Some of you may have special dietary requirements, like vegetarian, or non-spicy. To make it easier for you to communicate with the waiters/waitresses when ordering the Chinese food, we are teaching you some basic Chinese in such situations. Also we have designed some flashcards so that you can simply show them to the restaurants.
I don’t eat…
How to tell your food allergies or preferences when ordering in Chinese restaurants or at the #ChinatownTerasz? The most common expression formula is:
wo buchi XXX (我不吃XXX)=I don’t eat XXX.
For example,
wo buchi huasheng (我不吃花生)=I don’t eat peanut.
wo buchi mogu (我不吃蘑菇)=I don’t eat mushroom.
Being a vegetarian/vegan…
For vegetarian or vegan guests, most of the food stands at #ChinatownTerasz can be flexible and adapt to V dietary even if there are no explicit “V” offers on the menu. Just as you know, some well-known Chinese dishes can come in both meat or no-meat versions, for example, mapo tofu, yuxiang eggplant, stir-fried noodles, etc.
Do talk with the service and chef. To help you communicate, here are some flashcards in Chinese.
Gluten-free: mission impossible in Chinese kitchen?
Unlike vegetarian options, a gluten-free meal in a Chinese restaurant is very tricky because wheat-containing soy sauce is used in almost every Chinese dish, even when you don’t see any brown gravy (for example the stir-fried rice noodle). The following commonly used condiments in Chinese kitchen also contain wheat or wheat gluten.
- black vinegar (陈醋chencu）
- cooking wine (料酒liaojiu）
- (spicy) soy bean paste (辣豆瓣酱 la douban jiang）
- oyster sauce(蚝油 haoyou)
- hoisin sauce(海鲜酱 haixian jiang)
Although in the supermarket you may be able to find gluten-free soy sauce, they are much more expensive than the traditional version, and so far no restaurants in Budapest’s Chinatown are using them.
Besides, please be reminded that most deep-fried meat or seafood in Chinese kitchen typically use wheat flour for the coating batter.
Making things even worse, most of the waiters and chefs are not clear what “gluten-free” means exactly in Chinese kitchen, and hence a guaranteed safe gluten-free meal may be “mission impossible”.
We are sorry for the reality. Here are two possible solutions.
①Instead telling the staff that you are allergic to gluten, tell them not to input any of the above Chinese condiments. This would leave you with a very limited choice on the menu. We recommend the stir-fried Chinese vegetables with garlic（蒜蓉青菜）
②Bring along your own gluten-free soy sauce when you visit a Chinese restaurant and ask the chef to use it instead.
Why do Asians like sesame and coriander?
To add flavor and fragrance, Chinese dishes are always finished and decorated with sesame seeds (white or black), Chinese coriander (the so-called “chinese parsley”, edible directly), MSG, etc. Sesame oil is also widely used in braised meat, salads and other cold dishes. If you have allergies or dislike the flavor, the following flashcards can help you communicate.
Umami: the fifth taste
Umami flavor (or 鲜Xian in Chinese) is the fifth taste in addition to sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. For Asians, it has been considered the highest level of deliciousness and hence chased after by every Asian chef. The most umami foods in Chinese cuisine are meat broth, fish, and seafood. Seafood(海鲜 haixian) literally means the “umami in the sea” in Chinese.
While cooking Chinese, the more natural and healthy way to increase umami flavor is by adding meat broths, oyster sauce, fish sauce, and soy sauce. Some restaurants choose the cheaper and easier way by adding chicken powder, mushroom powder, or the MSG.
Oh, too spicy!
Spiciness is an unavoidable topic when it comes to Chinese food, because many Chinese dishes are originally spicy by default, especially in the middle and western provinces of China, like Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Yunnan, Guizhou, Xinjiang, etc.
Everyone can handle a different level of spiciness. Some like the original default level, some like it less spicy, and some spicy lovers always want extra spicy:)
Luckily in most cases, it is possible for Chinese chefs to adjust the spiciness according to the guests preferences. So today let us equip you with a new flashcard collection, which you can simply show the servers when ordering in the a la carte restaurants.
Bubble tea is too sweet?
When you order bubble tea or other freshly-mixed drinks at #ChinatownTerasz or other Asian drink bars, you may prefer less sugar or less ice than the recipe’s default amount. Here is how you can talk with the service staff in Chinese.
少糖（pīn yīn: shǎo táng）
Less sugar, please.
少冰（pīn yīn: shǎo bīng）
Less ice, please.
多冰（pīn yīn: duō bīng）
More ice, please.
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