How to read a Chinese restaurant menu

Updated September 2026

A Chinese restaurant menu can run to two hundred items and still leave out the dishes the kitchen is proudest of. This guide explains how those menus are put together, what the regional labels promise, and how to order so the table ends up with a meal rather than a pile of entrées.

One restaurant, two menus

Many Chinese restaurants in the United States effectively run two menus. The first is the American-Chinese canon: General Tso's chicken, sesame chicken, lo mein, egg rolls, crab rangoon, dishes that were invented or reshaped in America over the last century and that almost every kitchen can make on autopilot. The second is the "traditional" or "chef's specialties" menu, which is where a Sichuan, Cantonese or Shanghai kitchen actually cooks the food of home.

The two are often printed side by side, sometimes on separate pages, and occasionally the traditional menu is only in Chinese or only offered on request. The tell is the language of the item names: "Chicken with Broccoli" and "Beef with Garlic Sauce" belong to the first menu; "Mapo Tofu", "Twice-Cooked Pork" and "Water-Boiled Fish" belong to the second. Neither menu is "wrong", since the American dishes are their own cuisine with a real history, but if you want to know what a kitchen is good at, order from the page that names dishes rather than ingredients.

How the sections are organized

Most menus follow the same skeleton, whichever region they come from:

• Appetizers / cold dishes. On a traditional menu this is one of the most interesting sections. Cold plates such as cucumber smashed with garlic, jellyfish, drunken chicken, sliced beef shank in chili oil, wood-ear mushrooms in vinegar are meant to be on the table while the wok dishes are being cooked.
• Soups. Usually priced per bowl for one, or per pot for the table. On Cantonese menus, look for a "soup of the day", slow-simmered broths that change daily.
• Dumplings, buns and small eats. Potstickers, soup dumplings, scallion pancakes, steamed buns. Northern and Shanghai kitchens lead with these; a Cantonese place will fold them into dim sum.
• Mains by protein. Chicken, beef, pork, lamb, seafood, tofu and vegetables, each with its own list. The same sauce often reappears across sections ("in garlic sauce", "with black bean sauce", "kung pao"), so the choice is really protein first, preparation second.
• Noodles and rice. Chow mein, chow fun, fried rice, noodle soups. In a Chinese meal these are the starch that closes the meal, not a side dish, though a single noodle bowl makes a fine lunch on its own.
• Chef's specials / house specialties. Whole fish, Peking duck, clay pots, sizzling platters and anything priced "market". These are what the kitchen wants to be judged on.
• Lunch specials and combination plates. A main, rice and an egg roll or soup at a fixed price, typically weekdays until mid-afternoon. Reliable value, almost always from the American-Chinese list.

What the regional labels mean

"Chinese food" covers a country the size of Europe. The labels on a menu, or in a restaurant's name, tell you which part you are eating from:

Cantonese (Guangdong, Hong Kong)

The cuisine most American Chinatowns were built on. Light seasoning, precise wok work, an emphasis on freshness: steamed whole fish with ginger and scallion, roast meats like char siu hanging in the window, dim sum by day, congee and wonton noodle soup at night, clay pot rice in winter. If a dish is described by technique (steamed, salt-and-pepper, with oyster sauce), it is probably Cantonese.

Sichuan (Szechuan)

Bold, layered and famous for mala, the pairing of chili heat with the tingling numbness of Sichuan peppercorn. Mapo tofu, dan dan noodles, kung pao chicken, dry-fried green beans, Chongqing chicken and hot pot. Not everything is fiery: Sichuan cooking has more than twenty named flavor profiles, and fish-fragrant, sweet-and-sour and "strange-flavor" dishes are as characteristic as the red ones. See Szechuan for how the word is used on American-Chinese menus.

Hunan

Sichuan's neighbor and rival for heat, but the heat comes from fresh and pickled chilies rather than numbing peppercorn, with smoked and cured meats and a sharper, more sour edge. Read more about Hunan-style.

Shanghai and the east (Jiangsu, Zhejiang)

Sweeter and richer, built on soy, sugar and rice wine: red-braised pork, lion's head meatballs, xiao long bao, pan-fried buns, drunken chicken, and cold appetizers in abundance.

Northern (Beijing, Shandong, Dongbei) and northwestern (Xi'an, Xinjiang)

Wheat country: hand-pulled and knife-cut noodles, dumplings, flatbreads, moo shu pancakes and Peking duck. Further west, cumin lamb, lamb skewers and the "Chinese burger" (rou jia mo) of Xi'an.

Taiwanese

Braised pork over rice, beef noodle soup, popcorn chicken, oyster omelets and bubble tea. Many "Chinese" bakeries and tea shops in the US are Taiwanese in origin.

Ordering for a table

A Chinese meal is shared. Individual entrées with a mound of rice each is an American habit, and it means everyone eats one thing. The traditional approach is one dish per person plus one for the table, chosen for contrast:

1. One cold appetizer or soup to start.
2. One "big" dish: whole fish, braised pork belly, a duck, a hot pot.
3. One or two stir-fries, ideally different proteins and different sauces.
4. One plain green vegetable with garlic: bok choy, gai lan, pea shoots, water spinach. It balances everything else.
5. Steamed rice for the table, or a noodle dish to finish.

Mix textures (something crisp, something braised, something saucy) and colors, and don't order two dishes in the same sauce. If the menu has a "for two / for four" set, it has done this arithmetic for you.

Dim sum is its own system

Dim sum menus don't look like dinner menus. Items are grouped by how they are cooked (steamed, fried, baked, rice rolls, congee, desserts) and priced by size class (small, medium, large, special) rather than individually, with the tally kept on a card at your table. Traditional halls push carts; most modern ones use a paper tick-sheet. The core order for first-timers: har gow, siu mai, char siu bao, rice noodle rolls, turnip cake, a plate of gai lan with oyster sauce, and egg tarts to finish. Tea is not optional: it arrives before the food, and the meal is technically named after it (yum cha, "drink tea").

Spice, numbing heat and "mild"

Chili icons on a menu are relative to that restaurant's own scale. A single pepper at a Sichuan specialist can outrun three at a neighborhood takeout. Two things to know:

• "Numbing" or mala is a separate sensation from heat: a citrusy tingle from Sichuan peppercorn. Dishes can be numbing without being especially hot, and vice versa. Most kitchens will adjust either on request.
• In "chicken with dried chilies" and similar dishes, the chilies are aromatics, not food. Eat around them.

Asking for "medium" from a Sichuan or Hunan kitchen usually gets you the dish as it is meant to be. Asking for "mild" is fine too. It is a restaurant, not a test.

Reading the prices

A few conventions worth knowing. "Market price" (M/P) on fish, crab and lobster means the price depends on that day's cost and the weight of the animal, so ask before ordering. Whole ducks and some banquet dishes are priced whole or half and may need a day's notice. Dim sum prices are per plate, and plates are small: a dozen plates for four people is normal. Lunch specials are the cheapest way to eat from the American-Chinese list; the traditional list rarely discounts.

Using the menus on this site

Every restaurant on WokMenus is listed with its menu as published by the restaurant or a public listing: either photographed menu pages, an itemized menu with prices, or both. Under each itemized menu you'll find an "About this menu" box that counts the items and sections, shows the listed price span, and explains any dishes from the glossary that appear on that particular menu. Prices and dishes change, and restaurants close; treat what's here as a starting point and confirm with the restaurant before you go.