菜单(cài dān) - menu in Mandarin

菜单 (càidān) is the menu, from 菜 (cài, "dish, vegetable") plus 单 (dān, "list, sheet"), so literally "dish list". It is the word for a physical restaurant menu, and also extends to software menus in some contexts, though 菜单 (càidān) in daily conversation almost always means food.

请给我菜单 (qǐng gěi wǒ càidān), "please give me the menu", is a basic restaurant phrase worth having ready. 单 (dān) itself turns up in other everyday compounds worth knowing alongside it: 账单 (zhàngdān) is "bill", and 名单 (míngdān) is "list of names".

Chinese restaurant menus can be image-heavy or entirely in characters with no translation, so recognising 菜单 (càidān) on a sign or a laminated booklet, and being able to ask for one, is genuinely practical rather than just textbook vocabulary.