Explore Beijing / Ordering Food Delivery in Beijing with Meituan and Ele.me as a Foreigner
Ordering Food Delivery in Beijing with Meituan and Ele.me as a Foreigner
Yes, you can get hot dumplings delivered to your hotel room in Beijing without speaking a word of Chinese. Here's how to set up Meituan and Ele.me as a first-time visitor.
5 min read · KOULING's Beijing Travel Guide
Food delivery is woven into daily life in Beijing — office workers, students, and families all order in, and the apps are astonishingly fast, often 30–45 minutes door to door. The two giants are Meituan (美团) and Ele.me (饿了么), and both are usable by foreigners if you prepare a little in advance. The main hurdles are language, payment, and your hotel's address — all solvable, as this guide explains.
Set Up Before You Arrive
Do the groundwork at home and your first delivery night will be painless. Meituan's international version, Keeta, and Ele.me both appear on the App Store outside China, but the full-featured Chinese Meituan app is generally the better bet for Beijing. You will need a phone number that can receive SMS in China, plus a working payment method.
Download the apps first — Install Meituan and Ele.me before you fly. Register with your email or phone number; if you can't receive Chinese SMS abroad, register once you land with a local SIM or eSIM [verify before travel].
Link a payment method — Both apps work inside Alipay and WeChat mini-programs, which increasingly accept foreign Visa/Mastercard cards [verify before travel]. App-internal payment options for foreign cards change often — check current support before relying on it.
Turn on translation — Neither app is fully in English. Use your phone's built-in screen translation (iOS/Android both offer it) or copy restaurant names into a translation app. Menus are mostly photos, so ordering by picture works well.
Save your hotel address in Chinese — Ask your hotel front desk to write the hotel name, building, and your room floor in Chinese, or screenshot it from a Chinese map app like Amap (Gaode). You'll paste this into the delivery address field.
Meituan vs Ele.me: Which to Choose
Both apps cover essentially all of Beijing with overlapping restaurant selections. Meituan is the larger platform and absorbs most premium chains; Ele.me (owned by Alibaba) sometimes runs cheaper coupons. The honest advice: install both, compare the same dish on each, and let delivery fees and discounts decide.
Meituan (美团) — Bigger restaurant selection, reliable couriers, and a 'Meituan Waimai' delivery tab. Delivery fees typically run CNY 2–8 (US$0.30–1.10) [verify before travel].
Ele.me (饿了么) — Strong discounting and integrates with Alipay's mini-program, which is handy if you're already using Alipay as a foreigner. Same typical fee range [verify before travel].
New-user coupons — Both apps aggressively discount first orders — sometimes 50% off or a near-free meal. Registering with a fresh account before your trip pays off [verify before travel].
Ordering Step by Step
Once set up, the flow is the same as any delivery app back home, with two Chinese quirks: couriers call or message you (in Chinese), and hotel deliveries usually mean meeting the rider at the lobby or gate.
1. Set the address — Paste your saved Chinese hotel address. Pin the map location to the hotel entrance if the app lets you.
2. Pick and customize — Photos carry most of the weight. 'Spicy' (辣 là) is genuinely spicy in Sichuan and Hunan restaurants — choose the lowest spice level if unsure. Add '不要辣' (no spice) as a note if needed.
3. Pay and track — Prices usually land at CNY 20–60 (US$3–8.50) per dish; expect CNY 40–100 (US$6–14) for a full meal with fees [verify before travel]. Live tracking shows the rider's route in real time.
4. Meet the rider — If the courier calls and you can't understand, say '酒店' (hotel) and '前台' (front desk) or simply forward the call to your hotel's front desk — they handle this daily and can receive the food for you.
What to Order First: Beijing Classics That Travel Well
Not every Beijing dish survives a scooter ride. These travel reliably and are easy to identify by photo on both apps.
Metro
N/A — delivered to your door
Opening hours
Delivery typically runs from around 09:00 to 22:00 or later; many outlets close mid-afternoon [verify before travel]
Tickets
Typical delivered meal CNY 40–100 (US$6–14) including fees [verify before travel]
How long
30–45 minutes typical delivery time [verify before travel]
Kao Leng Mian (烤冷面) and Street-Food Comforts
Northeastern street snacks like grilled cold noodles, jianbing (savory crepes), and fried chicken skewers are cheap, filling, and hugely popular on delivery apps. Great low-stakes first orders at CNY 10–25 (US$1.50–3.50) [verify before travel].
Metro
N/A — search these dish names in Chinese on either app
Opening hours
Street-food vendors often deliver late into the night, past 23:00 in busy districts [verify before travel]
Tickets
CNY 10–25 (US$1.50–3.50) per item [verify before travel]
How long
Usually under 30 minutes from nearby vendors [verify before travel]
Convenience-Store and Late-Night Delivery
Both apps also deliver from convenience stores (drinks, instant noodles, snacks) and pharmacies. If jet lag hits at 2 a.m., search '24小时' (24 hours) in the app — central districts and areas near universities have the deepest late-night coverage [verify before travel].
Metro
N/A — availability depends on your district
Opening hours
24-hour options exist in central and university areas [verify before travel]
Tickets
Convenience items CNY 5–30 (US$0.70–4) [verify before travel]
How long
15–40 minutes depending on hour and distance [verify before travel]
Foreigner Survival Tips
Screenshot everything — Save your order screenshot — the order number is the fastest way to communicate with a courier or the hotel front desk without shared language.
Tell the hotel you're ordering — Many hotels ask couriers to leave food at reception or the gate. Confirm the drop-off convention at check-in to avoid a cold meal.
Have small cash as backup — Cash on delivery is increasingly rare and most riders cannot make change for large notes [verify before travel] — mobile payment is effectively required.
Watch the delivery radius — Some restaurants only deliver within a few kilometers. If a listing is greyed out, your address is likely outside the zone.
Refuse single-use cutlery politely if unwanted — Apps ask whether you need chopsticks and napkins — declining is normal and reduces plastic waste.
Beware tourist-priced listings — Same-chain restaurants can list different prices on different app storefronts. Comparing Meituan and Ele.me side by side catches this.
