Comments on: Funny Chinese Dishes: Dead Man’s Coffin, Wild Speculation Beef Salamander and More

By: Joyce

Joyce — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:16:19 +0000

Oh my god – they use “speculation” instead “fry/stirfry”!

LOL “Speculation at the Center or Garlic”

Awesome post, Ben & Suanne!

By: Monkeysmile

Monkeysmile — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:49:23 +0000

Hi Suanne and Ben:

What a hilarious experiment. I laughed out loud when I read the menu items that you tasted. What funny, yet aptly titled menu names.

It seems like North American chefs have a certain knack for jazzing up the descriptions of food on their menus.

For example, a menu item like a delectable plate of prairie oysters with chanterelle mushrooms are really a bowl full of bull testicles. An assortment of sweetbreads is really intestines.

I think that Chinese menus describe their dishes in a blunt and unpretentious way and some times, this may lead the patron to have an unappetizing visual of the food product and be discouraged from trying it.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:17:58 +0000

He he he … Fmed. I must say that I have not seen a person so dedicated to the subject to food that you. I would not have taken so many pictures of the menu but you did! Ben

By: flown

flown — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:08:57 +0000

“Wild Speculation Beef Salamander”, according to your receipt actually reads as wild mountain peppers fried with beef. I have no idea where salamander came from! Maybe from the somewhat (but not really) similar pronounciation?

By: fmed

fmed — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:21:45 +0000

I just posted a reply but it didn’t take….here is a pictorial from a recent visit:
http://picasaweb.google.ca/gustibus.maximus/GordonPark

By: Suanne

Suanne — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:34:20 +0000

Hi Fmed: How did you know all these names? Do you happen to have their menu by any chance? There were so many pages to their picture menu that I did not take a picture of them. Ben

By: fmed

fmed — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:31:01 +0000

This place has to be the tops for Crazy Chinglish. Along with the “Salamander” dishes (there are more than one) there is the “Wild Speculation” dishes (eg “Wild Speculation at the Center of Garlic”. And don’t forget that the little clay dish rice is “Immortal” LOL – which unfortunately does not mean All You Can Eat rice as there is so little of it.

By: fmed

fmed — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:19:38 +0000

Yes totally confusing – I will never know what to call it. Here is a pic of the front cover of their menu….this was when the “Aroma Garden” sign was up….but it had been called “Gordon Park” for at least a year (or two) before that.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7DNl7oAyDI0/SqMJ0xpg-iI/AAAAAAAAMaE/pmUhkAYy8-4/s640/DSCF0392.JPG

By: Suanne

Suanne — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:04:30 +0000

Hi Fmed: The name “Aroma Garden” was also on the receipt. I cannot recall if it was on the menu too but during our visit it was very much Aroma Garden except for the signboard on the outside which confused us. Ben

By: LotusRapper

LotusRapper — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:03:14 +0000

Don’t know about beef salamander … but if it’s alive and moves, we eat ‘em ! ;-)

Other dishes that always get the bad translations on menus:

“Ants on a Tree” (or “Ants Climbing a Tree”): Mung bean thread noodles stir-fried with ground beef:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ants_climbing_a_tree

“Singing Chicken”: Sizzling Chicken (usually served in a clay pot)

Now here’s one that I always *thought* was a bad, comical translation: “Bible Tripe”. Until recently, when I discovered that “Bible” refers to beef omasum, also known as “bible tripe” ! :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omasum