How to Order Chinese Cuisine Authentically to Get the Best of It
By Yang Wang
April 15, 2024
I hosted an eating-out for a blind women’s group last month on St. Patrick’s Day. In the group each member takes turns to organize an outing, usually to a restaurant of their choice.
I invited members to a Chinese restaurant, the Asian Legend in Scarborough. It was a bit of travel for some members who lived in the Downtown area or in the West end of the city. But hey, there were lots of authentic Chinese restaurants in Scarborough. And people in Scarborough spent that much time travelling to Downtown or further for work or entertainment all the time. I really wished we had had more subway lines extended to this east end of the city! The biggest truth was I had a ski accident in February, and was still having some headaches and dizziness so I took the advantage of being a host, and chose a good and relatively familiar restaurant that was nearby me. Anyway finally Five of us sat down at a Lazy Susan round table, and began to order.
When I sent the invitation I suggested that we order together and share the bill so we’d have varieties of food to enjoy together. That is how the Chinese would order when they gather in a Chinese restaurant.
almost every dish in a Chinese house or restaurant is designed to be shared by all the people at the table. There are usually dishes from each of the following groups: meat, vegetables, starchy food like rice or noodles, and soups. Of course it depends on your taste and preference. Vegetarians may not order anything from the meat group. People may not be keen on a soup so they’d skip that. Some would like a drink, dessert or snacks. But the main course of a typical Chinese meal usually consists of a variety of dishes from these four main categories. When people at the table order a dish, yes they’ll order something they like, but at the same time they’d take other people’ choices into consideration so at the end, the table would get a host of balanced dishes that each and everyone would have something to eat, and all can enjoy more varieties than his/her own choice.
That usually is not the case when you order in a western restaurant where you order just for yourself, say, if you order a steak, it may come in a plate just for you, together with some vegetables and smashed potatoes or pasta. Or if you order pasta, it may come in a plate just for you together with some tomato sauce and vegetables. It is very individualized, neat and convenient, but it’s just not the best way to order in a Chinese restaurant because then you would not get the best out of the Chinese cuisine. Many times I have seen people come to a Chinese restaurant, and insist on ordering in their usual way, and everyone orders from only one category – the starchy food; they order for themselves either a rice or a noodle or dumplings. Yes these will come with a little bit of vegetables and a little bit of meat, but they do not get to have the real main course, and they would only have lots of starchy foods on their plates.
It does have some technical difficulties when ordering together. Other than the fact you may not be familiar with the names and ingredients of the dishes, which is sort of taken care of by an English menu, people have different tastes, and some do not eat certain food due to allergies or cultural or religious reasons. It takes a bit more time and willingness to coordinate with each other. With so many choices You can always work out a menu for the whole table. That was what we did at the blind women’s group gathering that day. We ordered fried rice with chicken and vegetables, sea food fried noodles, dumplings, lemon chicken , snow bean leaves and tofu if I remembered it correctly. Some of us did not eat beef or pork, some did not eat shrimps. But at the end, everybody got to taste more dishes than what she ordered. The staff at the restaurant were super nice. They explained the menu patiently. When they served the dishes, they helped us get portions from the dishes onto our own plates; when they observed someone’s plate was empty, they would come up to ask what else we would like and helped in a timely and easy-going manner. That was very important to the enjoyment of food by a group of blind foodies. We had planned to talk about our stories related to St. Patrick’s Day, but ended up with discussions on men which was more interesting I guess! Everybody liked the delicious food, and the friendly and helpful waiters. We decided together to pay 20% tip, and we split the bill, which was twenty nine dollar something, less than $30 per person, for a truly enjoyable dinner so everybody was happy.
I was especially happy to let my friends from other heritages experience the joys of ordering Chinese food in a Chinese way. Really appreciated that they were open-minded and willing to try it. I would encourage everyone to order this way in a Chinese restaurant, if you eat with friends, and wish to get the best out of Chinese cuisine – they are designed to be shared; only through sharing you get to enjoy a more diverse meal with varieties of food, and balanced nutrition; and even before you start eating and chatting you already have learned something about your companions, and have reached a goal together. Please give it a try , and treat yourself with authentic cultural food in an authentic way!