This Montreal Resto's Menu Is So Brutally Honest Harvard Decided To Preserve It Forever
The Montreal restaurant that went viral for its brutally honest menu is officially going down in food history. Cuisine AuntDai's hilarious menu will be archived at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library at Harvard University.
It will join the Schlesinger Library's collection of historical menus so it can be used as an artifact for food history buffs and researchers — meaning a little piece of Montreal culture has found a new home at Harvard.Â
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"I think it's pretty cool ... like I can make something lasting," said owner Feigang Fei, the man behind the menu that made waves around the world — garnering attention from The Guardian, CNN, The New York Times, and more.Â
It was after reading The New York Times' article that a Harvard history professor reached out to Fei, asking for a copy of his menu to add to the archives.Â
"When I look back at least seven or eight of the [menu comments] — pretty funny," Fei told MTL Blog.Â
"I wrote them five years ago, or maybe some of them even six years ago. I didn't realize ... it's not appropriate."Â
For example, Fei said he's always watching his weight, leading him to caption the Braised Pork Belly with: "You may not want to have it every time if you are watching your weight because you know you cannot stop if you have started on this one."
The Orange Beef is a fan favourite: "This one is not THAT good," Fei wrote.Â
Fei said his blunt comments started when customers were confused by traditional Chinese dishes on the menu. They'd order things with familiar names not knowing what to expect, only to be disappointed.Â
"That's why I have to put more information [...] on the website, to kind of let them know," he said.
"But as I always like to joke around, [...] I sometimes probably went astray."Â
Prior to his newfound fame, Fei said he liked to stay behind the scenes. But now that his face has been on TV and all over the internet, he said the "floodgates have opened," and he's no longer afraid to step into the spotlight.
Fei is now regularly blogging as well as posting on YouTube where he reviews his restaurant's dishes.
His goal is to start reviewing other restaurants' menus, dishes and dining room experiences on social media, so he can use his growing platform to support and promote other businesses.
But restauranteurs beware: "I will be really honest, please contact me if you are ready and willing to face my honest reviews," wrote Fei in an Instagram post.Â
He also said he wants to start interviewing people on his channels.
"Just ordinary people, ordinary things, but ... when we are old, or several years later, when we look back, we'll have something to laugh at," Fei said.
Soon, anyone who accesses Harvard's archives will be able to do the same as they look at Aunt Dai's menu.Â
The Internet Is Obsessed With This Montreal Restaurant's Refreshingly Honest Menu
You might be a frequent eater of Cuisine AuntDai in Montreal. Or perhaps you just heard about the Chinese restaurant this week when its strikingly honest menu went viral.
But who is behind the hilarious descriptions and anecdotes that accompany each menu item? We spoke to owner Feigang Fei about his newfound fame and the decision to caption his orange beef with "This one is not THAT good. Anyway, I am not big fan of North American Chinese food and it's your call."
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What's the story behind the brutally honest comments on AuntDai's menu?
Fei told MTL Blog he began posting comments on the online menu four years ago, after noticing that some customers would order plates they didn't enjoy in the end.
"After so many of these cases, I started focusing on the weird menu items," said Fei, explaining he added comments to unusual dishes so customers would know what to expect before trying them.
The descriptions proved to be effective.
Fei said that when customers showed up to AuntDai, they raved about his advice and how helpful it was.
Fei went on to add descriptions to every one of AuntDai's menu items last year.
The comments are too good, each more comical than the last.
Here are some examples:
Peanut sauce (chicken, beef, shrimps or vegetables at choice): I don't know why but peanut sauce chicken is liked by a lot of customers at AuntDai. Â
House Salad:Â A lot of Chinese people know this dish but I don't, maybe I am not so Chinese.
Satay sauce beef: According to a lot of customers, this one is very popular, I still don't have chance to taste it. Looks like I should spend more time eating in my own restaurant.
Cumin beef: We used to have the beef pieces on small sticks but several customers cut their lips by it thinking it was some hard ingredient ... To avoid incidents like this, no more sticks.
Hot and sour soup: Spicy and tasty, no meat, drink slowly to avoid hiccups.Â
What is it like to 'go viral'?
The recent spike in AuntDai love started with a tweet from Montrealer Kim Belair who wrote, "Aunt Dai is my favourite Chinese restaurant in Montreal, but the REAL treat is the menu, featuring extremely honest commentary from the owner."Â
The tweet has since racked up over 66,000 "likes."Â
Fei called the experience of going viral "crazy."Â
When a German newspaper contacted him, he said he even asked for proof thinking it was spam.Â
"After checking, I saw it was one of the top papers in Germany," he said.Â
The story was also picked up by other international media outlets, such as The Guardian.Â
"It’s a first thing for me in my whole life," he said.Â
What's next for AuntDai?
Fei said he worried for his business near the start of the pandemic.Â
"The business went down a lot — maybe [by] 50, 60 percent," he said. "It was really bad, we had to let people go."
However, Fei said business slowly picked up when the restaurant joined Uber Eats, SkipTheDishes, DoorDash and Foodora.
"They take really big portion [for] the commission. I don't think we can make money, but it helps," Fei told MTL Blog.
"Without them, we would have closed for sure."
Fei also thanked AuntDai's loyal customers, who he said have been integral in keeping the restaurant alive.
"I know families who come from the West Island and Brossard to come pick up — some of them live really far," he said.Â
"Those customers really helped us, otherwise I would probably have had to close in early February."
Prior to the pandemic, Fei said the restaurant regularly held "exchange groups" on its second floor in the evenings, facilitating English and French tutoring for Chinese immigrants while helping Montrealers learn Chinese.Â
The restaurant also offered information sessions to new immigrants with backgrounds in specialized professional fields, aiding them in learning how to regain careers in Quebec.
"We resume the club [after the pandemic] to help the immigrants, to improve each other," he said.
As for next steps for the AuntDai website and Fei's food commentary, he told MTL Blog his goal is to continue the restaurant's blog in his spare time.
"I always like to write real stories about the hardships of running a restaurant," he said.Â
"We try to be better for ourselves, we want to improve. I just want to make things right and make customers happy."