徐赛颖 沈涛

Chinese like to eat out and there are restaurants on every corner of a Chinese neighborhood， from hole-in-the-wall to multilevel banquet halls. In Beijing restaurants you can explore authentic Chinese food （not what is served as Chinese food in Western countries） or fall back on the more familiar Western cuisine.

Most Chinese restaurants have a huge menu with hundreds of items from different Chinese cuisines. These menus resemble big books with pictures for each dish and sometimes also with English names.

The small local restaurants， often not bigger than a living room （actually smaller than the typical American living room） usually focus on a few signature dishes. Menus there are often written in characters without any pictures. Here you have to do your homework and research the names of recommended dishes beforehand. Reviews in Beijing expat magazines are a great source for that. You could also ask the waiter for recommendations， if you speak a little Mandarin.

If there is no English or “picture” menu and you want to try a specific dish that you read about， bring your source and show the waiter the name of the dish in characters. You can also look around at the other tables and see what appeals to you and order by pointing. Lastly， I recently came across an iPhone App named Waygo that translates menu items from characters into English.

Eating in small local restaurants is one of the situations where speaking at least some basic Chinese makes a huge difference. It makes you feel more independent and less of an ignorant idiot.

In most restaurants you will be offered water after being seated. Don’t worry， the water is safe to drink. Just be warned that in winter the water is hot， not cold. Chinese often don’t like cold drinks， especially when it is cold outside.

In winter， beer is usually served warm， at room temperature—not garage or basement temperature. If you want cold beer you have to specifically order it cold. Still， some restaurants may not have it. It is polite to refill other people’s glasses or teacups before filling you own.

Dishes are ordered family-style for the entire table to share， unlike in the West， where everyone orders his/her own dish. Every person has their own small plate and/or bowl in front of them and help themselves with chopsticks to mouthfuls from the shared dishes. It is not uncommon for a Chinese to put a nice piece of food onto your plate for you to eat.

Does the idea of everyone poking in the common food bowls with their chopsticks that they just licked off make you cringe？ You can ask the waiter for “common chopsticks” （gong kua） for the shared dishes and have everyone use those to load food onto their own plate.

Chinese meat dishes often have many bones. It is totally acceptable to spit the bones onto the table， although I prefer to place them with my chopstick onto or next to my plate on a napkin. Silly me.

Need a break from all the Chinese food？ Non-Chinese cuisine is readily available in the main expat areas and some other parts of town， with restaurants ranging from simple to high-end. Generally， the menu is also in English and English is spoken at least by some of the wait staff.

American fast-food chains such as McDonald， KFC， Pizza Hut， are ubiquitous. The service staff rarely speaks English but often pulls out a picture menu with English names from behind the counter to make the ordering process easier for the occasional foreigner stumbling into their store.

Tip about tips： Tipping is not common or expected in China， not even rounding up the bill a little. The waiter will come running after you with 2 kuai change… This takes the guess—and math—work out of settling the bill. Only in more upscale and Western restaurants， a service charge may get added to the bill.

中国人喜欢“下馆子”，街头巷尾也是餐馆林立，既有不起眼的小饭摊儿，也有多层的宴会厅。在北京的餐馆里，你既能品味到地道的中国菜（不是西方国家中餐馆里供应的那些中餐），也能品尝到那些熟悉的西式菜肴。

大多数中餐馆都有一本厚重的菜单，上面印有不同菜系的数百种菜品。这些菜单常装订成册，且每道菜都配有相应的图片，有时也会附有英文菜名。

一些地方小餐馆的店面，往往还没有家里的客厅大（比典型的美国式家庭客厅还要小），这些小餐馆通常会做几道招牌菜。小餐馆的菜单上只有中文菜名，不配任何图片。去这些小餐馆吃饭，你可得提前做好功课，事先搜索好招牌菜式的名称。你也可以参考北京一些给外国人看的杂志上的美食评论，从中可以得到很多信息。当然你要是会讲几句普通话，也可以问服务员，让他们推荐些菜品。

如果想品尝一道你听说过的特色菜肴，但餐馆里的菜单既没有英文菜名也没有配图，那你不妨带上你读的资料，给服务员看这道菜的中文名叫什么。你也可以瞧瞧周围其他桌上的顾客点了些什么菜，看看有没有吸引你的，有的话向服务员指一下来一份一样的。最后还有一个方法，最近我无意中发现了一款名为Waygo的苹果应用软件，它可以将菜单上中文菜名翻译成英文。

另外，在一些地方的小餐馆里就餐，要是会说上几句简单的中文，你的用餐体验就会很不一样，你会觉得自己独立、有主见，而不是像个无知的笨蛋。

在大多数中餐馆里，服务员都会在你入座后就提供茶水。不要担心，这些茶水可以放心饮用。提醒一下，冬天餐馆里提供的是热茶水，并不是凉的。中国人一般不喜欢喝冷饮，尤其是外面天寒地冻的时候。

冬天，供应的啤酒往往也是室温的，喝上去没有像储存在车库或地下室的那种凉意。如果你想喝冰啤酒的话，得明确和服务员说要冰的，但有些餐馆里可能并没有冰啤酒。在中国，要先将他人杯中的酒或茶水续满，再给自己倒满，这才是礼貌的做法。

在西方餐厅里，每个人只点自己的菜，但中餐馆里的菜肴都是按家庭份来点的，供整桌的人一起享用。每一位面前都有自己的小碟子和/或碗，用餐时都是自己用筷子从盘中夹取一口想吃的菜。席间，中国人会夹上一份美味的菜放到别人碟子里供其享用，这很常见。

每个人用他们刚舔过的筷子在同一盘菜里拨来划去，想到这个，你会很不舒服吧？所以，你可以向服务员要双“公筷”，这样每个人都可以用这双公筷将食物夹到他们自己的小碟子里。

中式荤菜里往往有许多骨头。大多數人吃完后都是将骨头直接吐在餐桌上，但是我更喜欢用筷子将骨头放到碟子上或碟子旁边的餐巾纸上，虽然这么做有点傻傻的。

看了这么多中式美食，也许你想换换口味？现在许多外国人居住区和市中心一些区域都有西式餐馆，从简单的西式快餐到高端的西餐厅都有。这些西餐馆通常都有英文菜单，服务员一般也会说点英语。

像麦当劳、肯德基和必胜客这样的美国快餐连锁店如今也遍布北京街头。尽管这些店里的服务员很少有会说英语的，但好在柜台里常有附有图片的英文菜单。偶尔有外国顾客光临时，服务员会拿出这些菜单，这样点菜也容易些。  □

有关小费的小贴士：在中国一般很少给小费，也不会在结账的时候多付几个零钱凑个整数。即便多付了两块零钱，服务员也会追着你，要把这钱还给你……因此结账的时候，你也不必猜算要给多少小费了。只有在更高档一些的餐馆和西餐厅，才会额外收取些服务费。

（译者单位：宁波大学外国语学院）