Reading a Chinese Menu: A Survival Guide for Non-Chinese Speakers

Walking into a restaurant where the menu is entirely in Chinese characters, with no photos, is a genuinely disorienting experience if you have no Mandarin. The good news is that a small number of recurring characters cover the proteins and cooking methods in a very large proportion of dishes, and most urban restaurants in China now have QR-code menus that can be photographed and translated using your phone.

The Photo Menu

Many Chinese restaurants — particularly in cities and tourist areas — use menus with photographs beside each dish. In this case, strategy is simple: point at what looks appealing to you and your dining companions. Dish names on photo menus are in Chinese but the visual reference eliminates ambiguity about what will arrive.

If there is no photo menu but there is a QR code: scan it with your phone. The Alipay or WeChat Pay mini-program menus often have their own photo database. Alternatively, photograph the menu and use Google Translate's camera function (available offline if you download the Chinese language pack) to translate the characters in real time.

Key Characters to Recognise

Learning these eleven character groups before your trip will help you read the protein in a dish name:

**Proteins:** - 猪肉 (zhūròu) — pork - 牛肉 (niúròu) — beef - 羊肉 (yángròu) — lamb/mutton - 鸡肉 / 鸡 (jīròu / jī) — chicken - 鱼 (yú) — fish - 虾 (xiā) — prawn/shrimp - 豆腐 (dòufu) — tofu - 蛋 (dàn) — egg

**Key vegetables:** - 茄子 (qiézi) — aubergine - 土豆 (tǔdòu) — potato - 白菜 (báicài) — Chinese cabbage - 菠菜 (bōcài) — spinach - 蘑菇 (mógu) — mushroom

**Noodles and staples:** - 面条 (miàntiáo) or just 面 (miàn) — noodles - 米饭 (mǐfàn) — steamed rice - 炒饭 (chǎofàn) — fried rice - 饺子 (jiǎozi) — dumplings (boiled) - 包子 (bāozi) — steamed buns

**Cooking methods (often the first word of a dish name):** - 炒 (chǎo) — stir-fried - 烤 (kǎo) — roasted or grilled - 蒸 (zhēng) — steamed - 炸 (zhá) — deep-fried - 红烧 (hóngshāo) — braised in soy sauce ('red-cooked') - 凉拌 (liángbàn) — cold dressed salad-style

With these characters, 猪肉炒白菜 (zhūròu chǎo báicài) becomes readable as pork stir-fried with Chinese cabbage. 红烧牛肉 is beef braised in soy sauce. 蒸鱼 is steamed fish.

Dietary Restriction Phrases

For common restrictions: - 我不吃猪肉 (wǒ bù chī zhūròu) — I don't eat pork - 我不吃肉 (wǒ bù chī ròu) — I don't eat meat - 我对花生过敏 (wǒ duì huāshēng guòmǐn) — I am allergic to peanuts - 不放辣 (bù fàng là) — no spice please - 不放香菜 (bù fàng xiāngcài) — no coriander please

A printed card with your dietary restriction in Chinese characters, prepared at home, is more reliable than attempting to say these phrases in a noisy restaurant.

Ordering Without Language

Pointing at another table's dish and saying 那个 (nàge, 'that one') is universally understood. Holding up fingers for quantity works. Nodding and shaking your head for yes and no works. Most restaurant staff in cities are patient with foreign visitors who clearly lack Chinese — the meal will arrive.

One Practical Tip

Save a small note on your phone with the Chinese characters for your key dietary restrictions and any dishes you particularly want to order. Reading it to restaurant staff is much faster and more reliable than struggling with spoken Mandarin under pressure.