Restaurants and Eateries
Where to eat, how to order, how to pay. An easy guide.
Once you have arrived in Beijing you will realize just how many fantastic options you have here to dine out (in a non-locked-down time of course). I am still impressed by the sheer amount of options you find here on every corner and street to eat.
I am unfortunately not a Gourmet myself so I won't use this opportunity to give you an overview of the Chinese cuisine or recommendations for the best Beijing Duck but I will share the practical knowledge of how to order and pay.
There are many APPsyou can use to find the restaurant of your choice, if you are not just deciding on choosing whichever restaurant is near you right now. My favorite APP for this is 大众点评 (Dazhongdianping). There are, of course, many more but I will stick to this APP for the moment as I am most familiar with this APP.
You will automatically have the restaurants near you recommended but can also filter by rating, type of food, distance, price range, etc. This APP is used very frequently so the information on there, as well as comments and rating are usually very up to date. You can also use this APP to browse for inspiration or see which are the latest trending restaurants or Cafes. There is also much other content available in these APPs which you can find described here.
This App is very useful, even if you don't know any Chinese. All restaurants have pictures of the food and, most of the time, also of the menus. This will give you an idea of what the restaurant is serving as well as the price range. I usually refer to these pictures instead of tediously translating the text bit by bit.
This is how it would look like (on Apple):
This App also gives you the option to make reservations, call the restaurant, or sometimes even buy vouchers or sets in advance.
Once you have arrived at the restaurant of your choice, you will very often find a QR code stuck on or propped up on the table. Sometimes, the waiters will bring you a physical menu that might also have a QR code. Usually, you can scan the code with WeChat or Alipay, which will bring you to their ordering APP. You can select all the dishes via APP and submit your order. Sometimes you will also be prompted to pay directly in order to place the order.
The big advantage of this process is that it gives you more time to browse around the menu and translate or research anything you might not be familiar with. The order will be brought to your table automatically (the scanned QR code also has information on your location in the restaurant).
If you don't find a QR code, you can ask for the menu (Caidan 菜单) and order directly with the waiter. Service in China is very quick and straightforward. Usually, waiters won't bother you until you need something from them. In that case, feel free to let them know anytime by calling, waving, or gesturing them to your table. You can also always call them by using a simple 你好 (Nihao) or 服务员 (Fuwuyuan - Waiter). This is not at all considered rude.
A small tip for ordering from a physical menu is taking pictures of the dishes you want to order on the menu and showing those to the waiter. Especially if you want to order more and cannot read the names of the dishes this is a very convenient way of memorizing your order and communicating with the waiter.
The not bothering-you-part will also include not clearing your table after you are done eating or asking if you want to order additional dishes or drinks. This can be very convenient as you could spend sometimes hours at some restaurant without ordering additional food (not a polite thing to do but I have seen people do this a lot).
If you want to order additional food or drinks, do so via the QR code and the App anytime or call the waiter over. The same works for paying the bill as well.
If you want to leave, you can first check whether the QR Code/APP has the option of paying (or you might have already paid while ordering the dishes). If not, simply tell the waiter you want to pay (maidan - 买单). After a very short time, they will arrive with your bill and you can pay via WeChat or Alipay. Most of the time you simply need to show your payment code and they will scan you. Sometimes they might also tell you the amount and you need to scan the code they are presenting you to pay.
If you already paid via the QR code or APP, just get up and leave the restaurant at any time. Nobody is expecting you to get the attention of the waiter first or of you to announce your leaving.