Deciding on the Restaurant for a Meal

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Disclaimer: All the restaurants below are fictional.

你	聽日	想	去	邊	間	(餐廳)	食	呀	？
nei5	ting1 jat6	soeng2	heoi3	bin1	gaan1	(caan1 teng1)	sik6	aa3	?
you	tomorrow	want to	go	which	CL	restaurant	eat	SP

Which restaurant do you want to go to eat at tomorrow?

We can replace 餐廳 caan1 teng1 with a specific type of restaurant (e.g., 大排檔 daai6 paai4 dong3 ‘dai pai dong’, 日本嘢 jat6 bun2 je5 ‘Japanese restaurant’) if we have already decided the type of cuisine.

We can also use the following questions to bring up the topic:

你	聽日	想	食	咩	呀	？
nei5	ting1 jat6	soeng2	sik6	me1	aa3	?
you	tomorrow	want to	eat	what	SP

What do you want to eat tomorrow?

你	聽日	想	去	邊度	食	呀	？
nei5	ting1 jat6	soeng2	heoi3	bin1 dou6	sik6	aa3	?
you	tomorrow	want to	go	where	eat	SP

Where do you want to go to eat tomorrow?

你	係咪	鐘意	食	日本	嘢	㗎	？
nei5	hai6 mai6	zung1 ji3	sik6	jat6 bun2	je5	gaa3	?
you	be not be	like	eat	Japanese	thing	SP

Is it true that you like eating Japanese cuisine or food?

係	呀	。
hai6	aa3	.
be	SP

Yes.

旺角	有	間
wong6 gok3	jau5	gaan1
Mong Kok	have	CL

幾	好食 / 抵食 / 平 / 正	嘅	日本	餐廳	。
gei2	hou2 sik6 / dai2 sik6 / peng4 / zeng3	ge3	jat6 bun2	caan1 teng1	.
quite	delicious / good value / cheap / awesome	Part	Japanese	restaurant

There is a quite delicious / good value / cheap / awesome Japanese restaurant in Mong Kok.

Part = Particle
It is common to refer to a restaurant by the type of food that they serve in this context. For example, we can replace 日本嘢 with 壽司 (‘sushi’) or 齋 (‘Buddhist vegetarian food’).

旺角	有	間	好	出名	嘅	日本	餐廳	。
wong6 gok3	jau5	gaan1	hou2	ceot1 meng2	ge3	jat6 bun2	caan1 teng1	.
Mong Kok	have	CL	very	famous	Part	Japanese	restaurant

There is a very famous Japanese restaurant in Mong Kok.

旺角	有	間	新 / 新開	嘅	日本	嘢	。
wong6 gok3	jau5	gaan1	san1 / san1 hoi1	ge3	jat6 bun2	je5	.
Mong Kok	have	CL	new / newly opened	Part	Japanese	thing

There is a new / newly opened Japanese restaurant in Mong Kok.

我	之前	喺	旺角	食	過	間
ngo5	zi1 cin4	hai2	wong6 gok3	sik6	gwo3	gaan1
I	before	in	Mong Kok	eat	AP	CL

幾	好食 / 抵食 / 平 / 正	嘅	日本	嘢	。
gei2	hou2 sik6 / dai2 sik6 / peng4 / zeng3	ge3	jat6 bun2	je5	.
quite	delicious / good value / cheap / awesome	Part	Japanese	thing

I ate at a quite delicious / good value / cheap / awesome Japanese restaurant in Mong Kok before.

10.

叫	咩	名	呀	？
giu3	me1	meng2	aa3	?
be called	what	name	SP

What is the name?

11.

叫	壽司人	，
giu3	sau6 si1 jan4	,
be called	Sushiet

你	有	冇	興趣	試	下	呀	？
nei5	jau5	mou5	hing3 ceoi3	si3	haa5	aa3	?
you	have	not have	interest	try	AP	SP

The name is Sushiet [a fictional restaurant].

Do you have an interest in having a try?

[= Are you interested in having a try?]

12.

叫	壽司人	，	你	想	唔	想	試	下	呀	？
giu3	sau6 si1 jan4	,	nei5	soeng2	m4	soeng2	si3	haa5	aa3	?
be called	Sushiet		you	want to	not	want to	try	AP	SP

The name is Sushiet. Do you want to have a try?

13.

好	呀	。
hou2	aa3	.
good	SP

Good. [= Sure.]

14.

噉	就	食	呢	間	啦	。
gam2	zau6	sik6	ni1	gaan1	laa1	.
then	[determination]	eat	this	CL	SP

Let’s just eat at this one then.

We can also ask if the person has been to a restaurant before.

15.

你	有	冇	食	過	壽司人	呀	？
nei5	jau5	mou5	sik6	gwo3	sau6 si1 jan4	aa3	?
you	have	not have	eat	AP	Sushiet	SP

Have you eaten at Sushiet before?

Route A: No

16.

冇	呀	，	我	冇	食	過	呀	。
mou5	aa3	,	ngo5	mou5	sik6	gwo3	aa3	.
not have	SP		I	not have	eat	AP	SP

No, I have not eaten at Sushiet before.

17.

你	有	冇	興趣	試	下	呀	？
nei5	jau5	mou5	hing3 ceoi3	si3	haa5	aa3	?
you	have	not have	interest	try	AP	SP

Do you have an interest in having a try?

[= Are you interested in having a try?]

18.

你	想	唔	想	試	下	呀	？
nei5	soeng2	m4	soeng2	si3	haa5	aa3	?
you	want to	not	want to	try	AP	SP

Do you want to have a try?

19.

好	呀	。
hou2	aa3	.
good	SP

Good. [= Sure.]

20.

噉	就	食	呢	間	啦	。
gam2	zau6	sik6	ni1	gaan1	laa1	.
then	[determination]	eat	this	CL	SP

Let’s just eat at this one then.

Route B: Yes and it’s good

21.

有	呀	，	我	有	食	過	呀	，
jau5	aa3	,	ngo5	jau5	sik6	gwo3	aa3	,
have	SP		I	have	eat	AP	SP

佢哋	啲	嘢	幾	好食 / 抵食 / 平	。
keoi5 dei6	di1	je5	gei2	hou2 sik6 / dai2 sik6 / peng4	.
they	CL	thing	quite	delicious / good value / cheap	。

Yes, I have eaten there before.

Their things [= their food] are quite delicious / good value / cheap.

We use the classifier 啲 with 嘢 because 嘢 refers to food here, which is uncountable.

22.

噉	不如	就	食	呢	間	啦	。
gam2	bat1 jyu4	zau6	sik6	ni1	gaan1	laa1	.
then	why not	[determination]	eat	this	CL	SP

Why don’t we just eat at this one then?

23.

好	呀	。
hou2	aa3	.
good	SP

Good. [= Sure.]

Route C: Yes but it’s not good

24.

有	呀	，	我	有	食	過	呀	，
jau5	aa3	,	ngo5	jau5	sik6	gwo3	aa3	,
have	SP		I	have	eat	AP	SP

不過	佢哋	啲	嘢	唔係幾	好食 / 抵食	。
bat1 gwo3	keoi5 dei6	di1	je5	m4 hai6 gei2	hou2 sik6 / dai2 sik6	.
but	they	CL	thing	not quite	delicious / good value	。

Yes, I have eaten there before,

but their things [= their food] are not quite delicious / good value.

25.

有	呀	，	我	有	食	過	呀	，
jau5	aa3	,	ngo5	jau5	sik6	gwo3	aa3	,
have	SP		I	have	eat	AP	SP

不過	佢哋	啲	嘢	麻麻哋	。
bat1 gwo3	keoi5 dei6	di1	je5	maa4 maa2 dei2	.
but	they	CL	thing	so-so	。

Yes, I have eaten there before,

but their things [= their food] are so-so.

26.

有	呀	，	我	有	食	過	呀	，
jau5	aa3	,	ngo5	jau5	sik6	gwo3	aa3	,
have	SP		I	have	eat	AP	SP

不過	佢哋	啲	嘢	有啲	貴	。
bat1 gwo3	keoi5 dei6	di1	je5	jau5 di1	gwai3	.
but	they	CL	thing	a bit	expensive	。

Yes, I have eaten there before,

but their things [= their food] are a bit expensive.

We can introduce a new option to continue:

27.

噉	你	有	冇	食	過	食物橫町	呀	？
gam2	nei5	jau5	mou5	sik6	gwo3	sik6 mat6 waang4 ding1	aa3	?
then	you	have	not have	eat	AP	Food Yokocho	SP

Have you eaten at Food Yokocho [a fictional restaurant] before then?

28.

定係	去	食物橫町	食	呀	？
ding6 hai6	heoi3	sik6 mat6 waang4 ding1	sik6	aa3	?
or	go	Food Yokocho	eat	SP

Or we go to Food Yokocho to eat?

We can add our comment as we introduce the new option:

29.

我	之前	食	過	，
ngo5	zi1 cin4	sik6	gwo3	,
I	before	eat	AP

佢哋	啲	嘢	幾	好食 / 抵食 / 平	。
keoi5 dei6	di1	je5	gei2	hou2 sik6 / dai2 sik6 / peng4	.
they	CL	thing	quite	delicious / good value / cheap	。

I have eaten there before.

Their things [= their food] are quite delicious / good value / cheap.