Delicious magazine editor-in-chief Kerrie McCallum says collating a menu is a "fine art form" which should fit in with the vibe and message behind the restaurant.
"You can have restaurants that are doing menus which just list three ingredients - like pork, apple, cauliflower - where you really have to use your imagination, right through to restaurants that have written essays on the produce and the producers and where it was sourced from," Ms McCallum told news.com.au.
"Customers are pretty good at sniffing out when it's pretentious and unnecessary. They want a new experience, but they don't want it to be OTT or ridiculous," Ms McCallum said.
"It needs to feel natural and that you're learning a little about the chef and what they're doing, so you can go away and talk about the experience. It is really off-putting when you see a menu that is just pretentious for pretentiousness' sake."
She said if the menu doesn't fit with the ethos of the restaurant, it won't be successful.
"If you're using fancy words and ingredients just for the sake of it, you're not great at what you're doing anyway. If it doesn't taste great and it wasn't a great experience, the customer isn't coming back. We want comfort and familiarity but also to learn and try something different," she said.
To help customers out, OpenTable has created a new dictionary for difficult-to-understand food terms. We've collated some of the more unusual ones below.
Aerated mousse: Made by charging a liquid, usually melted chocolate, with gas to form a solid mousse
Amuse Bouche: Single, bite sized appetiser served according to the chef's selection and not ordered from a menu by the diner
Au Poivre: A French term meaning "with pepper", typically describing meats either prepared by coating in coarse ground peppercorns before cooking or accompanied by a peppercorn sauce
Beignet: A pastry made from deep-fried choux pastry
Blanquette de veau: French veal ragout which is cooked to ensure the veal and the butter are not browned
Brochette: Food cooked, and occasionally served, on skewers or brochettes
Brunoise: Amixture of finely diced vegetables fried in butter and used to flavour soups and sauces
Buccan cooked meat: Meat which is slow-roasted or smoked over a fire on a wooden framework or hurdle
Chiffonnade: A chopping technique in which herbs or leafy green vegetables, such as spinach and basil, are cut into long, thin strips
Chocolate soil: Used as a base or topping in desserts, small pieces of chocolate covered in heated sugar
Confit: Food that is cooked slowly over a long period of time as a method of preservation
Croustade: French culinary term for a pie crust usually made of flaky or puff pastry
Crudités: Mixed sliced raw vegetables served as an appetiser which are sometimes dipped into a sauce
Crudo: Italian for 'raw'
Devilled: To cook with hot spices and seasoning
En croute: Food served in a pastry crust
En Papillote: Method of cooking the food in a folded parcel, usually made from parchment paper
Flambé: Alcohol is added to a hot pan to create a burst of flames
Fricassee: French stew traditionally served in a thick white sauce
Gazpacho: Cold soup made from raw vegetables, usually with a tomato base
Gratinated: To cook with a covering of breadcrumbs or cheese until a crisp layer forms on top
Infusion: The flavour that is extracted from an ingredient (e.g. tea, herbs, fruit) by steeping them in a liquid such as water, oil or vinegar
Jus: The natural juices released from a food as it cooks, usually from meat
Julienne vegetables - culinary knife cut in which vegetables are cut into long thin strips, similar to matchsticks
Kefir: A fermented milk drink similar to a lassi
Kohlrabi: A bulbous member of the cabbage family that tastes similar to turnip
Lardo: Aunique cured pork product produced in Italy. It is made from the thick layer of fat directly below the skin of a pig; the fat is carefully removed and cured in salt and spices so that it can be stored for extended periods of time
Meunière: Is a sauce that features a combination of brown butter, chopped parsley and lemon, mainly used to marinate fish
Meze: A variety of hot and cold dishes, served together at the beginning of a meal in the Middle East, Greece, and Turkey
Mirepoix: A combination of roughly chopped onions, carrots and celery. Mirepoix, raw, roasted or sauteed with butter or olive oil, is the flavour base for a wide variety of dishes, such as stocks, soups, stews and sauces
Nage: A flavoured broth used for poaching delicate foods, typically seafood
Navarin: A French stew made with lamb or mutton
Noisette: Small medallions of meat
Nori: Thin dry sheets of seaweed used in Japanese cooking
Offal: Edible internal organs of meat, poultry and game
On the half shell: Usually used to describe oysters served on their bottom shell, usually on a bed of crushed ice
Orzo: Small rice shaped pasta
Pan haggerty: A hearty Northumbrian dish made from potatoes, onions and cheese
Pre-fermented: When baking bread, ingredients are fermented for a long time before mixing all the ingredients to make the final dough, it is a way to get as much flavour as possible out of the ingredients
Quenelle: Food items that are shaped into an oval or egg shape. Quenelle may also refer to a small amount of creamed fish or meat that has been shaped into an oval and then poached
Queso fresco: A fresh Mexican cheese. It is slightly salty and crumbles easily
Roux: A mixture of fat and flour cooked together and used to thicken sauces
Salmagundi: A salad dish, originating in the early 17th century in England, comprising cooked meats, seafood, vegetables, fruit, leaves, nuts and flowers and dressed with oil, vinegar and spices
Shakshuka: A Moroccan inspired dish of poached eggs based in a tomato sauce of chilli peppers, onions and spiced cumin
Spatchcock chicken: Chicken that has been prepared for cooking by removing the backbone and flattening it out before roasting or grilling
Tempered chocolate: A way of making chocolate by controlling the temperature of melted chocolate as it cools. This ensures that the chocolate is made to be shiny, "snapable" and without a white bloom
Terrine: A French meat loaf dish, similar to p pâté, made with more coarsely chopped ingredients
Tomato concasse: Tomato that has been peeled, seeded and diced
Unleavened: Bread, cakes and other baked goods made without a raising agent such as baking powder or yeast
Veal hongroise: Veal served with a paprika-flavoured Sauce Velouté. It is one of the classic sauces from French cuisine
Welsh rarebit: A savoury sauce of hot melted cheese and other ingredients, such as ale, mustard, pepper and Worcestershire sauce, poured over toasted bread
Xanthan gum: Used as a stabiliser, emulsifier and thickener in dairy products, salad dressings and sauces
Yakitori: A Japanese dish consisting of grilled skewers of meat, fish or vegetables
Zaatar: A Middle Eastern herb mixture composed of savory, thyme, sumac and sesame seeds
Zabaglione: An Italian dessert made from egg yolks, wine and sugar. The ingredients are beaten over simmering water to create a light, foamy custard
