Cafe and restaurant in Vietnamese
A table, the menu, what you cannot eat, and a compliment to the kitchen. Play the ten Vietnamese words against the clock, with a note on how locals really use each one after every answer. All ten are written out below.
All 10 Vietnamese phrases in this lesson
- Bàn cho hai ngườibahn cho hai NGUH-ee
- A table for two
- Cho tôi xem thực đơncho toy sem TUHK duhn
- The menu, please
- Món nào ngon?mon NOW ngon
- What do you recommend?
- Tôi không ăn...toy khong AN
- I don't eat...
- Tôi bị dị ứng...toy bee zee UNG
- I'm allergic to...
- Thịttit
- Meat
- Gàgah
- Chicken
- Cákah
- Fish
- Ngon quángon KWAH
- It's delicious
- Một, hai, ba, dô!moht hai bah YOH
- Cheers
Bàn is table, cho means for, người is person. Street stalls just wave you to a low plastic stool; holding up two fingers does the same job.
Literally "let me see the menu". "Menu" is widely understood too. Many street stalls serve one dish only, so there is nothing to choose.
Literally "which dish is tasty?". The cook will be happy to answer, often by simply bringing you something.
"Tôi không ăn thịt" (I do not eat meat). Vegetarian is "ăn chay" (an CHAY), and Buddhist vegetarian restaurants (quán chay) are found in every city.
"Tôi bị dị ứng đậu phộng" (allergic to peanuts). Peanuts, fish sauce and shrimp paste turn up in many dishes, so say it early.
On its own it often means pork, the default meat. Beef is "thịt bò" (tit BOH), pork "thịt heo" in the South and "thịt lợn" in the North.
"Phở gà" is chicken pho and "cơm gà" chicken rice. Gà is also the word for a rooster or hen in the market.
Fish sauce is "nước mắm" (NUH-uhk mum), on every table. Note the tone: cá (fish) and cà (as in cà phê) are different words.
Ngon means delicious, quá means so. "Ngon lắm" (very tasty) works too. Cooks at street stalls hear it rarely from tourists and appreciate it.
One, two, three, in! Dô is Southern for "vô" (in), and the whole table shouts it before each sip. "Trăm phần trăm" (chahm fun CHAHM), one hundred percent, means drain your glass.