lonely planet Mandarin phrasebook
Food terms

Key language
Chinese meals come earlier than you may be used to, so get ready to wind you stomach clock back a couple of hours. Lunch is the main meal of the day and often includes a selection of stir fried dishes and rice. Dinner is much the same as lunch but often hot food is believed to be better for the digestion.

breakfast- 早饭 (zaofan)

lunch- 午饭 (wufan)

dinner- 晚饭 (wanfan)

snack- 小吃 (xiaochi)

to eat- 吃 (chi)

to drink- 喝 (he)

I'm starving!- 我拐饿了！ (wo guai e le!)

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Finding a place to eat

Can you recommend a.......?- 你可以推荐一个。。。。。。。吗? (ni keyi tuijian yige......ma?)

• bar- 酒吧 (jiuba)
• cafe- 咖啡屋 (kafeiwu)
• noodle house- 面谈 (miantan)
• restaurant- 饭馆 (fanguan)
• snack shop- 夜宵店 (yexiao dian)
• (won ton) stall- (馄饨) 店 (huntun) dian)
• street vendor- 街头小吃 (jietou xiaochi)
• teahouse- 茶馆 (chaguan)
  

Where would you got for...?- 。。。。。。该到哪里去？(......gai daonali qu?)

• a banquet- 办宴会 (ban yanhui)
• a celebration- 开饭局 (kai fanju)
• a cheap meal- 吃得便宜 一点的 (hide pianyi yidian de)
• local specialities- 地方小吃 (difang xiaochi)
• yum cha- 吃饮茶 (chi yincha)
  

I'd like to reserve a table for...- 我想预订桌。。。。。的。 (wo xiang yuding yizhuo....de.)

• (two) people- (两) 位 (liang) wei)
• (eight) o' clock (八) 点中 (ba) dian zhong)
  

Are you still serving food?- 你们还开饭吗？ (Nimen hai kaifan ma?)

How long is the wait?- 吃饭要等多久？ (Chifan yaodeng duojiu?)

I'd like......, please.- 请那来。。。。。 (Qing na lai....)

• the drink list- 酒料单 (jiuliao dan)
• a half portion- 半分 (banfen)
• the menu- 菜单 (caidan)
• a menu in English- 英文菜单 (yingwen caidan)
• a nonsmoking table- 不吸烟的桌子 (buxiyan de zhuozi)
• a smoking table- 吸烟的桌子 (xiyan de zhuozi)
• a table for (five)- (五) 位桌子 (wu) wei zhuozi)
  

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

thanks for these, they are good to digest whilst doign my own learning ^^

wow.. really helpful thanks!

Just to let you know that there was a few mistake with the chinese input...
1) noodle house- 面谈 (miantan)...it should be 面摊.
2) Where would you like to sit? - 做那里？ (zuo nali?)...should be 坐那里？

Eh?
Another minor errors when typing out the Chinese letters...maybe you Star should take my place and teach the Mandarin Lessons..lol

Haha. No, you did a great job.
I am just pointing out the errors for you.

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I apologised, if it really make you think this way.

thanks!! it' helpful