries and restaurants. You will visit local haunts, get a chance to meet the owners and explore historical sites that few tourists have an opportunity to experience. No chain restaurants here – we will visit mom and pop specialty food shops to try authentic items such as delicious duck necks and sesame cake. The commentary from your expert foodie guide includes an overview of Chinese culinary habits, a description of different regions cuisine and an introduction to selected specialties in the shops.You are encouraged to interact with your guide and ask as many questions as you like.For adventure foodies we do have food surprise for you,just tell our guide "You are real foodies" By staying off the beaten path you will also have a unique chance to support a local community while being entertained by the sights and smells of true Beijing. Some food tastings you will experience on this tour: Ma dou fu-Dried fermented mung bean juice Tang Er duo–Fried Sugar cake Ma Hua-Fried Flour Jianbing-Thin Millet flour pancake LUZHU HUOSHAO- Wheaten cake boiled in meat( pig’s intestine and liver) broth BAO DU-Quick-Fried Ox tripe ZHA GUAN CHANG- fried corn flour cakes Beijing Suan Nai–Beijing Yoghurt Shaobing -Baked Sesame Seed cake Baozi--Stemmed dumplings round in shape Roujiamo--Beef in the bread Spicy Hotpot--with either meat or vegetable on sticks Muslim Kebabs -including lamp kebabs, leek ,eggplant etc Hunan Snacks-Steamed and Fried Cakes made of Sticky Rice Stinky Toufu --Option Beijing Snacks Set--around 6-10 different snacks Fu Jian Medicine Soup Moon Cake Fried bread with red beans Baijiu-Chinese liqueur And More...
Aurora was a very welcoming and knowledgeable hostess! It was great to be picked up from our hotel and taken to the food vendors - made things much easier for us as first time travellers to Beijing! I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone wanting to travel to Beijing!!
Very nice and informative, fully customizable, Jimmy was great and could accomodate all of my requests and needs.
We tried so many delicious foods, both sweet and savory! Aurora was a fantastic guide, sharing lots of interesting information about Beijing’s food and culture. She was also great at tailoring the tour to our interests, and the walking was easy and enjoyable. A great way to experience Beijing’s food scene. Highly recommend!
Aurora is a great guide. She is very nice and knowledgeable. We had great food and were stuffed at the end. I highly recommend her and the walking food tour.
I had a great evening with Mike as my guide, I arrived in Beijing and wanted to try local foods and Mike was perfect, he was very knowledgeable about traditional foods and the ingredients, I had everything from noodles to cakes - a real flavoursome experience and I was very full by the end of the night! Thoroughly enjoyed
Absolutely amazing experience, our guide Andy was highly knowledgeable and friendly! Showed us all around Bejings local snack stores and restaurants. 10 out of 10 experience!!
Aurora was incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, and had recommendations. Great intro to the history of Beijing food and Chinese culinary history in general. She’ll cater requests for people with food restrictions, and my more adventurous tastes.
Miko was a great, very attentive tour guide. We are a family of 5, with 3 older teens/young adults in our group. Miko went out of his was to be flexible, supportive and meet the needs of our group. Earlier in the day he gave us clear instructions on how to travel from the airport to our hotel. He actually met us at the exit of the train station - was a great welcome. The food walking tour was a great way to orientate to local restaurants and cuisine. He shared lots of local stories which had the culture and food come to life. Highly recommend. Thanks!!
Such a great tour! Highly recommended. It’s a lot of food so make sure you’re hungry . Our guide Mike was welcoming, engaging, explained everything and answered our questions with insightful enthusiasm. He really made our trip!
The food was delicious. Anson, the guide was 10/10. He explained everything well and had a lot of knowledge.
Anson, our tour guide, was so engaging and interesting. The variety of foods was fantastic. Our favorite part was the walk through the hutong and learning about its history. We had a great time!
had a great day maggie was excellent and we saw everything that was promised the wall was incredible
We enjoyed all the food and our time with Aurora on this tour. She adapted to your so we ate what we were comfortable with and even offered to help us with some translation after the tour. Thanks for a great time, Aurora!
We enjoyed a great choice of delicious broths,tasty dumplings, noodles, pancakes and sweet snacks.Everything was full of flavour and made from a huge range of fresh ingredients. Jimmy, our Foodie Guide was very informative and patient. We felt that the tour was tailor made for our needs and interests!He chose a delightful diversity of tasting experiences for us. A word of warning, portions are very generous, so pace yourself!
We were in Beijing for work and had a free evening so booked the food tour last minute. It was the best night of our trip even through the other nights we were lucky enough to be eating at Michelin star restaurants! Andy was a fantastic guide who knew so much about the history of Beijing and China so we got a history lesson with our dumplings! Would highly recommend this tour, you won’t regret it!
It was great to experience the local food and tea tasting, but most of all, we had a very friendly, caring, and accommodating tour guide. Padma knew exactly what to look for and what we needed, allowing us to fully embrace the local Chinese experience in Beijing. Padma went out of her way to make sure we were comfortable throughout the tour. She even found me a coffee and somehow knew that my favorite choice was an Americano without me having to mention it. Her attention to detail and genuine care made the experience even more special. While we were enjoying our dumpling tasting, which featured the best dumplings we have ever had, Padma ensured everything was perfect. Her knowledge, thoughtfulness, and dedication made this tour unforgettable. We highly recommend her to anyone visiting Beijing.
What a fabulous way a to immerse yourself into Beijing’s food culture. Our guide Andy made sure everything we ate was to our individual tastes, while also sharing stories of old Beijing, and the origins of the food we ate. Thank you Andy for an enjoyable evening.
Andy was a great host. He was very congenial and knowledgeable. The tour gave me an opportunity to try some new things (duck’s neck and some of the desserts), some regional variants of things i have tried elsewhere (hotpot and various types of dumpling) and get some context to them within Chinese history and culture. If you are looking for some good food and culture as well as going home full then I would recommend!
Our food tour of Beijing with Allen was wonderful! Allen was a fantastic guide who shared so much knowledge about Beijing food and culture. We tried food that we probably would have missed if not for the tour. Thank you Allen for the perfect first night in Beijing, this was the best start to our trip!
The was the best tour and the guide. Good choices were perfect and delicious. She was so knowledgeable. We not any ate we learned a lot about the Chinese history. I highly recommend it.
My wife and I had a fantastic tour with Lucy! She was super friendly and gave us a special look into the culture and history of Beijing. All the stops were fantastic and they provided a very different look and taste. I highly recommend this tour and hopefully you’ll get the pleasure of meeting Lucy yourself!
Fantastic tour. The food was amazing but the highlight was Padma. She is so knowledgeable and kind. She described the food and made sure everything was enjoyable. Even as a pescatarian I was able to get a lot of delicious food. Everything from pick and driver to guide to food was impeccable.
I had an amazing time with Lucy and her food tour. The dishes that were provided were delicious and accommodating to my request. We also got to check out the historical hutongs. If you're in town, I'd definitely recommend!
Great tour! A phenomenal tour with “Jimmy” as our guide. We walked the streets and enjoyed the quaint eateries specializing in the various tastes and cuisines of Beijing. Jimmy is personable, has a great command of the English language and is very knowledgeable about many topics.
Great experience, lots of tasty food and great places. You can also learn something about the food history.
An excellent introduction to the regional food of Beijing. Padma is a very friendly and knowledgeable guide.
Minky gave us an exceptional introduction to Beijing’s Hutongs, local cuisine, and the beautiful Houhai Park. She was warm, personable, and genuinely thoughtful throughout the day, making the experience feel less like a standard tour and more like spending time with a knowledgeable local friend. Her insights into the history and character of the Hutongs added real context to every stop, while the food portion of the tour was equally memorable. She struck a wonderful balance between keeping the day engaging and allowing us to appreciate the atmosphere at a comfortable pace. This was easily one of the best tours I have taken in Asia. I would highly recommend both this tour and Minky specifically to anyone visiting Beijing—definitely, request her as your guide.
Such a great evening. Informative and interesting tour guide( Mike) with great food options Would definitely recommend
For such a tour, always arrive hungry for food, culture and overall engagement. This was a great experience. If Jay is your guide you won't be disappointed or leave hungry. Highly recommend!
Fantastic evening! Not only did we learn so much about Beijing and China, eat delicious food (and so much!) but we also got some great tips for the rest of our time here. Mike was great. We had loads of different dishes to share but also a few dishes just to try. Left absolutely full to the brim!
Mike was a great guide. I really enjoyed our conversation and learning about the history and cuisine of Beijing. I got to try so much food that I wouldn't normally eat Thank you for your hospitality!
Lucy was amazing! Very knowledgeable not just on the food, but Beijing and Chinese culture & history. She was willing to be as adventurous as you want too which we appreciated.
What a fun experience! Our guide was absolutely amazing — knowledgeable, personable, and genuinely passionate about sharing Beijing’s food culture. I loved that we got to visit so many different restaurants and food stalls, each with their own specialty. You don’t just learn about the food; you get to taste your way through the neighborhood and meet the people behind the counters. Highly recommend this tour if you’re visiting Beijing! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
It was a very good tour. We have learned a lot about food and history in Beijing. We tried local beers and we have tried all kind of traditional Beijing foods. I can recommend this tour to every coming to China and would like to know more about the food youre eating! Thanks!
We had a wonderful afternoon in Hutong with Lucy. She is very thoughtful, professional and knowledgeable. Lucy introduced us to a variety of interesting, authentic and tasty local dishes we enjoyed very much. Lucy went above and beyond to make our experience in the oldest part of Beijing a memorable one. At our request, she even introduced us to one of the most reputable jewelry stores in Beijing. We would highly recommend this tour with Lucy.
There is SOOOOOO MUCH food on this tour and you want to eat it all! May our tour guide was amazing, she had an excellent knowledge of all the best local eateries and gave us options on what we could fit in 😂...the noodle soup and dumplings were the hero though for us!!
Great diversity of food and the guide was excellent in making accommodations for dietary restrictions and talking about the significance of different dishes.
I am very glad that I chose this tour. I was shown how delicious and varied Chinese cuisine can be. Anson's guide was very friendly and told me interesting facts, and also helped me figure out some other aspects of my tour, thanks to him. I recommend it to everyone
Wonderful tour. Andy introduced us to food from all over China that we would never have tried by ourselves. He also shared the history of each dish and how best to eat them. We did not go home hungry!
My kids and I loved this tour. Even though we had serious jet lag, Jimmy made it fun and entertaining. Lots of food options and fun discussion. Our favorite guide so far
Anson was a wonderful guide. It was a nice selection of foods tasted. He was very attentive to any special needs. Wish I had booked it at the beginning of my trip as it would be great to know places to eat throughout our visit to Beijing.
This was so worth it! I would definitely recommend it to everyone because you get to experience all the local cuisine that you can only find in Beijing and you go to all the authentic local restaurants. Andy was fantastic and gave us such great insights and history about the dishes. Definitely a must if you want to experience Beijing like a local! 👌🏼
Our guide Jack was 5/5 - super friendly and knowledgeable. Unfortunately this tour is not really a “hutong” food tour, you walk through the hutong, but eat on one of the main roads. Food was amazing, but if you would just go to these restaurants which are chains within 250m of each other, you could do this for under 30€ for two people.
We had an amazing time on this food tour! Learned so much about Beijing and enjoyed really great food. Our guide Anson was so knowledgeable and did an awesome job. Would highly recommend this tour with Anson!!
Really great walking tour with lots of fantastic food. Great way to try lots of interesting food. Put guide Miko was really informative and a good laugh. Highly recommend
My son and myself very much enjoyed our tour with Anson, we were taken to many food stops giving us a good understanding of local cuisine. Having a walk around the local Hutons was also very interesting. I would totally recomend this tour, come hungry, there's alot of food.
Our guide Mike was amazing and accommodating with my food allergy. He did a great job of taking us on a culinary journey through Beijing and we experienced so many foods that we would have never ordered on our own amd even more importantly he made it fun! Most of the food was delicious and there was plenty to be had. We left completely stuffed and only finished about 80% of the food just because we were trying to save room at other stops. Would definitely recommend!
We had an excellent afternoon with our guide Mike. The local cuisine was delicious and plentiful. Mike enjoys his job and loves living in Beijing. It was great trying places where locals eat. If you're a foodie like me this tour is definitely for you.
My experience was great and I would recommend this company for tour and other places when on vacation
Lilly was amazing! We learned so much!
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