What to Eat in Beijing: UnTour Old Beijing Dinner Tour

Have you ever wondered what to eat in Beijing? China is such a wonderful place for foodies and culinary lovers alike. One of my all time favorite things to do when I travel is eat. I like to try the local cuisine and really get a feel for the country through culinary experiences. Besides, the one way to truly get to the heart of every country is to sit down with complete strangers, try new and interesting things, then bond over those shared experiences. This is why I would highly recommend doing the UnTour Old Beijing Dinner Tour. It’s a perfect way to have locals show you around the best places to eat around the city. As in not going around to the overpriced nonsense you see on TripAdvisor.

And before you ask… I have fantastic news. As a vegetarian, this tour is 100% Gina Bear approved! Special vegetarian versions of all the tasty treats were provided (except for the last stop but I can guarantee you’ll be so full it won’t even matter).

While we were waiting for our tour mates to arrive, our tour guides Candice and Tony were super nice and friendly. I immediately felt welcome and like I was talking with old friends. They were so knowledgable and their English was perfect. Come hungry so you have lots of room to sample everything given to you. This tour is all you can eat and drink so if you want booze, feel free to drink as much as you want.

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BOOK YOUR OLD BEIJING DINNER UNTOUR NOW

Crippled Brothers Restaurant

Don’t let the name detour you because this is a treat! We ate this first sample at Lao Liu’s Mongolian Firepot. One set of dumplings was filled with stewed pork shoulder, cabbage, and pork. The other for vegetarians was filed with leek and egg. I’m really picky with my dumplings and these were cooked to perfection. It must have been steamed with garlic because the light taste of it coupled with the leek and egg made it a great appetizer to the firepot. Honestly, these dumplings were so good, I wished I could take them back with me to Seoul!

Address: 73 Beixinquao Santioa

Lao Liu’s Mongolian FirePot

This was by far the most interesting on the restaurants and definitely had a bit of history to go with it. This is of course Mongolian because when they were coming up and invading China because they could, they brought with them their traditional food. In order to minimize what they had to carry, their helmets served two purposes—protection and a cooking pot. The helmet would quickly heat up the water below so that they could cook. The main ingredients were hand-sliced lamb, spinach, mushrooms, and fried tofu skin. In addition since these ingredients are boiled in water, the sauce is boss and where it’s at. There was a vinegar and soy sauce combination mixed with coriander and spring onions. and a peanut sauce. I like my food flavored a little stronger so the vinegar and soy sauce was perfect dipping material.

Address: 73-1 Beixinqiao Santiao

Nuo Yan Rice Wine

No food tour is complete without tasting the local spirits. When eating in Beijing you should check out the Hutongs. (I know it can be real scary if you have no idea what you’re doing.) Each of the rice wines we drank had a variety of sweet flavors and had been fermented for different amounts of days. My favorite from the bunch was the plum rice wine because plums are bomb. 😛 If you like the spirits you drank, I recommend bringing extra money so you can buy what you like.

Address: 7 Banqiao Hutong

BOOK YOUR OLD BEIJING DINNER UNTOUR NOW

Fatty Wang’s Donkey Burger

If the name doesn’t convince you to eat here, I don’t know what will. But fun fact, while on a tour to the Great Wall, I shit you not, our tour guide told us that Chinese believe donkey meat is more delicious than beef. I guess it’s a matter of opinion, but from the happy faces of our tour group, I would say it was pretty tasty. For the vegetarian options, we had cucumber salad, tofu salad, and soft crispy bread that was light and flaky. The tofu and cucumber salad were a bit spicy but they were also super fresh. As in it was chopped up just before it was served to us. I don’t usually like the bread in Korea since it’s so pumped and loaded with sugar, so this was a very welcome change. (As in it actually tasted like bread and not cotton candy.) It was so good, I actually ordered a second helping. And I daresay this was my favorite restaurant on the tour.

Qin Tang Wei Dao

Biang Biang noodles are a speciality of Beijing. This special dish gets its name from the way they are made and banged upon the table in order to stretch them. The Chinese character representing it is one of the most difficult ones in the language with 54 strokes. One of the things I appreciate about food is when you can watch when its made in front of you and then eat it just as its made. I really loved the texture of the noodles because they were really chewy. It was a spicy flavor and so wonderful.

Address: 128 Dongsi Bei Dajie, near Dongsi Shisan Tiao

Fifth Brother’s Chicken Wings

In here, the chicken came on a stick and was a family style Chinese House. As in you could throw your food scraps on the floor or table and it wasn’t a problem. The chicken was served in 4 levels of spiciness with the first level not being spicy to the last level making you really feel the heat. For me, this was quite the shocker because it’s bad table manners to eat sloppily or throw things on the floor. But when in Rome… For an appetizer we were given edamame and tofu salad as well. For the main vegetarian course, we were served sugared tomatoes and more cucumber, but by then I was so full, I had a few bites. By the way, tomato is a fruit and it makes sense to put sugar on it. For the record, it was really good.

Address: 5 Nanbanqiao Hutong, near Dongsi Batiao Hutong

How To Get There

The evening tour starts at 7 pm so you should arrive 10 minutes early in order not to hold anyone up. The tour will start at Beixinqiao Metro (purple line 5, Exit B): The metro exit is located close to the northeast corner of Dongzhimen Inner Street and Yonghegong Street. The tour highly recommends that you take the metro as the traffic in Beijing can be very unpredictable.

BOOK YOUR OLD BEIJING DINNER UNTOUR NOW

If you’re not drooling after reading this, I’m sorry but your taste buds must be dead. Legit as I’ve been writing this, I worked up an appetite all over again. The UnTour Old Beijing Dinner Tour was one of the best food tours I’ve ever been on. I was very well fed and happy with all the delicious options.

The all you can eat and drink part was definitely the best and I left the tour feeling very satisfied. The food was chopstick licking delicious. Just a quick note, depending on the weather and circumstances, the stops and itineraries are subject to change. Even if the itinerary does change, I can almost guarantee wherever you’re taken will be insanely mouth watering.