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Step 1
Use chopsticks to eat your meal. Look for wood, bamboo or plastic in a quality Chinese restaurant, not disposable ones. Remember that authentic Chinese cuisine is chopstick friendly.
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Step 2
Check that food is cut into bite-sized pieces. You shouldn't need a knife if the food is authentic. Fish served whole and cooked right is easy to pull apart with chopsticks.
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Step 3
Make sure the rice is fluffy. It should be served in individual bowls with the meat and vegetable dishes in the center of the table for everyone to share.
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Step 4
Look for a variety of chicken, pork and seafood dishes on the menu. Authentic Chinese cuisine doesn't include turkey or lamb.
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Step 5
Order dishes with seasonal vegetables for maximum freshness. Bamboo, broccoli, mushrooms and carrots make a colorful, authentic Chinese dish. Water chestnuts blend well with Chinese seasonings.
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Step 6
Drink green or white tea with your Chinese meal. Black tea, the most common in the Western world, has a strong flavor that doesn't go well with Chinese food. Make sure it's unsweetened, clear tea.
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Step 7
Sample as many varieties of Chinese cuisine as possible. The eight main ones are Shandong, Szechuan, Cantonese, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan and Anhui.
