Mandarin Monday: A Guide to Navigating Chinese Menus

Beijing’s a great place for culinary exploration. Most of us live surrounded by restaurants, and most of us have restaurants nearby serving cuisines we’ve yet to try. For many of us, our only limits are our time, our budgets, and our waistlines, but if you are one of the thousands of laowai living with Chinese menu illiteracy, do not despair. Walking into a restaurant, perusing the menu and ordering a meal is easier than you think.

If you’re keen to conquer ordering in Chinese but you’re still stuck seeking out restaurants with picture menus, check out our list of 25 basic characters you’ll need to get started. These characters won’t automatically direct you to the best items on the menu, nor will they allow you to understand every menu item, but they will allow you to start to confidently identify ingredients you enjoy without needing pictures or English translations.

肉 (ròu, meat)
羊肉 yángròu – mutton
牛肉 niúròu – beef
鸡肉 jīròu – chicken
猪肉 zhūròu – pork
鱼 yú – fish

Notes:

1. In most restaurants, 肉 by itself on a menu means pork but in Muslim restaurants, 肉 by itself usually means mutton.
   

2. If the thought of accidentally ordering offal fills you with dread, avoid menu items with characters that include the 月 radical. Most characters for offal include 月, including 肝 (gān, liver), 肠 (cháng, intestines) and 肺 (fèi, lungs).
   

3. Remembering mutton, beef and chicken is easy. 羊 has horns, 牛 has an ear tag, and 鸡 has an eye, a beak, and a crest.
   

菜 (cài, vegetables)
土豆 tǔdòu – potato
茄子 qiézi – eggplant
菇 gū – mushrooms
豆 dòu – beans and peas
葱 cōng – vegetables from the onion family

Note: On menus, the character 菜 usually refers to any kind of green vegetable. If you’re looking for greens, choose menu items that include the character 菜.

Click "Read more" for the rest of the tips.

Images: Garth Wilson, dishmaps.com, createcn.com

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