Facing a Chinese menu and can't read a word? Search 2,800 common Chinese dishes by their English name — from Small Cucumber with Soybean Paste to Marinated Jellyfish — and get the Chinese characters to point at, the pinyin to try saying, and a real audio recording to play for the waiter. Works great as a pocket phrasebook when travelling in China or ordering at a local Chinese restaurant.
Dish names usually follow the pattern cooking method + ingredient(s) + flavour. Learn a handful of characters — 炒 stir-fried, 蒸 steamed, 汤 soup, 鸡 chicken, 牛 beef, 豆腐 tofu — and you can guess most of a real menu. Try searching those ingredients above and listen to how they sound.
Our useful Chinese phrases include the sentences you need around the table: asking for the menu, ordering, paying the bill. And the free beginner course covers food and dining vocabulary in the early lessons.