Montreal Restaurant’s Extremely Honest Menu Goes Viral on Twitter | Eater Montreal

"I discovered a Chinese restaurant in Downtown Montreal whose owner, who asked to be referred to by his last name Fei, writes unvarnished menu blurbs that temper expectations — for example, he notes of the orange beef, "Comparing to our General Tao Chicken, this one is not THAT good," warns that the cumin beef used to have beef pieces on small sticks that caused customers to cut their lips, and candidly admits of the sweet and spicy pork strips, "Since I have so high exceptions on this dish, I am not a huge fan for our version to be honest." His 66 menu notes, started about four years ago and completed last year, also caution when dishes don't conform to his standard of "real authentic Chinese food" and flag small portions (he explains the spicy and salt-and-pepper shrimp come with 13 pieces because shrimp are expensive). The blunt menu copy went viral — drawing tens of thousands of likes on a tweet — and Fei says business was busier the following Monday; he previously filmed low-quality YouTube videos six years ago at the Côte-des-Neiges location (before it was ravaged by fire) to help diners order, and during the pandemic steady takeout and delivery — despite thin profits after UberEats and DoorDash commissions — have kept Aunt Dai afloat. I appreciate that he doesn't want the publicity to oversell the food and risk disappointing people." - Valerie Silva