How to say menu items I don't know in Mandarin
Taste of China: A Guide to Ordering Food & Drinks in Chinese Restaurants: How to say menu items I don't know in Mandarin
To say “I don’t know” when you don’t recognize menu items in Mandarin, the most common phrase is:
- 我不知道 (wǒ bù zhī dào) — I don’t know
You can use this phrase politely when you want to express that you don’t know what a menu item is.
When dealing with menus in Mandarin, it helps to know some basic words to identify common food items or categories. For example:
- Menu: 菜单 (càidān)
- Dish: 菜 (cài)
- Rice: 饭 (fàn)
- Noodles: 面 (miàn)
- Meat: 肉 (ròu)
- Chicken: 鸡 (jī)
- Pork: 猪 (zhū)
- Fish: 鱼 (yú)
- Soup: 汤 (tāng)
If you want to ask whether a dish contains a certain ingredient, you can say:
- 这个菜有没有肉？(zhège cài yǒu méi yǒu ròu?) — Does this dish have meat?
This way, if you don’t know an item, you can narrow down what it contains.
In summary, use 我不知道 (wǒ bù zhī dào) to say “I don’t know” about menu items, and knowing some key food vocabulary will help you navigate menus better in Mandarin.