Kudasai — a Japanese menu reader that also places the order

This app is in development and is not yet listed on the App Store. This page describes what has been built.

Ordering is two separate problems

General translation apps treat a menu as text to be translated, which produces literal renderings that tell you a dish is “grilled thing set meal” and leave you no wiser. And even once you know what you want, there is the second problem: saying it, to a member of staff, in a way that is understood the first time.

Kudasai splits those deliberately. It interprets the menu — what the dish actually is — and then it produces a Japanese sentence you hand across the counter for staff to read.

What the Japanese menu reader does, and what it will not do

The product scope is explicitly limited, and the discipline is the point.

• Read the menu. Photograph a Japanese menu and the app performs OCR, works out the reading order of the text regions — non-trivial on a menu with columns, vertical text and prices — and interprets each line into a dish you can understand.
• Build the order. Chosen dishes go into an order, with modifiers for the usual requests. The order is assembled on your side before any interaction begins.
• Show it to the counter. The presentation view renders a Japanese sentence for staff to read directly from your screen. Handing over a phone with a clear written request works in a noisy restaurant in a way that speaking through a translation app does not.
• Speech as an assist, never a replacement. There is an optional tap to have the sentence read aloud in Japanese, but the screen is the channel. The layout is identical whether or not a Japanese voice is installed, and nothing is ever spoken without a tap — so the app cannot embarrass you by announcing itself in a quiet room.
• A phrasebook for the rest of the meal. A curated set of phrases for the parts of a meal either side of ordering — being seated, asking for the bill, the small exchanges that ordering apps skip.

Display-first, and designed for no signal

The two design constraints are that the screen is the communication channel and that the app should work in a restaurant basement with no data. Everything follows from those: the interaction is visual, the sentence is legible at arm's length, and the processing happens on the device.

It is also scoped hard. Read the menu, place the order, look up a phrase. No itinerary, no reviews, no social layer, no restaurant discovery — those would each make the app slower to use at the exact moment it needs to be fast.

Who it is for

Tourists in Japan who cannot read kanji and are avoiding restaurants without a picture menu — which, outside the tourist districts, is most of the good ones. The app's whole purpose is to make an unfamiliar counter approachable.

It also suits people who can order the basics but stall the moment there is a modifier involved, and travellers who would rather not conduct a conversation through a phone speaker in a quiet eight-seat restaurant.

Requirements and privacy

Menu photographs are processed on the device using the platform's vision and text capabilities; the camera is used only when you take a picture. The app is being built for recent iOS versions, which its on-device capabilities require.

Interpretation of a menu is a best effort — handwriting, stylised type and regional dish names are genuinely hard, and the app can be wrong. Treat it as a strong hint rather than a guarantee, especially where an allergy is involved.

This app is in development and is not yet listed on the App Store. This page describes what has been built.

Frequently asked questions

How does it help me order? You build an order from the interpreted menu, and the app displays a Japanese sentence on screen for staff to read. Handing the phone across the counter is the interaction.

Does it speak out loud? Only if you tap. Speech is an assist on top of the screen and never a replacement — nothing is spoken automatically.

Does it need an internet connection? It is built to work in a restaurant with no signal; menu reading and interpretation happen on the device.

Can I rely on it for allergies? No. Menu interpretation is a best effort and can be wrong on handwriting, stylised type or regional dish names. Where an allergy is involved, confirm with staff directly.

Is there anything beyond menus? Yes — a curated phrasebook for the parts of a meal either side of ordering: being seated, asking for the bill, and similar exchanges.