At a Chinese meal, dishes are served one by one in the middle of the table, and you need to pick up food from the plates and bowls shared with others seated at the table with you. We have summarized how a Chinese meal is served...
Best Answer: Cold dishes were always served first. The number of cold dishes served will vary depending on the party size. For small parties, you will get one or two dishes (usually vegetable). For large parties, you could get as many as 12 different dishes (or more). Some regions will serve cold dishes in a combination platter. Some regions will serve cold dishes individually. There is a dazzling variety of cold dishes. Cumbers and fried peanuts are very common. Meats dishes like beef, pork and chicken are very common but you don't see lamb dishes being served that frequently. Chicken, duck and goose are common among cold poultry dishes. Common cold seafood dishes could include shrimp, small fish, cuttle fish, and jellyfish.
Hot dishes that were boiled/poached were usually served first followed by foods that were fried. Stir-fried dishes well be served next, then braised and steamed dishes. If whole fish was on the list, it is usually served towards the end. Fried rice or noodles were usually served the last. Depending on the region, sometimes, whole fried chicken (cut to small pieces of course including head and neck) will be the last dish served. Then you will get your desserts.
Soup will be served a little differently from region to region. Some regions prefer to serve their soup before cold dishes. Some regions prefer to serve soup before desserts. According to Chinese traditions, soup was served before desserts.
Also, Chinese do not serve all dishes at once. Some regions will serve one or two dishes at a time. They will not serve another dish until the previous dish(es) was almost done. Some regions will serve one dish first. When you are about 1/2 way through the dish, the next dish will be served. Then different dishes will be served at a steady pace until the table was full.
The food is in a huge glass rotating circle and as it comes round you pick what you want to eat.
A multitude of etiquette considerations occur also when dinning in China. There are some special differences from manners in western countries.
Table manners in China
