How to order food for delivery

Three apps

Meituan (美团) is the largest: meals, groceries, medicines and almost anything small from the shops nearby. Dianping’s reviews live here too, so you can see a venue’s rating as well.

Eleme (饿了么) is the second big food-delivery service, built into Alipay as a mini-programme. If Alipay is already set up this is the shortest route: no separate account needed.

Taobao Flash and the like are same-hour delivery of anything within the city: a forgotten laptop, documents, samples. Essentially a courier on call rather than a shop.

Your first order, step by step

1. 1

   Enter the address

   The address must be complete: the estate, the building, the entrance, the floor, the flat. The courier arrives at the estate gates and finds you from there using exactly those details.

   You enter it once and pick it from your saved addresses afterwards. Copy it in Chinese characters from your lease or from the hotel desk.

2. 2

   Add a Chinese phone number

   The courier calls before delivering. A foreign number will not connect — and the order may simply go back.

3. 3

   Choose the place and the dishes

   Listings almost always have photographs, which does the job of a translation. Look at the rating, the number of orders and the minimum spend: at some places it is substantial.

4. 4

   Write a note for the courier

   The most useful field there is for a newcomer. “Leave it at the door”, “leave it at reception”, “call me and I’ll come down”, “the south gate” — one line removes almost every problem.

   This is also where you say how spicy you want it and that you need cutlery: chopsticks and a spoon are not always included by default.

5. 5

   Pay

   Payment is inside the app — from Alipay, WeChat Pay or a linked card. Couriers are not paid in cash; they usually will not take it.

A few more things worth knowing

Delivery from the next block takes 20–40 minutes. In rain and at rush hour it stretches, and some places simply stop taking orders.

The delivery fee depends on distance and time of day and is shown before you pay. Vouchers and set menus often make an order cheaper than going to the same place.

Goods from the marketplaces are a different matter with different timings: usually next day. There is a separate guide on that.

Couriers are not always let into an office building — give the company name and the floor, or the order will be left at reception and you will get a call.