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Suzhou garden setting representing refined Jiangsu food culture

Food · Independent or Private Guided

China Food Tours, Planned Around Regional Meals

Regional meals in Hangzhou, Suzhou and Guangzhou, fitted into a private China trip. Choose Independent or Private Guided and tell us what you like to eat.

Start planning

  • Independent

    We plan the route and book hotels, trains and tickets; you travel on your own and add a guide for the days you choose.

    Choose Independent

  • Private Guided

    An English-speaking private guide and a private car throughout, for early starts and the days you wait for light.

    Choose Private Guided

From the China Guide

Food guides, dish by dish.

Every China Guide food article: what the dish is, where to eat it and how to order. Browse by region or by kind of dish.

All 42 guides

Browse the guides
Browse the China Guide

What we arrange

Experiences to build your trip around.

Each experience fits inside a private route. Tell us which ones interest you and we shape the days around them.

A glazed square of braised pork belly served with greens

Hangzhou · A sit-down meal

Dongpo pork at a Hangzhou table

Skin-on pork belly, braised slowly and served in its sauce. Keep this as a sit-down meal in a Hangzhou day, with the menu and allergens checked at the table.

A 7-day route it can be added to
Translucent shrimp dumplings (har gow) in a bamboo steamer

Guangzhou · A sit-down meal

Cantonese morning tea in Guangzhou

A tea-house table in Guangzhou: a pot of tea, then small dim sum plates. Stay for the meal rather than fitting it into a walking tasting circuit.

Boats moored along a lantern-lined canal in Suzhou

Suzhou · A sit-down meal

Squirrel fish in Suzhou

Songshu guiyu is fish cut into a squirrel shape, fried and finished with hot sweet-sour sauce. Order a plate in a Suzhou day and confirm the current menu at the restaurant.

A 5-day route it can be added to

Sample itineraries

Published sample routes, with both prices.

Starting points for your trip, with Independent and Private Guided reference prices. Experiences not included in the published days can be requested as additions.

Leshan Giant Buddha near Chengdu for a Sichuan culture and food itinerary7 days

Chengdu · Leshan · Emei Mountain

Sichuan Culture and Food: 7 Days through Chengdu, Leshan, and Emei

Independent
from $1,900
Private Guided
from $3,000

Per person · 2026 reference price for 2 sharing · excl. international flights

West Lake in Hangzhou for a modern and poetic China itinerary7 days

Shanghai · Hangzhou · Suzhou

Modern + Poetic: 7 Days, Shanghai + Hangzhou + Suzhou

Independent
from $1,800
Private Guided
from $2,900

Per person · 2026 reference price for 2 sharing · excl. international flights

Shanghai Bund skyline at night for a soft-landing China itinerary5 days

Shanghai · Suzhou

Shanghai + Suzhou: 5 Days, Soft Landing

Independent
from $1,400
Private Guided
from $2,200

Per person · 2026 reference price for 2 sharing · excl. international flights

Per person · reference price for 2 travelers sharing · international flights not included. Your final price depends on hotels, car arrangements and what you ask for — usually a little above this, sometimes more. 2026 reference prices.

All sample itineraries

Your consultant for food trips

Serena

Senior Travel Specialist

Speaks Mandarin and English

Send your dates and what you want to see. Your trip brief notes that you asked to plan with Serena.

Plan with SerenaView profile

Eight regional traditions

Chinese food is not one cuisine. It is eight distinct traditions with centuries of divergence.

Cantonese

The lightest major cuisine in oil usage, freshness and restraint are marks of quality. Dim sum is a social institution as much as a meal, and yum cha defines Sunday mornings from Guangzhou to Hong Kong.

Sichuan

Mala, the numbing heat of Sichuan pepper combined with dried chili, defines the palette. Street food intensity, hotpot as communal event, and a flavor profile more internationally recognized than almost any other regional Chinese style.

Shandong

Foundational to the northern culinary tradition. Known for technique, clear broths, and the formal banquet culture that shaped imperial-era cooking. The oldest of the Eight Great Cuisines in documented form.

Jiangsu

Precise knife work and a sweet-savory balance found nowhere else in China. Suzhou cuisine treats food as aesthetics, presentation, texture, and seasonal ingredient selection matter as much as taste.

Zhejiang

Light, fresh, and season-driven. Hangzhou's longjing tea chicken and West Lake vinegar fish are benchmarks of restraint, flavors that arrive quietly and stay.

Fujian

Coastal flavors, light broths, and a tradition of thin-skinned dumplings and seafood that traveled with the Hokkien diaspora into Southeast Asia. Less bold than Sichuan, more complex than it first appears.

Hunan

Hot without the numbing. Hunan spice is direct and persistent, built around fresh chili, smoked and cured ingredients, and a sharper, more aggressive edge than its Sichuan neighbor.

Anhui

Mountain ingredients, wild mushrooms, preserved vegetables, and slow stewing. One of the less internationally known cuisines, but technically demanding and historically significant in merchant-era China.

In China, where you eat tells someone where you come from. Most travelers eat hotel breakfast and tourist menus. We design food itineraries that local food writers would approve of.

Questions about food trips.

Answers from the published guides linked below.

Do I need a walking food tour for Dongpo pork?

Dongpo pork is a sit-down meal: skin-on pork belly braised slowly and served in its sauce. It can fit into a Hangzhou day without a fixed tasting walk.

Read the guide
What is Cantonese morning tea?

Yum cha is a tea-house meal in Guangzhou: a pot of tea followed by small dim sum plates, with time to stay at the table.

Read the guide
What is Suzhou squirrel fish?

Songshu guiyu is fish cut into a squirrel shape, fried and finished with hot sweet-sour sauce. Confirm the current price on the restaurant menu.

Read the guide

Trip brief

Tell us what you want to experience.

Your dates, interests and preferred pace. A specialist replies within 24 hours, and the first reply comes from a person. Every trip is quoted individually.

Private trip request

Share the constraints that matter. Short is fine; specific is better.

Trip type interest (optional)