Sign up
A canteen tray of rice, greens and braised dishes on a steel counter
All experiences

Mornings & markets

The Breakfast Shift

早茶

What twelve million people actually eat before work, plus the market it comes from.

3 hoursOne-on-oneLuohuFree

Shenzhen at seven in the morning is a completely different city from the one in the photographs — canteen trays, rice rolls off the steamer, tea drunk standing up, and a wet market doing the day’s serious business before most visitors are awake. This is the quietest and most ordinary tour we offer, and it is the one people say they remember.

How the day runs

Times are elapsed from your meeting point, not clock times — you pick the start hour when you book.

  1. 0:00

    Breakfast where the queue is

    Rice noodle rolls off the steamer, congee, soy milk, a fried dough stick. Ordered at a counter, eaten fast, standing or sitting depending on the room.

  2. 0:50

    Tea, sat down

    The slower half of a Cantonese morning — a pot, a few baskets, and an hour that nobody is trying to turn over. Your buddy explains the etiquette, including the finger tap.

  3. 1:50

    The wet market

    Fish still moving, greens you have not seen before, dried goods, the preserved-fruit jars, herbs sold by the handful. This is where the food you have been eating comes from and where prices are set.

  4. 2:50

    A bakery stop

    Shenzhen’s bakery habit is real and specific. Pineapple buns, sourdough, egg tarts, coffee that is better than it has any right to be.

  5. 3:30

    Where to go next, decided over coffee

    You now have a whole day left and a much better sense of the city. Your buddy maps the rest of it against what you liked this morning.

Tours are customizable to each traveller — feel free to tell us what you have in mind when you book.

What is included

  • 2–3 hours one-on-one starting at a civilised local hour
  • Ordering and translating at counters that have no English menu
  • Market prices explained so you know what things cost
  • A plan for the rest of your day, written down

What is not included

  • Food, tea and anything you buy at the market
  • Metro fare

Good for

  • Early risers and the jet-lagged
  • Food writers and cooks
  • Families
  • Anyone who wants the unphotogenic, real version

One thing worth knowing

Jet lag from Europe or the Americas puts you awake at five in the morning anyway. This is the package that turns that into an advantage instead of a problem.

Other experiences

From a friendSplitWhomBBQs, parties & trips — buy together, then track who paid what and settle up automatically.
Try it