Seven Tastings From Chinatown Dim Sum to North Beach Cannoli
A guide from a family-owned company walks you from Chinatown's alleys into North Beach, with seven tastings along the way.
The walk begins at the Dragon Gate, where Grant Avenue meets Bush Street, and spends its first stretch in Chinatown before crossing into North Beach. Four hours covers both neighborhoods entirely on foot. The route takes in temples set above street level, alleys most visitors walk past, and a shop where fortune cookies are still folded by hand.
Tastings are spread across both neighborhoods rather than gathered at one table, and the ticket covers food and non-alcoholic drinks. A shared departure takes fifteen travelers at most. The guide works in English.
Chinatown, North Beach, Little Italy: 7 Tastings & HistoryFour hours on foot through Chinatown and North Beach with a local guide. Seven tastings, food and non-alcoholic drinks included.www.viator.comCrossing Into North Beach
North Beach is the Italian half of the walk, and the guide's material there runs to the neighborhood's past as much as its food. Pastries, chocolate, and pizza are the stops. The chocolate is the one supplier the operator names outright: Z. Cioccolato. A mural-filled alley links the two neighborhoods, and the route uses it rather than the main street.
What the Seven Tastings Are
The operator lists them one by one: dim sum, a traditional Chinese meal, a tea tasting, sweet and savory bites from one of Chinatown's oldest bakeries, chocolate, Italian pizza, and a cannoli. Food and non-alcoholic beverages are all covered by the ticket, and gratuities are the single item listed as excluded. Nut allergies cannot be accommodated, a limit the operator states twice in its own listing.
Four Hours on Foot
The operator rates the route as suitable for all physical fitness levels, and public transport runs close to the meeting point. Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller, and service animals are allowed. Four hours is a fixed duration rather than a window that shifts with the group.
What the Booking Requires
Adults are counted from age nine, and children from birth to eight book in the child band. Every youth or child booking has to sit on a reservation that also carries an adult. One booking takes up to fifteen travelers. Tickets are issued to a phone or on paper, one per booking, and the walk is guided in English only.
Cancelling at least twenty-four hours before departure returns the full fare, and the operator can call the walk off for weather or for too few travelers. The group forms in front of the Dragon Gate itself, at 400 Grant Avenue on the corner of Bush Street, and there is no hotel pickup. The first five minutes are spent at the gate before the group heads into Chinatown.