Chinese food is popular world-wide, but nothing beats the real thing.
If you travel to China or Taiwan, you will undoubtedly want to sample the fabulous cuisine. The staff of many of the smaller restaurants do not speak English, so this list of common restaurant items will help you get what you want.
Restaurants which cater to tourists will probably have Western cutlery available, but many of the smaller restaurants will only offer chopsticks and soup spoons. Do you know how to use chopsticks?
Click on the link in the Pinyin column to hear the audio file.
| English | Pinyin | Chinese Characters |
| restaurant | cān tīng | 餐廳 |
| waiter / waitress | fú wù shēng | 服務生 |
| spoon | tāng chí | 湯匙 |
| fork | chā zi | 叉子 |
| knife | dāo zi | 刀子 |
| chopsticks | kuài zi | 筷子 |
| napkin | cān jīn | 餐巾 |
| menu | cài dān | 菜單 |
| beverage | yǐn liào | 飲料 |
| glass / cup | bēi zi | 杯子 |
| bowl | wǎn | 碗 |
| plate | pán zi | 盤子 |
| I am vegetarian. | Wǒ chī sù. | 我吃素｡ |
| I cannot eat… | Wǒ bùnéng chī … | 我不能吃… |
| salt | yán | 鹽 |
| MSG | wèi jīng | 味精 |
| pork | zhū ròu | 豬肉 |
| spicy food | là | 辣 |
| sugar | táng | 糖 |
Here is some more vocabulary for Chinese food.
