1 hour ago, C. sapidus said:
I am surprised that Hunan restaurants in Chinese cities with large Hunanese populations don't offer traditional options as "off-menu" items. In the US, those from the particular culture can often request off-menu items, or on-menu items prepared traditionally.
I have even heard of separate traditional menus being printed in something other than English (which I assume would not be necessary in China).
Sorry, maybe I didn't explain myself clearly. The article didn't explain clearly either. The restaurants in Shenzhen do prepare traditional Hunan food, to cater for the large Hunanese population there.
However the Hunanese populations of Beijing and Shanghai are much smaller at least in percentage terms. The Hunan restaurants there are not primarily catering to Hunan people, but people from elsewhere all over China - people who want to experience 'the Hunan experience' but don't necessarily know what that is, so are less judgemental.
You are correct in saying that separate menus would be unnecessary - written Chinese generally remains the same no matter how it's pronounced, even if it sounds totally different to another place.
