depth first search

I had my first experience with a Chinese Restaurant that had two menus, a public menu for most people, and a “secret” menu presumably for Chinese clientèle. Luckily our server clued us in to the “secret” menu and we ended up chowing down on some authentic dishes. The experience left me sort of curious about the two menu strategy, something I’ve heard about but never experienced first hand.

Is the motivation that you don’t want to insult your Chinese customers with a menu that contains various “Americanized” mainstays? Or are the separate menus chosen according to some preconceived stereotypes about palate and preference? Now that I think about it, the “secret” menu had English + Chinese but no recognizable dishes. The “public” menu had English only and had all the standards. I suspect that there may be a third, super secret, Chinese only menu, but it probably isn’t actually one that’s written down.

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