lonely planet Mandarin phrasebook
Food terms

At the restaurant...
The Chinese have a word renao 热闹 (lit: hot and noisy). It justifies the atmosphere of their restaurant. When the Chinese go out to eat, they like to have raucous, lip smacking fun. The western style of whispering, sipping expensive wines, candles is not for them.

Meals in Chinese restaurants do not come in individual serving but in communal plates for everyone to share and eat from these.

appetizers (cold)- 凉菜 (liangcai)

main courses (usually meat dishes)- 主菜 (zhu cai)

seafood dishes- 海鲜 (haixian)

soups- 糖类 (tanglei)

vegetable dishes (may contain meat)- 蔬菜 (shucai)

desserts- 甜品 (tianpin)

beer- 啤酒 (pijiu)

fruit juice- 果汁 (guozhi)

soft drinks- 汽水 (qishui)

sparkling wine- 香槟 (xiangbin)

talk about food...

I love this dish. - 这道菜真想。 (Zhe dao cai zhenxiang.)

I love the local cuisine. - 这个地方的菜真好吃。 (Zheige di fang de cai zhen haochi.)

That was delicious! - 吃得真香！ (Chide zhen xiang!)

I'm full. - 吃报了。 (chibao le.)

This dish is..... - 这个菜。。。。。了。 (Zheige cai.....le.)

• (too) cold- 太凉 (tai) liang
• (too) spicy- 太辣 (tai) la
• superb- 真香 (zhenxiang)
  

Your tab or mine?...
A favorite Chinese part in the restaurant then just enjoying your meal is fighting over the bill. It's considered polite to offer to pay the bill once or even twice, even if you're clearly a guest. The following line may be made loudly, to show sincerity, even when it is bluff:

You were tonight's guest, but I'll pay the bill. - 是你请的客， 我不过是买单的。 (Shi ni qingde ke, wo buguo shi maidan de.)


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Note from fake_innocent:
For more restaurant terms, please kindly PM me regarding your request. Thanks!

Oh that really great. Able to improve more here. Hmm not sure if my pronouncation is correct but I will try. =)

I'm full. - 吃报了。 (chibao le.)...我吃饱了.
Anyway, it was a great job done for the effort in putting all these up. My dad always love fighting for the bill...haha...then the host will be like, "No..no..no. It's our treat." Now I can "teach" my dad to use this "是你请的客， 我不过是买单的。"

i think i can order food in chinese and don't need to speak english!!
Thanks

it's very very great.

thats cool. helps a lot. guess i will try it out

thanks for that