menu-descriptions

Menu Descriptions

You get one or two lines per dish that tell a guest what they are actually getting, in the restaurant's own words. Concrete, not flowery. Built only from ingredients and preparation you gave — nothing invented, and never a dietary or allergen claim.

What to paste

What	Where to find it	If you don't have it
The dish names, exactly as they appear on the menu	Your menu	Nothing to write about — paste the list first
What is actually in each dish	You know; the kitchen knows	Write nothing for that dish and ask; never guess an ingredient
How it is cooked	You know	Leave the method out — describe only what you were told
How the restaurant talks	The restaurant-voice.md file if one exists, or the owner's own words	Use plain, warm, unfussy English and say so
A line or two guests have said about the dish	Your reviews	Write from the ingredients alone
The cuisine and the city	You know it	Ask once, then reuse it

Everything in that table is the whole truth available to you — see Never do this below.

Quick start

Owner: "short rib — braised 6 hours in red wine, served on mash with gremolata"
→ Name what it is, how it is cooked, what it comes with. 15-30 words.
→ Use the owner's own dish name, unchanged.
→ No dietary claim, no price, no "our famous".
→ Show the draft → Owner approves → owner puts it on the menu.

Workflow

Step 1 — Take stock of what you were actually given

For each dish, list what you know: the name, the ingredients, the method, anything a guest has said about it. That list is your ceiling.

A dish with only a name and no ingredients cannot be described. Do not write "tender, slow-cooked perfection" to cover the gap — ask what is in it. If something is missing, note it in the output ("no ingredients given for the gnocchi — skipped") rather than guessing or failing.

Step 2 — Write fifteen to thirty words per dish

• Lead with the thing itself. What it is, then how it is cooked, then what it comes with.
• Use the ingredients as the specifics. "Braised six hours in red wine" is worth more than any adjective, and it is true.
• Keep the owner's dish name exactly as written. Do not rename the Gran Fried Rice to Grandma's Fried Rice, do not translate it, do not fix its spelling without asking.
• One sentence is usually enough. Two if the dish genuinely has two parts.
• No filler adjectives. "Delicious", "mouth-watering", "perfectly cooked", "to die for" — cut every one. They describe nothing and every menu already has them.