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Best of NYC Food Tour with Chinatown, Little Italy and LES

About this experience

Eat your way through the best food neighborhoods NYC has to offer on this small group 3-hour walking food tour through Chinatown, Little Italy and the Lower East Side. Explore the spots New Yorkers love with six filling tastings as you learn the area's diverse immigrant stories.

- Feast at local hidden gems, like an abandoned mall home to award winning hand steamed pork buns

- Avoid the typical tourist traps in Little Italy — munch on slices from hipster pizzerias and homemade cheese at Di Palo's Fine Foods, a 100-year old grocery

- Enjoy a historic pickle sampler and a pastry made in the old Jewish NYC style while absorbing immigrant stories

- Visit with a small group, ensuring a personal experience

- Skip the line like a local at the area's most popular restaurants, including beloved noodle spot Shu Jiao Fu Zhou

- Come hungry — with six substantial tastings, you'll get plenty of food to fill you up

- We can accommodate dietary restrictions — just let us know beforehand!

At a glance

  • Duration: 3 hr

Choose your tour option

Select a date and travellers to compare current prices and departure times.

Best of NYC Food Tour
Private Tour
Private Tour

Plan your experience

Time on the tour3 hr
Guide languagesEnglish (live guide)

Set aside 3 hr for the experience itself, with additional time to reach your meeting or pickup point.

Compare the available options before choosing: their itinerary, inclusions and pickup arrangements can differ. Check the price for your date and whole group.

Before you go

  • Suitable for all physical fitness levels

What is included

  • Pizza from a New York top slice shops
  • Skip-the-line for the city's most popular noodles
  • Historical tour led by a local expert foodie
  • An only-in-NYC baked good
  • Mozzarella from a 100-year old cheese store
  • Award-winning hand steamed pork buns
  • Small group capped at 10 to ensure a personalized experience
  • Historic pickle sampler
  • Six diverse tastings in three delicious neighborhoods: Chinatown, Little Italy and Lower East Side

Not included

  • Gratuities

Itinerary and highlights

Meet your guide on the second floor of Essex Market at 88 Essex Street. This historic food hall has been at the center of Lower East Side life for centuries, from its days as a series of pushcarts to its present uber modern aesthetic. Take some time to browse around the many diverse stalls as you arrive.

Only one store in New York still makes pickles the old fashioned way — we'll be going there to try a whole historic sampler of their pickled goods. Learn about how pickles are essential to Lower East Side history as you munch down on these briny bites.

Next, stop by a near-century old bakery for an only-in-New York experience: a bialy, made with New York City's own tap water. And if you don't know what a bialy is, your guide will tell you all about the backstory of this historic baked good.

Maybe no neighborhood has changed more in the past century than the Lower East Side, going from the heart of Jewish New York to a cross-cultural and cross-age blend of residents. Thankfully, you'll have a guide ready to take you through the neighborhood's full history.

Taste New York's best food hidden gem: delectable pork buns hidden in the basement of an abandoned mall.

Delve into the authentic history of Chinatown: rather than taking you to tourist traps, we'll go to local institutions, talk about the area's social movements, and show off what the neighborhood is truly like.

You've probably seen Lower Manhattan in a gangster movie before — now, you'll get to see the actual locations the films were based on. Explore the Five Points, the one-time heart of mobster New York, as your guide unfurls tales of the bloody battles, political corruption, and ultimate social uprisings that defined New York's gangster era.

No food tour would be complete with a visit to Di Palo's, an over 100 year old Italian grocery store. The shop is home to food from 20 different regions of Italy, and the owners make delectably soft and salty mozzarella in-house every single day — mozzarella that we'll be biting in when we visit.

Walk up Mulberry Street, a green, red and white-clad extravaganza, to see Little Italy in action.

If there's one thing New Yorkers adore, it's their pizza. See why as you visit Williamsburg Pizza, a shop renowned for their "grandma slice," and enjoy a crispy, doughy, saucy delight

New York is a city of lines, and that's certainly the case at this Chinatown staple. But fear not: we'll skip the line as we wrap up our tour with one of the tastiest dishes in the whole city, world-renowned peanut butter noodles.

Meeting and pickup information

  • Meet your guide on the second floor of Essex Market on 88 Essex Street.

Languages and tickets

  • English — Guide
  • Mobile Only

Tour operator

  • Unscripted Tours

Meeting points and locations

Accessibility and practical details

  • Wheelchair accessible
  • Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
  • Service animals allowed
  • Public transportation options are available nearby
  • Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
  • All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
  • Suitable for all physical fitness levels
  • Please inform us of an allergies

Cancellation policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Questions about this experience

How long is this experience?
The supplier lists a duration of 3 hr. Check your chosen tour option for its specific itinerary.
Which guide languages are listed?
English (live guide).
What ticket format is listed?
Mobile ticket.
What ticket age bands are listed?
Adult tickets: age 0+. Check the practical details for participation requirements.
What accessibility information is provided?
Wheelchair accessible
Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
Service animals allowed
Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
What is the cancellation policy?
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

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