Menus and Food Quality - In Practice
More worrying menu indicators, this time based on an actual Chinese takeaway menu that arrived through my door:
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A massive 222 items in total.
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Numbers next to the items.
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‘Orders over £12 - Free Curry Samosa’. Hmm, how Chinese. In fact, there is an entire Curry section, including a Chips option.
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The menu has plenty of ‘Improved recipe!’ and ‘New!’. Does this come from the McDonald’s school of menu design?
But it would be unfair to mock this menu without trying it. So I have just finished eating Fried Duck with Ginger and Spring Onion (#69), and Egg Fried Rice (#143). And the verdict: 7/10. OK, but not superb - the rice was a bit dry, and the sauce a bit greasy. They also inadvertently added on one more indicator during the ordering process: I was told it would take an unnervingly precise 12 minutes before it was ready.
So that’s one data point for this scientifically accurate menu/food quality study.