The best meal in China starts with a Dianping search and ends with a Meituan delivery. Both run inside the apps you already have.
1 Dianping (大众点评) — find the best eats
Dianping is China’s Yelp: photos, ratings, and reviews for restaurants, cafes, and local spots, written by real diners. It is the easiest way to find a good place near you and avoid the tourist-trap restaurants.
- No install needed. Search "大众点评" inside Alipay or WeChat and open the mini-program. It loads in seconds and signs you in automatically.
- Sort by rating, not distance. Tap 美食 (Food), pick your area, and sort by rating. The top-rated spots almost always deserve it.
- Save the Chinese address. Copy the Chinese name and address to show your taxi driver — a screenshot works in a pinch.
- Use the photos. User-uploaded photos show what the dish actually looks like, not the polished marketing shot.
2 Meituan Waimai (美团外卖) — food delivered
Meituan is China’s biggest delivery platform. From your hotel room you can order hot meals, bubble tea, groceries, fruit, pharmacy items, and even a charging cable.
- Open from Alipay. Search "美团外卖" inside Alipay and launch the mini-program. No separate download.
- Set the address in Chinese. Paste your hotel address from Apple Maps. The driver and the restaurant both read Chinese, so the address has to match.
- Pay with Alipay. Link your Visa or Mastercard in Alipay once, then every Meituan order charges it automatically.
- Delivery is fast. 30 to 45 minutes in a city center, faster for nearby restaurants. Add a small tip in the app — the rider is the one who finds your door in a hotel hallway.
Tip: for late-night cravings or the day you arrive too tired to go out, Meituan is the move.
3 Ele.me (馁了么) — the other delivery giant
Ele.me is Alibaba’s delivery app, now folded into Taobao Flash Purchase (淘宝闪购). It overlaps heavily with Meituan — same rider networks, similar restaurants, similar speed — so keep both handy and compare prices.
- Open from Taobao or Alipay. Search "饿了么" in either app. If you already have Taobao, you are one tap from ordering.
- Compare with Meituan. The same restaurant is often on both apps at slightly different prices and delivery times. A two-second check can save a few yuan.
- Coverage is uneven. If a restaurant does not deliver on Meituan, it often does on Ele.me, and vice versa. When one fails, the other usually wins.