Eat Your Way Through Shanghai on an UnTour Food Tour

Sure you’ve been on city tours before. Typically they involve boarding a bus or walking in a large group with a guide pointing out important landmarks and city highlights. Well, my friend, this tour is nothing like that. No, the UnTour Food Tour takes your city tour up a notch. 

An UnTour Food Tour is unique. On this tour, you will not only learn about the history and culture of the area but will also eat some pretty tasty food. And after all, combining culture with a full stomach is always a win-win in my book. According to their website, this is what an UnTour is all about:

• UnTour Food Tours was founded in December 2010 to offer tourists in Shanghai an authentic taste of China. An urban adventure tourism company specializing in culinary tours, UnTour Food Tours takes visitors off the eaten path to the city’s most authentic restaurants and street food vendors. Thanks to consistently high customer feedback, UnTour Shanghai is rated the city’s top tour operator by the users of the popular online travel community, TripAdvisor.
• UnTour Food Tours take the guesswork out of eating like a local in China. You’ll sample the equivalent of one very large meal at 3-6 stops with several different dishes at each stop with other local diners. No bugs on sticks or tourist markets here!

If bugs on sticks are your thing, sorry. This tour focusses on real food. Sometimes eating street food in China can seem like a very bad idea. Many street food vendors do not handle their food properly. This scares many tourists (and locals) away from trying some of the local food. But have no fear. The team at UnTour finds safe vendors allowing you to try something that you may otherwise shy away from, and most of it is absolutely delicious.

UnTours can be found in 4 locations throughout China: Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, and Hong Kong. Some locations offer more than one type of tour. Shanghai alone offers five. A Street Eats Breakfast Tour, Hands-On Dumpling Delights, a Night Eats Tour, a Night Eats with Wine Pairing tour and a private tour. Last week a group of us went on a 3 hour private Street Eats Breakfast Tour. This is the second time I have been on this tour and both times were a bit different, very interesting, and completely filling. In total, we made 6 stops. The first stop alone included enough food to fill us up. However, our guide, Logan, reminded us to pace ourselves as we had much more deliciousness to go.

Warm soy milk

Making jiangbing

Logan teaching us how to properly eat soup dumplings in order to avoid wearing them.

I think in total we ate 11 different items and honestly, they were all fantastic. Our tour also included a walk through a wet market, giving us the opportunity to learn about different local favorites, some of which we would not consider top on our list of foods we crave. 100-year-old preserved egg, eel, turtle? No thanks!

On our way, we enjoyed walking through a park to watch people dance, exercise, and artistically express themselves.

We also strolled through neighborhood alleyways to see where and how locals live their every day lives.

Ally cats are a common sighting.

Residents in this area have their own water supply with their own key.

It’s fascinating to see the sense of community here as well as, how differently people live in China than how we do back at home.

The UnTour Food Tour is a unique way to experience the city. It’s nice to mingle with the locals and truly dive into their culture. Great food, cultural immersion, and in the end, a full stomach and a serious need for a nap are all the fun things an UnTour Food Tour is all about. When in Shanghai, check it out. You will thoroughly enjoy this unique way to experience the city.

The UnTour Street Eats Breakfast Tour is one of my favorite tours in Shanghai. Check out my other favorites here: 

Go For a Ride With Culture Shock Bike Tours 

Shanghai Walks: a trip back in time