10 Words You Must Know To Understand Menu In Taiwan – Food Categories 【看懂菜單】來台灣點餐必學10個單字 – 食物類別

 

10 Words You Must Know To Understand Menu In Taiwan – Food Categories 【看懂菜單】來台灣點餐必學10個單字 – 食物類別

It is quite hard for foreigners to understand what is on Taiwanese menus since they mostly lack for pictures, translation, and are full of Chinese characters. Here we are going to teach you the basic 10 words/characters by category. After learning these words/characters, you will have a basic concept of Taiwanese menu!

 

l   Staple Food 主食

Fàn (飯) Rice

 

1.      Fàn (飯/饭) Rice

Fàn (飯/饭) is the staple food of most Asian countries. You can see it in almost every diner or restaurants. Fàn (飯/饭) is usually served in four types:

 

-Bái fàn (白飯/白饭, white rice/plain rice) is sold in small bowls. People usually order other dishes to eat with bái fàn.

 

-Lǔ ròu fàn (滷肉飯/卤肉饭, braised pork on rice), which has some sauce and seasoning on bái fàn. It is also sold in small bowls and usually people order other dishes to go with it. Other similar things are ròu zào fàn (肉燥飯/肉燥饭, minced pork on rice), jī ròu fàn (雞肉飯/鸡肉饭, shredded turkey/chicken on rice), and guā zǐ ròu fàn (瓜仔肉飯/瓜仔肉饭, steamed pork with pickles on rice).

 

-Chǎo fàn (炒飯/炒饭, fried rice), which has all ingredients cooked together. Other similar things are yóu fàn (油飯/油饭, steamed sticky rice) and niú ròu huì fàn (牛肉燴飯/牛肉烩饭, stew beef with rice), which someone thinks as risotto because it is wet and the overall taste of food is the same.

 

-Biàn dang (便當/便当, bento box), which is usually written as “OO飯.” OO could be any kind of meat like pái gǔ (排骨, pork chop), jī tuǐ (雞腿/鸡腿, chicken leg), jī pái (雞排/鸡排, chicken chop), and so on. Unlike chǎo fàn, the side dishes of biàn dang are cooked separately, so there are diverse flavors in one biàn dang.

 

Miàn (麵) Noodles

2.      Miàn (麵/面) Noodles

Miàn (麵/面) is the second common staple in Asian countries. Besides the noodles made from wheat, there are other staple food looks like noodles: mǐ fěn (米粉/米粉, rice noodles), yì miàn (意麵/意面, egg noodles), miàn xiàn (麵線/面线, vermicelli), mǐ tái mù (米苔目, thick rice noodles), and dōng fěn (冬粉, glass noodles).

 

Zhōu (粥) Congee

3.      Zhōu (粥) Congee

Zhōu (粥) is basically rice porridge, which is just like bái fàn (白飯/白饭) but easier to digest. There is another kind of congee called xián zhōu (鹹粥/咸粥) or guǎng dōng zhōu (廣東粥/广东粥), which is like chǎo fàn (炒飯/炒饭) that mixes all the ingredients together.

 

Jiǎo (餃) Dumplings

4.      Jiǎo (餃/饺) Dumplings

Jiǎo (餃/饺), usually known as shuǐ jiǎo (水餃/水饺) or jiǎo zi (餃子/饺子) can be seen as staple food or snack. You can have a plate of shuǐ jiǎo, usually 10 pieces a serving, or share it as a dish with your friends and have another staple food.

Family of Dumplings

Shuǐ jiǎo is boiled dumpling. With different ways to cook dumplings, we have different names for them. Zhēng Jiǎo (蒸餃/蒸饺) is steamed dumpling whereas jiān jiǎo (煎餃/煎饺) means fried dumplings. The celebrated xiǎo long tāng bāo (小籠湯包/小笼汤包) and hún dùn (餛飩/馄饨, wonton) resemble shuǐ jiǎo, but xiǎo lóng bāo has soup inside while hún dùn is smaller and contains much pork, usually served with soup. There are other dumplings you may find them in huǒ guō (火鍋, hot pot) or lǔ wèi (滷味/卤味, soy sauce braised food) such as yú jiǎo (魚餃, fish dumplings), dàn jiǎo (蛋餃/蛋饺, egg dumplings), xiā Jiǎo (蝦餃/虾饺, shrimp dumplings), yàn jiǎo (燕餃/燕饺, pork dumplings), huā zhī jiǎo (花枝餃/花枝饺, calamari dumplings), and so forth.

 

l   Side Dishes 配菜、小菜

 

Cài (菜) Vegetables; Side Dishes

5.     Cài (菜) Vegetables; Side dishes

Cài (菜) has two meanings. The first one is “qīng cài (青菜)”, which usually means green leafy vegetables, such as bái cài (白菜, Chinese cabbage), gāo lì cài (高麗菜/高丽菜, cabbage), and kōng xīn cài (空心菜, water spinach). It is usually formed like “OO菜.” If distinguished by cooking method, there are tàng qīng cài (燙青菜/烫青菜, blanched vegetables) and chǎo qīng cài (炒青菜, stir-fried vegetables).

The other meaning is side dish or appetizer, which usually is not eaten alone but to go with staple food. The examples are “xiǎo cài (小菜)” and “pèi cài (配菜).”

 

Ròu (肉) Meat

6.      Ròu (肉) Meat

Ròu (肉) literally means “meat.” We usually add the word/character of the animal which the meat comes from to represent the meat, which looks like “OO肉” such as niú ròu (牛肉, beef), zhū ròu (豬肉/猪肉, pork), jī ròu (雞肉/鸡肉), yú ròu (魚肉/鱼肉, fish), yang ròu (羊肉, lamb/goat), é ròu (鵝肉/鹅肉, goose), and yā ròu (鴨肉/鸭肉, duck).

 

Dàn (蛋) Eggs

7.      Dàn (蛋) Eggs

In addition to vegetables and meat, dàn (蛋) is the ingredient that appears the most in other dish. It goes well with staple food, soup, breakfast, stir-fries, and many other street snacks. Sometimes you can ask for an extra egg in your food for $0.4~$1. There are also many dishes mainly based on eggs such as tshài póo nn̄g (菜脯蛋, fried eggs with preserved radish), dàn bǐng (蛋餅/蛋饼, egg wrap), ô á tsian (蚵仔煎, oyster omelette), jiān niǎo dàn (煎鳥蛋/煎鸟蛋, fried quail eggs), and chá yè dàn (茶葉蛋/茶叶蛋, tea egg), just to name a few.

 

l   Soup 湯品

 

Tāng (湯) Soup

8.      Tāng (湯/汤) Soup

Tāng (湯/汤) is literally “soup” in Chinese. It can be served in a small bowl for one person or in a pot for 4~8 people. Tāng is not necessary for each meal but many Taiwanese likes to order one while dining. Sì shén tāng (四神湯/四神汤, four herbs soup), gé lí tang (蛤蜊湯/蛤蜊汤, clams soup), and shān yào pái gǔ tang (山藥排骨湯/山药排骨汤, yam with pork ribs soup) are classic and popular tāng in Taiwan. Tāng is also the base of the following two dishes--gēng (羹, thick soup) and guō (鍋, hot pot).

 

Gēng (羹) Thick Soup

9.      Gēng (羹) Thick Soup

Gēng (羹) is basically tāng added with potato starch, so the soup is thicker and has stronger flavor. The most common gēng are chì ròu gēng (赤肉羹, also written as 赤肉焿, pork thick soup), zòng hé gēng (綜合羹/综合羹, hodgepodge thick soup), and tǔ tuō yú gēng (土魠魚羹/土魠鱼羹, fried Spanish mackerel with thick soup).

 

Guō (鍋) Hot Pot

10.  Guō (鍋/锅) Hot Pot

Guō (鍋) is also called huǒ guō (火鍋, hot pot), which has lots of ingredients in a specific flavor of soup. We usually have this kind of huǒ guō with a bowl of bái fàn (白飯/白饭), miàn (麵/面), dōng fěn (冬粉, glass noodles), or pào miàn (泡麵, instant noodles).

Types Of Huǒ Guō (火鍋/火锅)

Huǒ guō shops can simply be divided into two types. One is “one person one pot,” and the other is “many people one pot.” The first one includes xiǎo huǒ guō (小火鍋/小火锅), chòu chòu guō (臭臭鍋/臭臭锅), and shuàn shuàn guō (涮涮鍋/涮涮锅). As for huǒ guō for many people sharing one pot, there are several hot pot dishes so classic that they develop into specialty stores, such as má yóu jī (麻油雞/麻油鸡, sesame oil chicken hot pot), jiāng mǔ yā (薑母鴨/姜母鸭, ginger duck stew), yáng ròu lú (羊肉爐/羊肉炉, mutton hot pot), suān cài bái ròu guō (酸菜白肉鍋, meat with pickled cabbage hot pot), dāng guī yā (當歸鴨/当归鸭, angelica duck hot pot), má là guō (麻辣鍋/麻辣锅, spicy hot pot), and so forth.

 

These are 10 useful and basic words/characters you will see in every Taiwanese menu. Learn these words/characters, and it will be easy for you to read menus. If you find this article is informative, please share to you friends and family! We will keep publishing this series of articles.