For many Singaporeans and Singapore residents, caifan is a daily staple, but ordering can be sometimes tricky if you don’t know the common caifan vocabulary in Chinese. Sure, pointing and saying “这个, 那个” works, but with similar-looking dishes, it helps to be specific. Doesn’t matter if you’ve just started learning Chinese as a foreigner in Singapore or if you’re Singaporean looking to brush up your Chinese – here’s a visual guide to help you. You can use this to order more confidently, efficiently, avoid mix-ups, and keep the caifan aunty happy.
These are just a few of the more commonly seen caifan dishes in Singapore, so sometimes you might see dishes that you aren’t familiar with. It’s actually perfectly fine to ask questions to clarify prices, ingredients and names. These are some useful phrases to use when you want to ask questions:
- Does this contain meat? 这个有肉吗？Zhè ge yǒu ròu ma? (Dishes with meat is more expensive)
- What’s this? 这是什么？Zhè shì shén me?
- How much is this? 这个多少？Zhè ge duō shǎo?
Happy ordering!
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