How to Order Food in Chinese?

Categories: Chinese

How to Order Food in Chinese?

One of the first questions you will find your self asking when you come to China is “How to order food in Chinese?”.

Chinese people are spoiled by all sorts of tasty food and drinks that make their daily lives more “colorful”. Meanwhile, several flavor-related choices are always on offer when people order certain types of food and drinks in China. Let’s find out what they are.

1. NOT TOO SWEET:

Sweetness in Chinese

Bubble tea “奶茶“ (nǎichá) is extremely popular among young people in China, and many of them have got used to ordering a bubble tea after lunch. Bubble tea gained its popularity in China owing to a huge variety of flavors ranging from chocolate to tropical fruit. Meanwhile, many Chinese people nowadays attach great importance to leading a healthy lifestyle, therefore, they have specific requirements regarding the amount of sugar contained in the bubble tea. These requirements can be classified as:

全糖 (quán táng) • regular sugar
半糖 (bàn táng) • half sugar
少糖 (shǎo táng) • less sugar
无糖 (wú táng) • no sugar

2. NO ICE, PLEASE:

Amount of Ice in Chinese

Similar to what has been explained above, you are also expected to choose the amount of ice when purchasing soft drinks. Some people think an excessive amount of ice more or less dilutes the original taste, and there are three categories you can choose from:

正常冰 (zhèng cháng bīng) • regular ice
少冰 (shǎo bīng) • less ice
去冰 (qù bīng) • no ice (literally “get rid of ice”)

3. SPICE LIFE:

Spiciness of Ice in Chinese

China is well known for spicy food, with “四川火锅“ (Sìchuān huǒguō) • Sichuan hotpot being the quintessence of “Chinese spiciness”. Nevertheless, many expats in China can’t handle spiciness in that spicy dishes are not common in their countries. Well, if you are also one of them, you will have the opportunity to choose an appropriate degree of spiciness for yourself from the followings:

微辣 (wēi là) • mildly spicy
中辣 (zhōng là) • medium spicy
重辣 (zhòng là) • extra spicy (literally “heavy spicy”)

4. MEDIUM OR RARE:

Donneness in Chinese

People from many different countries choose China to be their destination for career development as China is now playing a tremendous role in the international arena from an economic perspective. Consequently, more and more steak houses can be seen in major cities across China in that they, to a certain extent, cater to expats’ needs in western food. In China, odd numbers come in handy when you express how you would like your steak to be, and they are:

一分熟 (yī fēn shú) • rare (1/10 cooked)
三分熟 (sān fēn shú) • medium rare (3/10 cooked)
五分熟 (wǔ fēn shú) • medium (5/10 cooked)
七分熟 (qī fēn shú) • medium well (7/10 cooked)
全熟 (quán shú) • well done (fully cooked)