How to Order Food in China: QR Menus, Counters and Paper Menus

Before you look at any food, spend five seconds working out how this particular restaurant takes orders. That one check matters more than any phrase you could learn. A table with a QR sticker and no menu means you order on your phone. A menu board above a counter and a queue of people means you order and pay at the counter first. A paper menu or a tablet on the table, or staff walking over with a notepad, means a waiter will take the order. Fast-food chains add a fourth variant: a self-service touch screen near the door.

Many restaurants mix systems. A noodle shop may have a QR code on the wall and a cashier who will take your order in person if you look lost. A mid-range Chinese restaurant may hand you a paper menu but ask you to scan a code to submit the order. If you cannot tell, sit down and wait a minute or two: if nobody approaches with a menu or a pot of tea, the QR code is almost certainly the intended route. If there is no code anywhere, raise your hand and call for staff.

Scan the code with WeChat or Alipay rather than your phone's camera, because the menu usually opens as a mini-programme inside one of those apps. A working menu page shows the restaurant's name, often your table number, and a list of dishes with photos and prices. Choose dishes, adjust quantities, and some restaurants will then ask how many people are dining, because tea, rice or the sauce bar may be charged per head. Review the basket, submit, and in most cases pay in the same step.

A single table can carry several QR codes, and only one of them is the menu. The others may lead to a review platform, a membership sign-up, an invoice request, a delivery promotion or an advertisement. If what opens looks like an online shop, a coupon page or a form asking for your details, you have scanned the wrong one. Look for the code that is printed with a table number or the words 扫码点餐 (scan to order), which is the most common label.

Once the first order is in, you can usually add dishes through the same code later in the meal, and the additions are attached to your table. Dishes arrive as the kitchen finishes them, so there is no need to order everything at once. If a dish is sold out, the system may cancel and refund that item automatically, or a member of staff will come over to tell you. Keep the order screen open until the food arrives; it is the easiest thing to show staff if something is missing.

This is where the phone route most often breaks. Some ordering mini-programmes ask you to authorise a phone number or log in with a verification code before you can submit an order. Overseas numbers are not always accepted, text messages from Chinese services do not always reach foreign numbers, and a data-only eSIM cannot receive them at all. WeChat has been encouraging mini-programme operators to accept international numbers, but support varies from one restaurant system to the next, so do not count on it.

The simplest solution is to ask a member of staff to place the order on their own device or at the till. This is completely normal in China and not an imposition: staff do it for older customers every day. Point at the dishes in the mini-programme or on a neighbouring table, and they will enter them. Alternatively, ask whether there is a paper menu. Paying afterwards with Alipay or WeChat Pay using a linked foreign card usually works even when the ordering system does not.

Noodle shops, dumpling shops, bakeries and most fast-food places use counter ordering: you order and pay before you eat. The menu is on the wall, often with photos and numbers, so pointing or saying the number works well. You will usually get a receipt with an order number, and either collect the food when your number is called or shown on a screen, or take a seat and have it brought to you. Watch what the people ahead of you do; the system is usually obvious after one round.

Self-service kiosks at international and Chinese fast-food chains often have an English option, and they accept app payments and sometimes cards. They are a low-pressure way to order your first meal. In food courts inside shopping centres, each stall takes its own orders and payment, and you collect from the stall; some food courts sell a stored-value card at a central desk instead, which you top up and return. Ask at the desk if you see stalls refusing phone payment.

At waiter-service restaurants, it is normal to call staff by raising a hand and saying fúwùyuán (server) clearly; nobody will think it rude, and waiting silently to catch someone's eye can take a long time. Paper menus in mid-range restaurants often have photos, and many restaurants in larger cities add English names, which vary in quality. Point at the photo and hold up fingers for the quantity. If the menu has no photos at all, the dishes on neighbouring tables are your next best menu.

Chinese menus follow a fairly fixed set of categories, and learning to recognise a few headings narrows the search quickly. Instead of translating forty dish names, find the section you want first. A vegetable dish under 素菜 or 蔬菜 is the place to look for something light; 凉菜 are cold starters that arrive first; 主食 are the staples, which in many restaurants are not served unless you order them. The table gives the headings you will see most often.

Two more markers are worth knowing. Chilli icons or the character 辣 (là) mark spicy dishes, though the absence of a mark does not guarantee a dish is mild. 时价 (shíjià) means market price and should always prompt a question before you order. On mini-programme menus, the same categories usually appear as tabs down the left side of the screen, which is often the fastest way to navigate.

Portion size is the biggest hidden trap. Chinese restaurant meals are shared: a dish is made for the whole table, not for one person, and everyone takes from every plate. Visitors used to one main course each tend to order far too much. A reliable rule is one dish per person plus one, and then a staple such as rice or noodles. Two people therefore order three dishes and rice; four people order five dishes. Order a mix of a meat dish, a vegetable dish and something with a sauce, and add more later if you are still hungry.

Many restaurants can make a half portion (半份, bàn fèn) or a small portion (小份, xiǎo fèn), even if the menu does not say so, which helps when you want to try more dishes. Some menus list small, medium and large sizes for the same dish. Rice is usually ordered by the bowl and may not arrive until you ask; if you want it with the dishes rather than at the end, say so when you order. A single traveller is often better off at a noodle shop or a place with set meals for one.

Translation apps work best in two passes. First translate the category headings, so you know whether you are in the vegetable, seafood or offal section. Then translate individual dishes. Literal translations of dish names are often baffling: fuqi feipian, 'husband and wife lung slices', is sliced beef and offal in chilli oil; mayi shang shu, 'ants climbing a tree', is glass noodles with minced pork. Photos are more reliable than translated names. Pleco is useful for looking up a single character, such as 辣 or 猪, that the camera translation has missed.

Allergies and dietary restrictions should be shown in writing, not only said aloud. Save the sentences below as screenshots and show them when you order, then again when the food arrives if you are unsure. Be specific: 不要辣 (no spice) does not necessarily mean a dish has no chilli oil or chilli flakes, so if chilli is a medical problem, name the ingredient rather than asking for 'not spicy'. Vegetable dishes may be cooked in lard or with meat stock or oyster sauce; our guide to vegetarian, halal and allergy-aware eating covers this in detail.

Hot water or tea is usually brought to the table without charge, although some restaurants charge per person for tea, which will show on the bill. Cold water is usually not offered: if you want something cold, order bottled water or a drink, and ask for it chilled (冰的, bīng de), because drinks are sometimes served at room temperature. Most restaurants have beer and soft drinks; some halal restaurants do not serve alcohol.

With QR ordering you usually pay when you submit the order, so you can simply leave when you have finished. In waiter-service restaurants you normally pay after eating, but the bill will not be brought unprompted: say mǎidān to a member of staff, or go to the cashier and give your table number. Alipay and WeChat Pay with a linked foreign card are accepted almost everywhere; carry a little cash for the occasional small shop. Tipping is not expected in mainland restaurants, and some hotel restaurants add a service charge, which will appear on the bill.

Dishes do not arrive in a Western sequence. The kitchen sends each one as it is ready, so cold dishes usually come first, a quick stir-fry may beat a slow braise, and soup may arrive last. Nothing has gone wrong; start eating as dishes arrive. If one dish has not come after a long wait, show your order screen or point at the item on the menu and ask 还没上 (hái méi shàng, not served yet).

Two easy options for a first day: chain restaurants and shopping-centre food courts have picture menus, clear prices and staff used to visitors, and they let you practise QR ordering without pressure. On high-speed trains you can also order meals through the 12306 app for delivery to your seat, provided you order well ahead of the station that supplies them; the interface is mainly in Chinese, and our high-speed rail guide explains the details.