Chinatown and Little Italy Food Tour

The Chinatown and Little Italy Food Tour is a walking tour through Manhattan. During this tour, you’ll explore the two neighbourhoods and enjoy local delicacies such as Italian cannoli and mozzarella, Chinese dumplings and dim sum and many other specialities. The guide will show you places where local Italian and Chinese New Yorkers do their groceries. Start this tour on an empty stomach and enjoy the tasty food.

Book your Chinatown and Little Italy Food Tour here

Little Italy Food Tour

You’ll meet the guide at Ferrera Bakery and Cafe in Little Italy. This place is known for its cannoli and other Italian pastries. Sit down and relax at the café while the guide tells you more about the history and food culture of this neighbourhood. You’ll also get the chance to taste the world-famous cannoli: a tube-shaped shell filled with ricotta. Fun fact: did you know that bakers used to use a broomstick to form these pastries?

What’s a food tour through an Italian neighbourhood without cheese? After the introduction at Ferrera Bakery, the guide will take you to the oldest cheese store in New York where you’ll taste real Italian mozzarella. You’ll then head to the neighbours where you can try several special pasta dishes with homemade sauce. In the kitchen in the back of the store, you can witness how these pasta and sauces are made. You’ll then walk to Di Palo’s Fine Foods, one of my favourite places! If you visit this shop on your own, you’ll have to take a number and wait for your turn. The employees will treat you as if you were a member of the family. At Di Palo’s you’ll get the chance to taste cheese and olives.

Dumplings in Chinatown

It’s time to leave Little Italy and head to Chinatown. You’ll notice the difference right away and hear Chinese people talking loudly on their cell phones. The first stop is a dim sum restaurant where you’ll enjoy a sit-down dim sum tasting amongst locals who are having lunch. This is also a good place for a quick bathroom break. You’ll then head to a place that sells dumplings and where you’ll get the chance to taste this Chinese speciality. During the short walk to this place, the guide will tell you all about this neighbourhood’s shocking history. If you want to enjoy more dumplings after the tour, it’s good to know this place sells dumplings for a very cheap price! At the end of the tour, the guide will hand out sweet rice balls with sesame filling that he purchased at the last place you visited.

Eric’s Tip: “During this tour, you’ll eat a lot! So make sure you only have a light breakfast. You won’t have time to shop at the places you visit, but you can of course head back to your favourite shops and restaurants once the tour has finished. At the end of the tour, the guide provides you with a map where you can find all the places you visited so you can easily find them on your own.”

Practical information

After purchasing you will receive a voucher that you can print and use as your ticket for the tour, or show as a mobile ticket on your phone.

Note: When I went on this tour, we visited the shops and restaurants I mentioned above. Every tour is different though and you might visit other places than I did.