“Lots of Chinese dishes have these inventive names, so mysterious translations like this are a pretty common occurrence. I’d like to see a small note with some background on how the dish is usually prepared.”

Even with an accurate translation, one has no information about the dish. For example, if you are unfamiliar with Kung Pao Chicken, it would be helpful to know it’s a (usually spicy) dish of diced chicken, peanuts, chili peppers, and veggies. We would love to provide this extra information to Waygo users so that you can spend your money wisely, and arguably more important, save your tastebuds from any preventable dining disasters. Stay tuned for product updates!

We were also curious to learn about the infamous 老干妈西葫芦 dish that Josh found while using Waygo. Waygo translated it as “Aged Godmother Squash.”

老干妈 (lǎogānmā): Old godmother
西葫芦 (xīhúlú): Cucurbita Pepo A.K.A., summer squash or zucchini

While Aged Godmother Squash is an accurate translation, most foreigners have no idea what the heck Aged Godmother Squash is comprised of. We can only imagine what Josh’s imagination came up with! After investigation, we discovered the dish is a stir-fry made up of zucchini, seasoning, and black bean sauce. Where does the name come from? The black bean sauce used is the 老干妈 (lǎogānmā) brand, but could be made with any ole’ black bean sauce.

Sound yummy? Here’s a recipe to make it. And one of the best parts? It’s classified as easy–制作难度：简单–and takes only 10 minutes to make! Sounds like you’ve got tonight’s dinner menu all set.

Thanks again to Josh and The Beijinger team for helping us get the word out about Waygo! With Waygo in hand, we hope you can go places you’ve never gone before, like those hole-in-the-wall noodle joints that don’t have English menus.

We appreciate any and all feedback in order to make Waygo the most useful app possible, so please feel free to sign up as a test user.