How to Order Food in China

Ordering and Dining in a Restaurant

Find a restaurant that has a menu with pictures or English words if you can. This will make it much easier to order because you can just point at what you want. Point at the item you want and then hold up your fingers to indicate how many of that item you want. If you want to see the menu before sitting down at a restaurant, you can say: “bāng máng ná yī fèn cài dān,” which means “please bring me a menu.”

Point at what other people are eating if you can’t find a menu you understand. This is always a good backup option if you find yourself at a restaurant with a menu that only has Chinese symbols on it. Look around you at what other people are eating and point at whatever looks good, then hold up your fingers to indicate how many of that item you want.Tip: When you are trying to decide on a restaurant to eat at in China, look for somewhere busy. This usually means that the food is good, plus you will have plenty of people eating around you so you can see different dishes to point at if you need to! Another option is to save some pictures on your phone of common Chinese dishes, either that you’ve eaten or from the Internet, and pull them up to show the waiter. You can point at the picture and nod to ask if they have it.

Go to a fast food restaurant if you want something familiar. There are many international fast food chains in China like McDonald’s and KFC. It will generally be easier for you to order food at a fast food restaurant that you are already familiar with, but keep in mind that there may be variations in the menu and some things might not be available. Fast food usually tastes a little different in every country, so don’t be surprised if something you order doesn’t taste exactly how you remember it. The Mandarin word for “hamburger” is “hànbǎobāo” and the word for “fries” is “shǔ tiáo.”

Learn some words for common foods to help you order in restaurants. Learning at least a few words for common food items and beverages will make it much easier to dine in Chinese restaurants. Do some research online, then make a list of words on your phone that you can refer to and work on memorizing. Here are some examples: Rice: mĭ fàn Dumplings: jiăo zi Noodles: miàn tiáo Vegetables: shū cài Meat: ròu Pork: zhū ròu Beef/lamb: niú/yáng ròu A cup of tea: yì bēi chá A glass of water: yì bēi shuĭ Coffee: kā fēi/kah fay Wine/alcohol: jiŭ/jyoe

Practice some common phrases to speak to waiters. Look up common phrases online that you might say to waiters at a restaurant. Listen to recordings of them if you can to see how they sound and practice saying them yourself. Here are some ideas: We are vegetarians: wŏ men chī sù I don’t eat meat: wŏ bù chī ròu Bring us the check, please: qĭng gĕi wŏmen zhàngdān I would like some water, please: wŏ yào yìdiăn shuĭ What’s the most popular dish here?: zhè lǐ zuì huǒ de cài shì shén me One serving of this: zhè gè, yī fèn Can you recommend anything?: yǒu shén me kě yǐ tuī jiàn de mā

Flag your waiter down for service. Hold up your hand and shout: “fú wù yuán” to get a waiter’s attention. This is quite normal and not considered rude in China, as waiters often are dealing with the whole floor of tables rather than providing individual service to your table. When your waiter comes over, you can say: “wǒ yào diǎn cài,” which means “I’d like to order.”

Avoid tipping. Tipping is not customary in China, so whatever your waiter tells you to pay at the end of your meal is the final price. Don’t try to tip or you will just end up causing more confusion. If a waiter gives you the bill verbally and you can’t understand how much you owe, then you can pull up the calculator on your phone and indicate that you want them to write the number you owe in it. If you get a printed bill, it will have regular numerals that you can recognize.

Ordering Food Using an App

Download one of the main food delivery apps on your phone. There are several big food delivery services throughout China, but the main ones are Meituan Waimai and Eleme. They both work basically the same and have a lot of options, so download one of them to get started.Tip: If you are in Shanghai or Beijing, there is also an English delivery app that you can use called JinShiSong. These apps cover all kinds of local restaurants, both big and small. Sometimes ordering through an app can be even cheaper than dining at a restaurant because there are special discounts and deals. Some big chain restaurants, such as McDonald’s, have their own food delivery apps.

Sign up for an account. Tap the icon that looks like a little person, the universal app icon for logging into a profile, at the bottom of the screen. Sign up with your phone number to create an account. Note that you will need a Chinese phone number to create a profile. These apps make the most sense to use if you are staying in China long-term and have a Chinese SIM card.

Add your delivery address. Click on the little icon that looks like a bubble with an arrow pointing down, the universal app icon for location, so you can enter your address. Enter a complete and accurate delivery address or verify that the address it automatically senses is actually where you are. It’s very important that your address is correct. If you set the wrong address and the delivery driver calls you to try and figure out where you are, it will basically be impossible to get your food delivered if you can’t speak Chinese to explain where you are to them.

Tap on an image for a restaurant that you recognize or that looks good. All of the restaurant names are in Chinese characters, so from here you basically just have to click on whatever pictures look good or on logos for restaurants you recognize. Experiment with clicking on different options until you pull up a menu that looks good. If you are looking for something specific, then you can try to have a Chinese friend help you out the first time. After that, you can always go back to ordering from the same restaurant to be safe. You can also look up some tutorials online for ordering from these apps and find blog posts or even YouTube videos that help walk you through what some of the different icons and symbols mean.

Choose your meal from the pictures of the meals the restaurant offers. Select a food item that looks good to you from a restaurant’s menu. Select the number of each dish you want using the “+” and “-” signs next to the item. There are slight variations in the user interfaces of each delivery app, but the basics are all the same. If you’ve used a food delivery app anywhere else in the world, then adding items to your cart functions the same way and is pretty intuitive. Keep in mind that you usually have to spend a certain minimum amount to order food for delivery.

Click the “Checkout” button in the bottom right-hand corner to order. Confirm that your address and the items you want to order are correct. Tap the button in the bottom right-hand corner next to the total to proceed to the checkout. You will then be able to choose your payment option and place your order. Keep in mind that to pay you will need either a Chinese bank card, WeChat Wallet, Alipay, or Apple Pay. Now all you have to do is wait! All the apps show the real-time location of your delivery driver, so you can keep an eye on the map and know when to expect your food.