Eating in China Without Mandarin: Menus, Spice Levels and Allergies

Menus and QR ordering

Most restaurants now expect you to scan a QR code on the table and order through a mini-program — many have built-in English, rough but usable. Chinese dish names are poetic, so machine translation misleads: "Husband and Wife Lung Slices" (夫妻肺片) is a cold spiced beef dish with no lungs, "Ants Climbing a Tree" (蚂蚁上树) is glass noodles with minced pork and zero ants. Photos are your most reliable guide.

• If the mini-program rejects your foreign card or number, wave staff over — they'll take the order and let you pay by scanning the shop's payment QR.
• One dish per person plus one vegetable to share, with rice, is the right amount — dishes are made for sharing.
• 肠 can mean sausage or intestines depending on the dish — if organ meats worry you, ask (or photograph the menu line and show staff).

Spice: calibrate before you order

China is not uniformly spicy — Cantonese, Shanghainese and most northern food is mild. The heat lives in Sichuan, Chongqing, Hunan and Guizhou, and there the local "mild" (微辣 wēi là) still outguns most Western "hot". Some famous kitchens refuse to tone dishes down at all, on principle.

• Key phrases: 不辣 bú là (not spicy) · 微辣 wēi là (mild) · 不要辣椒 bú yào làjiāo (no chili at all). Expect "not spicy" to still carry a whisper of heat in the spicy provinces.
• In hotpot cities order the split pot (鸳鸯锅 yuānyāng guō) — half spicy, half clear broth — and keep milk or a cold dessert nearby.
• 麻 má is the Sichuan-pepper numbing sensation, separate from chili heat — thrilling to some, alarming if unexpected.

Allergies and dietary limits: the honest picture

Chinese kitchens do not track allergens, and cross-contamination is routine — shared woks, soy sauce (wheat) in nearly everything, lard used to fry vegetables, peanuts hiding in sauces. Waiters may answer confidently without checking. If your allergy is severe, plan around self-catering, big hotel restaurants and chains rather than trusting a random kitchen; if it is mild, a written card plus sensible dish choices works fine.

• Prepare an allergy card in Chinese before the trip stating what you cannot eat and that it causes serious illness — show it at every order.
• Vegetarians: look for 素 sù (vegetarian) on menus and Buddhist temple restaurants; state 不要肉 bú yào ròu, and know that "vegetable" dishes may still use lard or meat broth.
• Halal: look for 清真 qīngzhēn signs — Lanzhou beef-noodle shops are a reliable, everywhere option.
• Food delivery needs a +86 number — eat in, or ask your hotel to order for you.

Before you go

City guides