| This is a very helpful, Jianshou. It took me years to realise fully that the names of dishes in many restaurants were poetic descriptive of an idea, and only sometimes of the ingredients. Add to that the bad translations (I have never myself been offered "fuck the bullfrog") and the menu can be almost as hard to use as one in chinese characters alone. How to handle a Chinese menu or restaurant with no English menu? By far the best, take a Chinese friend along. Other options: (1) Look for restaurant with picture menus; (2) use your pocket-sized language book menu list or carry your own printed list of dishes you like (most restaurants will then give you their own version of the dish whether or not its on their menu; I used to worry that "they didn't do that dish", but it has never worried them, and on one occasion had a 15 minute "discussion" with me pointing at my list and them pointing at their menu); (3) walk around the restaurant and point at dishes you like the look of; (4) point at random in the menu; (5) in cheaper places go to the kitchen and point at the meat and veg behind the counter; (6) sit down, call a Chinese friend on your mobile, tell them what you want and get them to tell the waiter. All are a challenge to the the timid, the introvert, the control-freak or fussy , but I have never eaten a bad meal in 20 business trips. Shangahaiist listed this site the other day: http://www.howtoorderchinesefood.com It is great, and will be even more helpful when they have printable pdf's of different menus. But even now you could choose your selection of dishes at home, cut and paste the characters and print up the list! |
Can you Understand Dish Names in China?