Thursday, 12 February 2009
-
QOTD - How Do You Order Food in a Foreign Country?
When visiting a foreign country, how do you order food off the menu? Do you just guess, try to communicate with your waiter, etc..?
-
recommend
- recs 1
-
share
-
email
- sent 0
Related Posts
Post a Comment
- Back to tripcrazed's Tripcrazed Site!
- Note: your comment will appear in tripcrazed's local time zone: GMT -05:00 (Eastern Standard - US, Canada)
Comments (29)
It depends on if I know anything about the language at all.
In Spanish speaking countries, I just order and ignore the smirks from the waiters as I stumble over words a little.
If I was in China.... I'd probably just point. Hah.
a) go to a restaurant with pictures on the menu. It's still a crap shoot that way, but you run a 50/50 chance of getting something you expect.
b) look around at what other people are having and choose what looks appetizing. This one also serves to help you meet new people.
c) buy a dictionary and translate word for word. This does not work in China.
Names of Chinese dishes sometimes get very confusing even for native Chinese.
You know each word of the names, but you never what the dish is about!
i try to learn the language first =P i like learning languages
otherwise i figure it's safe to ask for the chef's special or something...
@amygwen@xanga - Haha, I like your B) option. Then I'd know what the food looks like in person.
One time in Greece, Crete I remember the restuarant closest to our hotel it was our waiter help us order in Greek as well as in English.
Sometimes we point to the menu of what we would like or just stated the number.
Also the trick we do in any country where thew waiter/waiterness comes to our table we always order one at a time.
One time was just photos in Spain at a restuarant this was quite simple.
Point at the pictures. If there are no pictures, then better not order.
Most food ordering in foreign countries is done by pointing (and sometimes grunting).
it's already been said several times, but i'll just repeat it for the heck of it... go for menus with pictures! it makes things so much easier.
funny anecdote: i was in Tokyo with a group of friends from California, and we wanted to order water. a lady at the table next to us had a glass of water, so we pointed to that and asked for the same thing. it turned out she was drinking vodka. it tasted NASTY!!!!
Get a chinese friend to go with you =p
try to communicate with the waiter
to know more about the taste of dishes
1. vegetable with fried rice 5. salty pig's hand rice
2. artificial spaghetti with nothing 6. mottled curry chicken
3. pasta with mushroom 7. stewed fish fillets over rice
4. seafood rice soup 8. portugal style oxtail noodles
no.2 ... it realy means "with nothing" ....lol
ask me is ok!
o that is Macau
"the nothing" is some litte spicy stuff from Malaysia
I have tried
why you choose a chinese menu to express your view
i makes me as a chinese guy feel uncomfortable at all
i have another similar question:
how do i order food off the menus when i visit foreign country when they are all in english or something else, huh?
come on, don't be self centered you english speaking people
if you visit foreign country because of appreciation, appreciate the whole culture with your own way to embrace it, don't just yell yell yell
dude, how did you get my xanga?
btw, bring me with you for travelling and that's the best solution XDD
No offense, but that's a weird Chinese menu.
I think the best way would be to just glancing over at other tables and just order the same thing. Couldn't be that far off, could it?
i'm chinese. the only time i hv difficulty in ordering chinese food is actually in Americanized Chinese restaurant (e.g. PF Chang) b/c i have to study the food's description to understand what it really is. the fancy name doesn't tell me anything. but after a couple of visit, the ordering is easier as i get used to the english menu.
to me, the menu shown above is not weird. it's a typical menu in a local eatery @ HK. those "tea cafe" or known as "char chaan ting". but usually those special menu doesn't come in english - so i usually translate it to my non-chinese friends and classmates.
but i do have hard time ordering food in France since my french is very limited. SO...when the server decided to give up on listening to my french, i just pointed out the item on the menu...
and i remember once in Ching Lao, thailand, that i had to use body language to order my pad thai and bbq pork neck. (i literally poked my nose with my finger followed by pointing to my neck. and the waitress got it! HA!)
well, from the photo I can reconize it is either from Hong Kong or Macau.
I can speak Cantonese and English but if i imagine i can speak English and a little French or Spanish, I would have to say I have to ask them to tell me the menu content.
In Hong Kong, waiters can understand both English and Chinese, and if they don't, they would not come to take your orders but find someone else instead. That way makes me can't be a waiter in Hong Kong as I don't speak Chinese.
But in China, emm... it is not possible to communicate, neither do i but I can read Chinese. You can order anything you are not expected.
Sometimes it can be a good chance for you to eat something you have never tasted before. (You know for us as we know what the menu is about, you usually will order something you like more. Maybe you can go to the resturant 10 times and still order the same food.)
Wellcome to Hong Kong !? ~~ : P
ask someone who sit near you Or
ask for the menu with pictures
Translator or pictures.
I point at what other people have ordered.
Went to Greece and was at a restaurant by myself once and had NO idea what I was ordering, but did it anyway by pointing to what others were eating. It turned out to be okay, but, I didn't quite know *how* to eat it. You know, what to dip with what, etc.
Wiki and Google can be your friends if not traveling with a local friend at the destination. following crowds and emphatic pointing also help. hole-in-walls often offer elevated chances at heaven versus fancy restaurants....and a more reasonable price. eyes open is the best advice if one has a notion of what one might expect. blind eating is about as satisfying sounding as blind dates.
How do you order food in a foreign country? Very carefully.