Rated a "Top 10 Foodie Experience in the World"
Daily at 6:30pm
Duration 3.5 hours
560 RMB / $85 USD per adult
460 RMB / $71 USD per child
Tour operated by tuktuk
The Essentials:
Try Han, Mongol, Muslim Hui, and Imperial Cuisine during this tuktuk serviced odyssey of Beijing’s cuisine. Travel through the historic hutongs and visit Beijing’s most authentic, off the beaten path restaurants. Try specialty dishes with legends larger than the restaurant’s menu. Unlimited beer, soft drinks, and food are included.
Stops
Over 10 authentic dishes at 4 sit-down restaurants, plus one craft brewery.
Group Size
Small groups of 2-12 people per tour.
Start & End Location
Starts at Lama Temple Subway Station. Ends 10 minutes walk away from the start location. An email will be sent with detailed meeting location details immediately after booking.
Dietary Requirements
We are happy to welcome vegetarians and pescatarians, but please let us know prior to your tour date as same day requests cannot be guaranteed. This tour is not recommended for gluten free or vegan diets. Please message us prior to booking if you have any questions.
Book Now:
About This Tour:
Seafood chowder, “Kung Pao” chicken, and beef steak with tomato sauce: 3 of the 8 courses served to the American president during his Beijing visit in 2017.
We can do much better.
Here’s your Beijing dinner itinerary: you get an email with directions to meet us at a central subway station. Within moments, there’s a cold beer in a custom coozie in your hands (you’re welcome). You’re knee to knee with 3 other intrepid eaters in a tuktuk winding through hutongs centuries-old. You have no idea where you’re going, which way is North, and your Google Maps don’t work. Your gut is telling you that you’re hungry, but also that you’re about to have an excellent time. Trust it.
What You'll Do:
Try baijiu, unlimited beers, and much more on this tuktuk serviced exploration of all the major cuisines in Beijing.
Of all the noodle dishes, try the one that earned the accolade “Beijing Noodles,” in a restaurant so hidden its literal name is “very hard to find.”
Grill your own heaping plates of marinated meats and veggies in the style of Mongolian Nomads who brought the word “hutong” to this city.
Ever been to a Muslim dive bar? Come with us to try the favorite dish of the Empress Cixi, also known as the Dragon Empress.
Finish off your dinner coaxing 3 or 4 more courses of ceremonious food, including authentic Kung Pao chicken, tucked into one of the oldest Hutong courtyards in Beijing.
End the night with a pint amongst the patrons of Beijing’s emerging craft beer scene. All brewed in-house and catered to the tastes of China’s growing, hip middle class.
Featured In:
"Delving into the hutongs of Beijing, chopsticks at the ready"
"The fun of tonight has been in the adventure: the lost-then-found feeling of a night spent blasting through the unknown, punctuated with homey, unpretentious meals. Tomorrow, we'll go back to being clueless foreigners in an unfamiliar city, but tonight the curtain was pulled back, and we lived in Beijing, even if it was just for a few hours."
"Top 10 Food Experience in the World"
TripAdvisor's Travelers Choice Awards ranked our Beijing Hutong Evening Food Tour as the 2nd best food experience in the World. Our Xian Evening Tour was 1st.
Watch:
YouTube
Take a close look at our Beijing Hutong Evening Food Tour and what you’ll experience in our own Lost Plate produced video.
YouTube
With over 100k views, The Fung Bros. discover our evening tour and introduce you to the traditional Beijing hutongs dating back 700 years.
Customer Reviews:
“This was a great experience and a must do if you are in Beijing. Audrey our guide was very knowledgeable and engaging. She took us to places we would never know about or go to. It was original authentic Beijing food. All of the food was exceptional and delicious. We learned lots of history from Audrey about origins of the food and the city. We have taken four other Lost Plate tours In China and all have been wonderful.”
rndunn511
October 2020
“I can’t recommend this tour highly enough. It’s an amazing experience to zip around the narrow and bustling hutong in a tuk-tuk, going to gorgeous little restaurants that we would never have found otherwise and sampling some quintessential Beijing dishes. Our guide Evon was absolutely brilliant – we loved it so much we did the one in Xi’an too (also great).”
David
October 2020
“Best tour! Our tour guide did a great job of explaining the area and restaurants we stopped at. This tour does a really good job of bringing the group together which I really appreciated as a solo traveler! Some of the people in my group were expats who were doing this tour for a second time. Definitely recommend.”
Emily L
July 2020
“The knowledge of the guide, the chatty and fun atmosphere in the group and of course the memorable dishes made this a one of a kind experience. I liked it so much that I ended up booking the Beijing Breakfast Tour and Flavors of China tour as well. You can tell the stops are selected with care and are definitely not commercial or touristy. Some of the best places were located in the deepest corners of the hutongs and are impossible to find on your own. We had amazing noodles, very tasty bbq dishes, pancakes of dreams a fried bun that was so good I still talk about it.”
Claudia
April 2020
“Wow what can I say? What an INCREDIBLE experience this was. If you love food and want to explore Beijing like a local, this is exactly the way to do it. Such a wide variety of different foods and different places to see. Our guide Sabrina was sensational. She was so sweet and she was able to answer so many of our questions. We had an excellent rapport with her and would recommend this tour to anyone. Wrap up warm if it is winter, and come with an empty stomach! Literally faultless in every way.”
Rachel
January 2020
“Great taste of Beijing and first step into the hutongs. Limitless beer, wild tuk tuk rides, and delicious food: Beijing style noodles, mongolian BBQ, muslim dumplings, family style dishes with spring pancakes, baijiu and beer. Our guide was personable and fun to spend time with. It also gave us a glimpse into the hutongs which we explored with gusto on following nights. A must do!”
Jeff
January 2020
COVID-19 Health & Safety.
- We're taking the following steps on this tour to keep your safety our priority:
- Flexible Cancellation Policy: We have always offered one of the most flexible cancellation policies in the industry and that hasn’t changed. You are able to reschedule your tour or receive a 100% refund for all cancellations made at least 48 hours before the tour start time. Your reservations with Lost Plate are worry-free.
- Symptom-Free: We require that all guides and guests are free of any symptoms. Guides or guests showing symptoms of any illness, including fever, cough, or shortness of breath, will be asked to not join the tour.
- Social Distancing Measures: We will maintain social distance whenever possible during the tour. We follow all local regulations and restaurant requirements, which means it’s possible your group may be seated at multiple tables at a venue.
- Masks Required: All guides and guests are required to wear face masks at all times when not eating or drinking. If you are unsure where to purchase a mask, please let us know so we can send some recommendations. If you have a medical exemption or disability that prohibits you from wearing a mask, you must book a private tour for just your group by contacting us.
- Sanitization: Hand sanitizer or hand-washing facilities will be provided at each stop.
- Individual Portions: When possible, all portions will be served in individual servings. If larger dishes must be shared, public utensils will be made available to ensure each guest’s safety.
- All restaurants that we visit follow local requirements. Temperature checks, personal registration, and/or health app screening are likely. It is the guest’s responsibility to meet requirements at each stop.
- Your guide has the right to refuse service to anyone not complying with safety protocols. If you have any questions or concerns with any of these details, please contact us before your tour begins.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How much food and drink will I get?
This is not a tasting tour, you should come hungry and you will get more than a full meal of food. If you need more, just let your guide know and we’ll get more, but usually guests cannot finish everything. We also provide unlimited local beer and soft drinks during the tour, plus one glass of local craft beer at our last stop.
What if I’m vegetarian or have special dietary requests?
Our tours have been designed to accommodate as many diets as possible while still remaining stupid delicious. This tour is vegetarian and pescatarian friendly, but please let us know prior to your tour date as same day requests cannot be guaranteed. This tour is not recommended for gluten free or vegan diets.
When booking online, you’ll have the opportunity to let us know if you have any dietary restrictions or special requests. Please use this field to let us know about your requests and we will follow up if there are any problems or questions.
Will I need to walk very far?
This tour is primarily done by tuktuk, but our tuktuks can’t always go door to door. This means there is a total of about 20 to 30 minutes of walking throughout the entire tour. During these short walks, you’ll step through very old hutongs and hear the stories behind some of the doorways.
What ages qualify for child pricing?
Our child pricing is valid for ages 4 through 15. Children ages 3 and under are free.
Where does the tour start and end?
The tour starts at 6:30pm at Lama Temple subway station which services subway lines 2 and 5. You’ll get the exact address, directions, and transportation details immediately after booking.
The tour ends at a brewery about 10 minutes by foot from the meeting location. Your guide will point you in the right direction for wherever you need to go next, or you are welcome to stay at the brewery as long as you like!
How many people will be on my tour?
Our minimum is 2 and maximum is 12. There’s no flag to follow, or megaphone, or tacky uniforms. It’s small enough to be intimate, but big enough to get away with trying several dishes at each stop. You’ll get plenty of face-time with the experts. Bottom line is, you’ll follow the guide through a super-local experience and make friends along the way.
How long does this tour last?
This tour lasts about 3.5 hours and ends in a brewery, it’s not uncommon for guests to stay and keep the pints going afterward.
If you have any concerns about timing and meeting up based on your itinerary, let us know and we’ll see what we can do to make this as hassle-free as possible.
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. Our tuktuks provide shelter from the rain, and are lightly covered in winter to block the wind. 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.
Do you offer private tours for special groups/events?
Yes we do! If you would like to book a special tour for your organization or group, just contact us and we’ll take care of you.
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.
Do you offer discounts?
We sure do! If you decide to do more than one tour with us we are happy to offer you a 10% discount off your total amount. It doesn’t matter if the tour is in the same city or a different city, we want to keep feeding you as long as you let us. Our online booking system will automatically deduct the discount from your total if booking online at the same time. If you decide to add more tours later, your original confirmation email will include a promo code to use on those bookings. Also, children ages 4 through 15 receive a discount on all tours (3 & under are free).
What is your cancellation policy?
Bookings cancelled 2 days (48 hours) or more before your tour are fully refundable (100% refund). Bookings cancelled within 48 hours notice are not refundable. Cancellations must be communicated by email to info@lostplate.com or by phone. If you would like to reschedule your tour with less than 48 hours notice, we will need to charge 50% of your total since we are unable to fill your spots at short notice.
