Beijing Hutong Breakfast Food Tour
9:00am Daily • 3 Hours • Walking Tour
Overview
Activity details
Try over 12 dishes at over 6 locations on this walking tour through Beijing’s historic hutongs! Along the way, uncover centuries of culinary heritage as we share the stories behind each bite and the passionate shop owners that are preserving the unforgettable tastes of Old-Beijing.
What's included
At least 6 food stops, with a mix of sit-down restaurants, street-food stalls, and a local market.
Itinerary
Explore a Local Market
Step into this factory-turned-market brimming with fresh veggies, spices, and neatly sliced meat. We’ll make a stop at Aunt Jie’s stall for some zongzi: glutinous rice dumplings stuffed with seasoned pork and wrapped in bamboo leaves – handmade from her family’s generations-old recipe.
Brace Yourself for Douzhi
This tangy, fermented mung bean soup might just top your personal “weirdest foods” list (love it or hate it, you won’t forget it!). This popular spot has earned a Michelin nod and is the place to get a true taste of Beijing’s boldest tradition.
Discover Beijing Comfort Food
Meet Mr. Yu who serves up childhood memories in the form of crispy sesame flatbread stuffed with beef, alongside a warming bowl of tofu pudding – proof that good taste never goes out of style.
Learn Hidden Hutong Secrets
Wander historic lanes and discover the secrets hidden in doorway pillars made of stone, the meaning of color-coded street signs, and how to tell how many families live inside each courtyard (plus so much more)!
Try Jianbing with a Twist
Tucked into a literal hole-in-the-wall, this shop crafts one of the city’s favorite jianbing (think “Chinese burrito”), staying true to its roots with a classic mung bean batter while adding a cheesy twist – perfectly blending tradition with innovation.
Enjoy Meat Pies & Wontons
This centuries-old favorite was once immortalized in an 18th-century poem, and with good reason: thin sheets of dough are stuffed with seasoned pork and fried to a crispy golden perfection. It’s so delicious, you might momentarily overlook the delicately folded wontons served on the side.
Beijing's Imperial Treats
From Pea Jelly & Donkey Rolls, once relished by emperors, to tangy Hawthorn Cake, this 80 year old shop celebrates Old-Beijing’s sweet traditions.
Highlights
Try over a dozen breakfast items Beijingers love.
Beijing can feel like a fortress – its vastness, history, and language barrier often hide the city’s real heartbeat. For a few hours, we’ll unlock that fortress, taking you deep into the hutongs where the morning bustle unfolds just as it has for generations.
With at least six different stops, from hole-in-the-wall breakfast joints to a Michelin recommended restaurant, you’ll sample over a dozen local favorites, mingling with neighbors as dogs trot off for playdates and uncles stroll by with birds in cages. Peeking into doorways adorned with old horse ties and family shrines, you’ll see how Beijing’s past and present stand side by side. Join us as we pull back the curtain on authentic hutong life and taste the true flavors of this incredible city.
Additional information
Special requirements
This tour can accommodate travelers with vegetarian, dairy-free, no-spicy, and no-nut dietary needs. However, we are unable to accommodate vegan and gluten-free diets.
FAQs
What if I have special dietary requests?
All dietary requests must be communicated at the time of booking. When booking online, you will have the opportunity to let us know if you have any dietary requirements or special requests. Please use the following information to understand if this tour is right for you.
This tour can accommodate vegetarian travelers, including those who are pescatarian and those who do not eat beef, pork, seafood, shellfish, and/or mutton. However, there will not always be direct substitutes for every dish that we try on the tour. Instead, we will provide vegetarian guests with different dishes. Please note that every stop we visit during the tour does use meat in their kitchen.
This tour cannot accommodate vegan or gluten-free travelers. Wheat products are featured at every stop, in sauces like soy sauce and in tour highlights like bread and fried dough. There are no substitutes or alternatives available.
This tour also cannot accommodate severe allergies as we do not have control over the preparation for your food. Travelers that don’t eat nuts are welcome, but kitchens do use nuts and cross-contamination is possible.
If you have any questions not answered here, please contact us prior to booking.
How much food and drink will I get?
We are not a tasting tour, we provide much more than a full meal’s worth of food so we recommend you come prepared to eat. We are just tickled by the share of reviews we get that warn other guests to pace themselves. Even our guide training covers tips and tricks for guests to pace themselves. It is our professional recommendation to wear your Christmas pants, or its equivalent.
Will I need to walk very far?
This is a walking tour; let’s just get that out of the way. This tour covers about 2.2 miles / 3.5km by foot, so we recommend leaving the heels at home. This distance is split up between a lot of food stops, so it’s roughly a 5-15 minute walk between each stop and a great chance to digest a bit before the next stop. We also find that exploring by foot is the best way to enjoy the sights of Beijing’s hutong alleyways and to see what local life is like up-close.
Do you offer a different price for children?
This tour’s price applies to all people ages 4 and over (3 and under are free). It is important to us to make this tour as reasonable as possible, and we think it’s a great deal due to the amount of food you’ll eat and the information you’ll learn from your guide. Feel free to take some food with you if your child cannot eat everything!
What happens if it rains or the weather is hot or cold?
All of our tours are rain-or-shine, so we suggest you dress for the weather. If rain is possible, an umbrella, along with shoes that can get wet, is a good idea. In rare cases of extreme weather, your guide will cancel the tour and provide a full refund. During times of extreme air pollution (AQI over 400) our tours will run but refunds will be provided if you are unable to join due to health concerns.
Should I sign up for multiple Lost Plate Tours? Are they all different?
We have many happy customers who do more than one of our tours in Beijing and across China! We have designed our tours to focus only on food from each city. This means that each dish, story, and vibe is unique to each tour and there aren’t any repeats.
Most people are very surprised how much the cuisine changes as they travel throughout China, and our tours are a good way to discover those differences. We encourage you to pick the tours that best fit your itinerary and we offer a 10% discount if booking more than one tour.
Cancellations
Bookings cancelled 24 hours or more before your tour begins are fully refundable (100% refund). Bookings cancelled less than 24 hours before your tour begins are not refundable. Rescheduling requests made less than 24 hours before your tour begins will be charged an additional 50% of your previous total.