I’m sure the food is fantastic. Cannot do worse than traditional western food. But should I be an annoying gringo and ask what each individual item are, or should I just shut up, be polite, and take a shot in the dark and tank the hit if I miss?

  • BlueMagaChud [any]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I hate to break it to you, but most of that menu has an english translation after the “/” character or second set of parenthesis, though I’ll grant you it’s not a great graphic design. My strategy when there is no english at all is to use the auto translate camera setting on my phone.

  • TraschcanOfIdeology [they/them, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I speak Spanish, and one of my best friends is Honduran.

    The menu is already hard to decipher if you’re a native speaker who’s not from Honduras, so don’t sweat it too much.

    Baleadas are flour tortillas filled with cheese and beans in its most basic form. The special has a whole bunch of shit and the chorizo has, well, chorizo.

    Pupusas are similar but with corn flour.

    As the other commenter said, everything else has an English translation so no worries there.

    From my experience working in restaurants, if you ask questions when it’s not busy, it’s not a big deal. Especially for the untranslated/untranslateable words

  • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    In many places, you just have to point at the picture and not be a dick about it. At least that’s how it works for the cool local restaurants around here that have actually great food and are affordable.

    The worst Hispanic/South American food in California is also the most expensive, pro tip for visitors. the-more-you-know

    If you want Vietnamese food, go for the places with numbers in the name. Always. Trust me.

    • Yeah I understand being socially anxious, but people working at restaurants are people, too, and if we’re not in the shit, and you’re not an asshole about it, we’ll explain/describe our food to you.

      If you tell me “surprise me” and we’re not already well acquainted with, I am going into full food worker shutdown mode, so please avoid that.

  • frankfurt_schoolgirl [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    should I just shut up, be polite, and take a shot in the dark and tank the hit if I miss?

    That’s what I do, it’s more fun and exciting! However, I don’t have any allergies and like almost every kind of food.

  • GaveUp [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I feel like translator apps are so underused in public despite being highly capable for more than a decade now and constantly improving since

    It’s even possible to take pictures of text and have it be OCR’ed and translated all in the app instantly!

    I like DeepL -> microsoft translator -> google translate

  • Mokey [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I think assuming the food is amazing just because you cant read the menu is not a good way to go about things. I dont want to accuse you of anything cos you didnt do anything wrong but just because they got a restaurant and the menu isnt in english doesnt mean the food is better.

    Im from a place thats like 75% mexican, dated mexicans, friends were mexican but the best mexican food i ever had, by far, was in some rich white people town in the middle of nowhere. Ive still never had a good tamale, just bcos someones abuela makes them doesnt make them good.

    Google what Hondurans like to eat mostly and get that if ur curious

  • Ho_Chi_Chungus [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    I’d just ask for “One food please” and eat whatever they give me. I’m sure it’s going to be delicious if they can run a successful business without catering to the English language

  • thelastknowngod
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    1 year ago

    I genuinely want to know what kind of person sees this menu and decides to ask lemmy instead of just using Google translate… Like… It’s been around for nearly 20 years. This cannot be a surprise to you, can it?

  • octesian
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    1 year ago

    I can kinda follow this menu, but it definitely needs work. I think there should be an option to give them like $15 and just get whatever. Adventure eating!

  • NewLeaf [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Usually, you can say what number food item it is and they know what you’re talking about.

    Other than that, unless you’re a vegetarian/vegan, just take a stab. It all looks incredible!