How to Choose a Restaurant & Food Guide

The choice of restaurant, like in any country, is really half the battle. In China, atmosphere often takes a backseat behind the quality of the food and the reputation of the restaurant. The latter is particularly true for a business dinner.

When choosing where to go, it�s probably best to ask a Chinese friend. Be cautious with this tactic though, as some friends often think foreigners have money to burn. A friend in Xi�an once recommended a dumplings restaurant that charged 80RMB/person to have 18 varieties of dumplings. And that price was with a student discount. College students often give good recommendations, as their budget is quite slim.

If you are choosing a restaurant on the spur of the moment, the best route is to find a restaurant packed with patrons. As mentioned before, often the restaurant will be severely lacking in any kind of atmosphere, but the people are there for a reason � good food. I have never had a meal in a Chinese household that I wouldn�t describe as excellent; and when I go out to eat with some Chinese friends, they often criticize the food, saying that they could cook it much better. So, I believe that if many people have chosen a restaurant, it speaks volumes for what you will receive there.

Usually the restaurant�s name will be some sort of indication as to what kind of food is served. This could be the chuan as in Sichuan, shao kao meaning barbeque, or huo guo meaning hot pot. If the restaurant�s name includes hai, meaning sea, seafood will be one of the specialties. Fandian (literally �meal store�), canting (�food hall�), or canguanr (�food shop�) is often included in the name as well.

If you have eaten at a restaurant that you particularly enjoyed, why not return for another meal. Often the owner will recognize you, ensure that you have excellent service, and, more often than not, give you some food on the house. This is especially true if you bring more people the second time. In Harbin, some friends and I ate at a bakery two mornings in a row. We told the owner that we were leaving the second day and that we probably wouldn�t be coming back. Still, he gave us a free loaf of bread on our way out the door.

If one were to gaze at a Chinese street crowded with large restaurants, it would look very similar to Las Vegas Boulevard. Many Chinese restaurants are gargantuan and seem to employ entire villages to cook and serve. Neon is the style of the day for these large restaurants, often in the shape of a friendly version of the establishment�s specialty animal. Smaller restaurants will sometimes be connected to the owner�s home. These are the type of places where repeat visits could earn a good relationship (guanxi). Before you know it, you�ll be part of the family.

Upon entering a Chinese restaurant (or any service establishment for that matter), the first words you will hear will probably be huanying guanglin (welcome here, I am honored by your presence). Oftentimes this comes from several people in all directions. Next you will be asked �ji wei?� (how many?). You should reply with the appropriate Chinese number followed by wei or a simple number of fingers should work if your Chinese counting skills aren�t up to par.

If the restaurant serves fish, you will see all of them in tanks near the entrance. Sometimes, rather than ordering from a menu, you simply go to a refrigerated display case of uncooked food and point to which dish you want. If this is the case, you will walk past it on your way to the table. At Chinese banquets and business dinners, the sitting arrangement signifies status; but at informal dinners, it really doesn�t matter where one sits. If you have many people in your party, you may want to sit in a private room. These are usually more comfortable, obviously more private, but sometimes come with a minimum expenditure or a surcharge.

Here is where experience eating and some reading skills could really make a difference. If you can read Chinese, your choices are obviously as endless as the restaurant�s menu. If you can�t read Chinese, but have ordered good food before, you could order the restaurant�s version. This is why it is a good idea to write down any dishes you have enjoyed.

Service in China is a bit different from most Western countries. After seating you, the server will give one or two menus and then wait. This is normal procedure, though I still feel like I am being rushed every time I go out to eat. It�s quite un-Chinese, but you could ask the server for recommendation. Ni neng jieshao shenme cai ma? He or she might ask neng chi la ma? (can you eat spicy food?) or ni xihuan chi shenme? (what do you like to eat?). Asking for recommendations from the server can be a little risky though, as they undoubtedly point to the most expensive dishes. Also, if you can�t speak Chinese, this might just cause frustration for all parties involved.

Chinese menus are divided into sections: specialty dishes, cold dishes, meat dishes, seafood, vegetables, soup, and staple foods like rice, noodles, and dumplings. Cold dishes are the appetizers, and at large meals, appear to be for show only. Soup is served either with a main course or at the end of the meal. Broths are often drunk from the bowl. Staple foods like rice, dumplings, and noodles are eaten at the end of the meal, the rational being that you should eat as much of the good, expensive food as possible, and then fill up the remaining room in your stomach with the common, cheap food. The size of the portions at restaurants vary, but usually one dish per person should suffice. According to the Chinese ying and yang, a person should not eat too much cai (non-staple food) or fan (staple food), but should have a balance between the two. So many Chinese dishes will have a mix of both, for instance tang cu yu jin bing � red braised fish with fried cornbread. Pork is the most popular meat and when Chinese refer to rou (meat), they mean pork.

Chinese food is prepared so that it can be cooked quickly. Historically this was done so as to use as little fuel as possible. The cooks chop up most things into bite-size pieces. Many foods� names include pianr (slice), si (strips), or ding (pieces). Pork and beef pose no eating difficulties. Fish and chicken, however, are often chopped up as are. To most Chinese, this is no problem, as they are rather adept at pulling out bones from fish or eating the meat of a chicken bone. With some practice, it can be done, but be careful before chomping into a large piece of mackerel.

Large tables are usually round and have a lazy Susan (dumb waiter) in the middle. Other tables are small enough that everyone can reach all of the plates. Chinese people will spend loads of money on meals for others. Often a dish will arrive at the table and then be taken away two or three bites later.

• Chinese Menu Guide