China Food Tours

Explore the real China and discover the best food secrets from Beijing to Shanghai, Xi’an, Chengdu, and more!

Daily Food Tour Locations:

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.
9am Daily

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3 Hours

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Walking Tour
Try local Han, Mongol, and Muslim cuisines (plus more!) at Beijing’s most authentic restaurants. This top-rated walking food tour will explore the historic hutong alleys of Beijing while making stops at our favorite off the beaten path eateries.
6:30pm Daily

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3.5 Hours

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Walking Tour
30% of all restaurants in China serve Sichuan cuisine, making it the most popular cuisine in China. This tuk-tuk tour includes food, beer, and soft drinks where you’ll try at least 10 dishes across 4+ stops, plus one local bar.
6:30pm Daily

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3.5 Hours

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Tuktuk Tour
Come discover the dishes that only locals know about on this walking tour that makes 5+ stops through a rarely visited residential neighborhood where Canton’s upper class called home for centuries.
6:30pm Daily

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3.5 Hours

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Walking Tour
Start the day by exploring Lijiang’s oldest market to shop for your cooking class, with hands-on instruction led by a local ethnic Naxi family. The cooking class will take place in the instructor’s home cooking studio. Each person will prepare and eat three dishes.
9am T-Sa

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3 Hours

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Walking Tour
This tour explores the city’s dynamically evolving French Concession neighborhood while visiting the trendiest cafes alongside traditional street-food vendors and longstanding local restaurants.
8:30am Daily

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3 Hours

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Walking Tour
Walk back in time while exploring Suzhou’s residential old-town, explore its lush gardens and monasteries, and discover what locals eat in the city that’s been the center of wealth and culture for 1,000s of years.
9:30am Daily

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3.5 Hours

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Walking Tour
The Muslim quarter is full of eateries that consistently sell out before lunch, one of China’s oldest and largest markets, and sensory experiences you have to be there in person to believe. See how many times you can be surprised on this morning tour that covers Xian breakfast staples you won’t find anywhere else in China.
9am Th & Su

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3 Hours

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Tuktuk Tour
Enjoy over 10 dishes, craft beer, and soft drinks while zipping through millenia-old alleyways, hidden sections of the Muslim quarter, and ancient city gates to get a true taste of the Silk Road on TripAdvisors’s #1 Rated Food Experience in the World.
6pm Daily

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3.5 Hours

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Tuktuk Tour

Multi-Day Trip Destinations:

Discover Chengdu’s Flavors, Culture and Pandas 4-day Trip

From $795 USD
As the backbone of Sichuan cuisine, Chengdu has been an UNESCO City of Gastronomy for over a decade. From local street food to roundtable hotpots, and giant pandas to cliff-side Buddha carvings, come experience why Chengdu and Sichuan cuisine are so famous around the globe.
4 days, 3 nights

Eat Your Way From Dali to Lijiang Multi-day Trip

From $1500 USD
Spend 8 days in the land of cured ham legs, homemade breads, bubbling bowls of rice noodles, and fried local cheese. We’ll eat our way through Yunnan’s Tea & Horse Caravan Road, from Dali to Lijiang, plus a unique overnight stay in Tiger Leaping Gorge.
8 days, 7 nights

Uncover Xian’s Ancient Wonders and Hidden Eats 3-day Trip

From $600 USD
At the end of the Silk Road, Xian has the definitive say in how three continents and 11,000 kilometers can crescendo in flavor. From hand-pulled noodles to fried stewed chicken (yes, you read that right) to local organic ice cream, you’ll need to bring along your stretchy pants for this one.
3 days, 2 nights

Go Beyond Shangrila for Wine & Tibetan Culture of Yunnan

From $1235 USD
Spend 6 days traveling throughout Yunnan’s Tibetan region wine tasting, feasting on incredible Tibetan and local minority cuisine, visiting small ethnic minority villages, and enjoying the incredible high-altitude landscape.
6 days, 5 nights

Get Lost and Escape in Guilin & Yangshuo 4-day Trip

From $800 USD
Explore Guilin and Yangshuo away from the tourist traps on our food-forward 4-day trip through China’s most famous landscape. From eating all of the best (and unique) local dishes to exploring the countryside in vintage sidecars to boutique poolside views, get ready for a delicious adventure like no other!
4 days, 3 nights

Wine Taste Through Ningxia 3-day Trip

From $1150 USD
Discover China’s premier wine destination as we spend 2 days wine tasting our way through the northwest region of Ningxia. From exploring the area’s sprawling boutique vineyards situated against a rugged mountain backdrop, to enjoying copious amounts of lamb, beef, and noodles famous in the area, get ready for a delicious wine-filled adventure!
3 days, 2 nights

China Like You've Never Tasted Before.

Forget generic restaurant crawls and tourist menus. Our food tours uncover the hidden eateries, buzzing markets, and back-alley kitchens only locals know.

Why Guests Choose Us:

China Guides Who Know their Cities

Local Guides Who Know (and Love) Their Cities.

Guests rave about how our guides bring each city to life, calling them “knowledgeable,” “fun,” and “genuine foodies.” Whether it’s uncovering hidden hutong eateries in Beijing, explaining the secret behind Xi’an’s biangbiang noodles, or navigating Chengdu’s fiery stir-fries, our local hosts turn every tour into something special.

Authentic Chinese Food You Won’t Find On Your Own.

We take you deep into local neighborhoods where every bite is the real deal and dishes aren’t adjusted for tourists. Our guests consistently say, “We never would have found these places by ourselves.”

Authentic Suzhou Soup Dumpling
Suzhou Canals and Alleys

Discover the Real China.

With walking routes and tuk-tuk rides that wind through backstreets, our tours are as much about adventure as they are about food. Experience Xian’s Muslim Quarter, Beijing’s Hutongs, and Shanghai’s French Concession like a local –  all while tasting authentic local eats along the way.

A Full Feast at Every Stop.

With generous servings and 4+ stops per tour, guests frequently describe our tours as “so much food we couldn’t finish.” From savory street snacks to family-style dinners and local craft beers, you will get fed and leave full on all of our tours.

Shanghai Noodles and Potstickers

Customer Reviews:

Still not convinced? See why guests call our China food tours the “highlight of their trip!" Read our reviews below.

As Featured In:

"Top-10 Food Experience in the World"

Lost Plate Food Tours is 1 in the World by TripAdvisor

"Delving Into the Hutongs, Chopsticks at the Ready"

Beijing Hutong Evening Food Tour Featured on Washington Post

"The Best Dumplings I've Had"

"Absolutely unknown to tourists"

Frequently Asked Questions:

These answers apply to our morning/evening city food tours. For details and policies about our multi-day trips, please click here.

We’re proud to offer one of the most flexible cancellation policies in the industry. Cancel or reschedule your tour at any time, for any reason, up to 24 hours before your tour starts for a full refund. If you prefer even more flexibility, you’ll be given the option to add last-minute cancellation protection for a small fee when booking online.

Our morning/evening food tours include all food, drinks (including local beer during evening tours), and your local guide. There’s nothing you need to pay during the tour other than an optional gratuity for your guide if you would like to show your appreciation.

…signing up for multiple tours? Yes! When booking online, you’ll have the option of adding additional tours to your booking with a 10% discount. Additionally, you will receive a confirmation email immediately after booking with a 10% promo code that you can use when booking any additional tour(s) in any city.

…bringing children? Yes! Humans aged 4 through 15 will receive a discount on most of our food tours (3 and under is free). The discount is automatically displayed and given when booking online. We do require that all guests aged 4+ pay for their spot, even if you don’t think they will eat a lot, due to limited seating space during the tour. 

…I don’t drink alcohol? No. For tours that include alcohol, we always provide alcohol-free alternatives of similar value for guests that prefer not to drink alcohol. 

…I have special dietary requirements / I can’t eat everything? No. Due to limited capacity on each tour, all guests must pay for their spot. We think the tour experience is about more than just the food. If you are unable to eat everything on the tour, feel free to share your portion with your travel partner or other guests. 

We require full pre-payment to reserve your spot on one of our food tours. This is because spots are limited and we can’t risk no-shows which will delay the start time for other guests. When booking online, credit cards from any country are accepted. If using a mobile device, ApplePay/GooglePay are also available.

Humans of all ages are welcome on our food tours. We ask parents to use their own judgement to determine whether a 3-4 hour walking tour is appropriate for their children without impacting the experience of other guests. Booking a private tour for your family is always an option by contacting us. We offer both morning and evening tours, so you can choose what best fits your children’s schedule. Our morning tours typically provide more interactive experiences, whereby our evening tours typically visit sit-down restaurants. 

Private tours can be arranged based on availability. An additional private tour fee will be charged (which is waived for larger groups). Simply contact us to book so we can check availability. 

We are happy to customize the start time or duration for private tour requests.

Beyond that, we generally do not arrange customized tours. We work very hard to create our tour routes and build strong relationships with our vendors to ensure the food quality and service they provide. It’s also important for us to share the stories of each dish and vendor that we visit. If your request involves visiting a vendor we don’t have an existing relationship with, we will politely decline. 

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.

We also provide unlimited bottled water and soft drinks (plus local beer on our evening tour).

Yes! We do our best to accommodate as many dietary requests as possible while remaining stupid delicious. Each tour is a bit different, so please check the specific tour page that you are interested in, where we have clearly displayed the dietary requests each tour is able to accommodate. Check out the tour page’s FAQ section for even more detail. 

Yes! Our online booking system will cut-off evening tours around 2-6 hours before it begins, or 24 hours for our morning tours begin. If you’d like to book a tour that’s already been cut-off, simply contact us and we’ll get you taken care of (based on availability).

No problem! Due to the higher cost of providing a solo tour, we do require a minimum of 2 people to operate a tour. Our website will accept your solo booking, and we’ll reach out to you if you are the only person booked on the tour. If we are unable to reschedule you to another date that works for you, we will provide a full refund for your booking. At that time, you can also consider purchasing 2 tickets so we are able to operate the tour for you.

Feel free to contact us at any time if you’d like us to check your dates of interest and we’ll let you know if anyone else has booked the tour or if there are nearby alternative dates.