You are sitting in a nice restaurant, the waiter has brought you the menu and suddenly you realize it is only in the local language - no English translation is available. You ask the waiter for help, but he does not understand you. Has this ever happened to you?

Maybe you carry a pocket dictionary with you and now you frantically start looking up words on the menu. Your next discovery is that names of popular dishes and fishes are rarely found in a pocket dictionary. What next?

Wouldn't it be nice if your companion just pulled out her smartphone, opened a Menu app and quickly translated the menu for you? Or if you could do that for her?

Il Menu contains thousand words commonly found on Italian restaurant menus and related to Italian food in general. You will both find the names of popular dishes and the names of ingredients in the food.

Go to Il Menu on Google Play

Le Menu contains two thousand words commonly found on French restaurant menus and related to French food in general. You will both find the names of popular dishes and the names of ingredients in the food.

Go to Le Menu on Google Play

These two Menu apps function the same way. You can scroll through the list of words or you can search for a specific word by typing it. When you start to type a word the list on your screen is narrowed down to a list of words that match your search and you can keep that shorter list on your screen while you browse through the words on it.

There is a Help menu that offers hints on how to browse through the list and a Feedback option that allows you to send comments or suggestions to the author. Anyone who suggests an addition to the list will be notified when the app is updated.

Click here to join the Menu Club on Facebook and share your stories and pictures

Send an email to the author