Ordering Food I
In some Chinese restaurants, a pot of tea will be served at our table. The server will ask what type of tea we want right after we have sat down.
We can order more than one type of tea.
We can also get a pot of hot water.
When we are ready to order the food, we can get the server’s attention by saying:
- We can replace 叫 giu3 (‘to order’) with 嗌 aai3 (‘to order’).
If the server is busy at the moment, they may ask us to wait.
A few moments later…
- Notice we don’t usually use 吖 aa1 in a sentence with the modal verb 想 soeng2 even if we are making a request.
For food with more than one portion size, we need to specify the size.
We can put 例牌 lai6 paai2 (‘customary portion’) before or after the dish name.
If we haven’t specified the portion size, the server will ask us.
If we want to check if some food is available, we can say:
For some dishes, we need to choose the ingredient (e.g., the type of vegetable for a vegetable dish). We can ask about the available choices.
If we don’t ask, the server will ask:
Once we have finished saying the food we want to order, the server will usually ask if we need anything else.
- We use the sentence particle 喇 laa3 here because the state has changed from ‘there are things we need to order’ to ‘there are no more things we need to order’.
The server will usually repeat what we have ordered for us to check.
The server will sometimes ask us to confirm the order.
If there is something incorrect, we can correct it this way:
In some restaurants, the server will ask if we want some white rice to eat with the dishes. The rice is usually served with a bowl.
The server may also ask if we want some soft drink or beer.
- 啲餐牌 di1 caan1 paai2 / 啲menu di1 men1 niu2 means ‘the menus’. We will learn to say ‘the …’ in later lessons.