Here’s the deal: we’ll let you explore the unknown dishes on your own (this time!) but we’ll help you figure out how to behave properly in a restaurant. Our first piece of advice when you go eating out in China: unlearn what you’ve learned before, table etiquette-wise.  And follow these five small but extremely handy tips. Ready?

Eating out in china Tip #1: Get handy with chopsticks

Learning how to use chopsticks is a given if you’re hoping to eat in China. Western cutlery is seldom seen in Chinese restaurants. Check out this article to read up about one particular chopstick no-no. Also, make sure to remember not to cross them (impolite!), drop them (bad luck! But waiters will come replace them in a minute so don’t worry), suck on them (rude!) or play with them (remember you’ll be eating with them so don’t go sticking them up your nose first).

In case you need a crash course in chopstick handling, here’s how:

Eating out in china Tip #2: Pick up your bowl and slurp

As a child, you may have been taught that you’re supposed to bring your fork to your mouth and not the other way around. Also, that you’re not supposed to pick up your plate to eat out of it. Well, time to forget your manners a bit.

First, you’ll often be eating out of a bowl, instead of a plate. This makes it easier to gather up the food with your chopsticks. Then, get used to lifting up your bowl to bring it close to your mouth. Truth is, once you start doing this, it’s hard to stop. Such a convenient way to eat rice! And don’t forget to slurp noisily to show you’re enjoying your meal.

Now, this is how you should eat your noodles. Photo credit: Klardrommar via photopin

Eating out in china Tip #3: Want service? Yell!

In China, it’s considered a good sign if the restaurant is crowded and incredibly noisy. Odds are the food is good in there so don’t let the noise stop you from going in. Before long, you’ll be contributing to this noise yourself, partly because you might be drinking a bit (see tip #5) and also because you’ll have to (make noise). If you want to get service that is. In the Western Hemisphere it may be considered polite to silently wave over a waiter or waitress but in China, this is certainly not the norm and, most likely, will be completely inefficient. The best way to attract a waiter’s attention? Yell! The idea is to yell 服务员 (fúwùyuán – waiter) until someone comes over. A bit puzzling at first but something you actually come to miss when you go home afterwards!

It’s fun doing this in Chinese restaurants abroad, especially the ones we go to, because they always turn to see who called them and never stop to think that one of the foreigners might have called them that.

Crowded and noisy? These outdoor restaurants must be yummy! photo credit: !/_PeacePlusOne

Eating out in china Tip #4: Show you need more water for your tea

As everybody knows, tea is a really big thing in China. It’s pretty much customary to have a (full) tea pot waiting for you at your table, the same way you’d be served complimentary ice water in the US. Need more water for your tea? Either call (see #3) the waiter/waitress or, more simply, rest the lid of the teapot on the edge of the teapot. Like this:

This lets waiters know you need more hot water for your tea.

Eating out in china Tip #5: Don’t stop at a glass or a pint of beer. Go bigger!

Speaking of beverages, with beer being really cheap in China (cheaper than a bottle of soda!), what’s the point of ordering just a glass of beer? Go bigger! Not to encourage drinking or anything (you should drink responsibly), but ordering big quantities of beer is kind of the norm in China. (Besides, the beer is so weak there it won’t do that much harm, at  least compared to deadly Belgian beers). True, that’s because beer is usually ordered for the whole table but we won’t tell if you do that for just you and your friend.

You can order it by the (big, 75 cl) bottle if you want: ask for 一瓶啤酒  (Yī píng píjiǔ).

But, if you really want to do it the Chinese way, order beer directly by the case.

In that case, say 一箱啤酒  (Yī xiāng píjiǔ).

This is what you could be drinking during your next meal (Beer is evil. Always drink responsibly. And take a taxi.)

At the end of the meal, if there are any unopened bottles left, you simply return them and only pay for those you drank. Nice, no?

There are plenty more things to know, but these five tips are a good start for your adventures eating out!

Have your own Chinese restaurant tips or stories you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments below!

Happy eating!

The Nincha Team

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Chinese chopstick manners 101

Eating etiquette is a big thing in most, if not all, countries in the world. For Westerners, eating etiquette in Asia is particularly daunting. Especially when it comes to the whole “having-to-eat-with-chopsticks” thing. That’s a tricky thing to pick up (no pun intended) at first. There’s the whole fact of having to learn how to pick up food with chopsticks. If you didn’t grow up using chopsticks, this is no small feat! Then, there’s actually managing to use them to feed yourself. Once you’ve mastered that, you’re good to go. Almost. Because another really important thing to know in China is where to put down your chopsticks when you’re not using them.

This is a restaurant, not a funeral

 A big Chinese no-no: vertically planted chopsticks.

In China, one of the less respectful things you could do is plant your chopsticks directly in your rice bowl.

This symbolizes death, in the form of an offering for the deceased. Some say this portrays the ritual of incense-burning (in ashes), which symbolizes « feeding » the dead and death in general. Others say it’s because a bowl of rice with upright chopsticks in it is traditionally offered to the spirit of a dead person. In any case, chopsticks placed vertically in rice are strictly reserved for funerals.

Crossing your chopsticks on the table or on your bowl is also considered to be a no-no for the same reason, but the upright-in-rice thing is the worst.

Where to place your chopsticks when you’re not using them

To avoid a chopstick incident, it is recommended to place the chopsticks on the chopstick rest (if provided) or next to your bowl. You can also place them on your bowl when not using them although, for some, chopsticks resting on a bowl means you’re done. If a waiter approaches, just yell something along the lines of « 还没吃完 ! » (hái méi chī wán = I’m not done eating, yet !) For a few other chopstick-related tips, check out this video on what not to do with chopsticks in China:

Are the customs the same throughout China?

Imagine our surprise then, when, during the course of the dinner, this Chinese colleague casually planted his chopsticks in his bowl and left them there to take a break from eating.

Good Chinese food and a surprise

Was what we’d been taught about chopstick planting just a stereotype? Did this actually not matter in China? Did nobody bother about this kind of stuff anymore?

Has chopstick etiquette gone down the drain?

We were quick to ask our Chinese friend (who hadn’t noticed this planting of chopsticks yet). Appalled, she quickly grabbed the chopsticks and placed them next to the bowl, where she considered they belonged.

Planting chopsticks still a no-no, but not in some places

We asked the colleague about this. He explained that where he came from, Wuhan, in the province of Hubei (see map), the same rules didn’t apply. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

It seems that in Wuhan, people use their chopsticks differently.

Setting your chopsticks down next to your bowl was something he actually considered quite rude and offensive! Where he came from, planting chopsticks was the norm. This was a good lesson for us and a reminder that China being the size of a continent, it is unrealistic to expect the same customs and table manners everywhere in the country! So, before you go to China, make sure you read up on proper Chinese cultural etiquette, but be prepared to also learn a bunch of different local rules when you’ve landed in your destination of choice! Did you learn any other customs during your travels in China? And, by all means, wherever you are, don’t let all this keep you from enjoying the mouth-watering, delicious food you’ll eat in China! Because now you know how to feel like a sir when using chopsticks in a restaurant! Happy feasting!

title photo credit: wallyg via photopin

The Nincha Team

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