As you can probably already tell, I am a huge fan of food and therefore food tours. Trying the local food is a very important part of our travel experience. While the local food can easily be experienced on one’s own, a food tour allows for learning more about the traditional foods and culture and can help you know what to look for when exploring on your own. During our travels to China we were excited to be the guests of Intrepid Travel and join their new Beijing food tour, Real Beijing Gourmet.
We met our local guide Dennis a little early and had a chance to talk with him a bit before our tour began. He may have been the happiest person we met in China, smiling and laughing so much you just couldn’t help but join his good mood. We were joined by one other couple from London, Richard and Somerset, who were on their honeymoon, and the five of us set out to begin our Beijing food tour.
We visited Beijing’s Xicheng District and walked along Huguosi Dajie, a street filled with snacks. Dennis took us to Huguosi Xiachidian, which he said served the most authentic snacks, some of which have been enjoyed by Beijingers for hundreds of years. Huguosi Xiachidian is a huge snack restaurant with two levels. We grabbed a table upstairs while Dennis selected a number of Beijing snacks for us to sample.
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| Huguosi Xiachidian Beijing snack bar. |