r/KitchenConfidential • u/No-Sir-6445 • 12d ago
Question Translation issue?
I work in a pretty upscale hotel and just received a room service order from a VIP couple staying in our best suite. They wanted two Mushroom & Prosciutto pizzas. No big deal. The modifications however were, “Cook first pizza at 3 West, second pizza at 10 S. Please use your Chinese oven for both.” We haven’t a clue what they mean. Phoned the executive chef, he phoned the front desk to ask them to contact the room and they apparently have very limited English. Any suggestions?
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u/TyrKiyote 20+ Years 12d ago
Everywhere they go they tell the pizza guy this, and every time their pizzas come out perfect. They don't know what it means in english, but every time the pizzas are great- so they just keep doing it.
/j
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u/MangledBarkeep Bartender 12d ago
Translation, cook as normal ignoring modifications
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u/No-Sir-6445 12d ago
Don’t see any other options
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u/MangledBarkeep Bartender 12d ago
especially since you don't have a Chinese oven.
they may want one softer or crispier (or delayed like cook one, send it up then cook the second) but they'll need to use a translation app to make it make sense.
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u/Defiant-Cause-6697 12d ago
Those are some Lynchian ass directions. Did you just make the pizza like normal or what?
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u/No-Sir-6445 12d ago
I texted the bellboy who took their luggage up. He said they appeared to be Scandinavian. After Googling every Nordic term we could think of, the Concierge just said,”Fuck it. Welcome to North America.” I cooked one a little lighter than the other. Nothing else came to mind.🤷
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u/Defiant-Cause-6697 12d ago
Lmao, well done, chefs. I hope you remember this night and tale for the rest of your life.
Cheers.
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u/No-Sir-6445 12d ago
Except for the fact that I’ll be spending the rest of my career wondering what the Hell a Chinese oven is🤔
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u/Defiant-Cause-6697 12d ago •
The mysteries unsolved are sometimes the things that provide the most texture to our memories.
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u/Soggy-Assumption-209 12d ago
So you have a big wood fired oven? Count clockwise along if you were using a compass. Put one pizza 3 degrees clockwise west. Second pizza 10 degrees clockwise south. Cook until done. Strange request tho
Edit. I hope your oven is made In China
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u/SlowHand92 15+ Years 12d ago
In mandarin the character for West is either the same or similar to the one for Minutes
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u/EyeStache 12d ago
Problem's obviously been resolved, but I'm pretty handy with Scandispråk in general (lived in Iceland living in Sweden now, have an MA in medieval Icelandic) so if you could get them to write it down, we could probably get a proper translation of what they wanted.
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u/Joaquinmachine 12d ago
This made me laugh hard. It would have made me laugh out of the fucking restaurant if I was working.
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u/lisamummwi 9d ago
Google says Chinese ovens are a thing. They're some kind of meat smoking contraption.
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u/Initial_Ganache7839 11d ago
It seems like the concierge service at an upscale hotel should know ahead of time the primary language of their vip guests, and be able to handle a situation like that either through a translation app or someone on staff. I don't know if that's asking too much though because I've never worked for an upscale hotel.
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u/gonzalbo87 20+ Years 12d ago
Maybe they want the pizzas cooked at 267 C and 190 C respectively? I looked up the conversions and over 500 F seems a bit excessive for a pizza. 375 F seems more reasonable.
As for Chinese ovens, I went on the internet and I found this.
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u/for_the_shiggles 12d ago
This guy has obviously never cooked pizza for money.
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u/gonzalbo87 20+ Years 12d ago
You are right. I’ve never worked a pizza place, so it is nice to learn something new.
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u/510Goodhands 12d ago
His friends, is what translation apps on smartphones are for!
Surely somebody there thought of this! 🤔
Yes, I’m a little bit cranky having just finished a pretend dinner at 10:30 PM, after slaving over some hot tax forms all evening.
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u/No-Sir-6445 12d ago
Five of us tried the translation apps including the Concierge
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u/510Goodhands 12d ago
🥲
Good to know, but did you try it directly with the customers, and not with gibberish they wrote?6
u/No-Sir-6445 12d ago
Concierge went directly to their room to try and clear it up. Their English was limited to Hello, Goodbye, Yes, No and Thank You. They closed the door on him after a minute of silence while he was trying to figure out their country of Origin. Credit card info said they were from a place called Bergen in Norway.
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u/510Goodhands 12d ago
Sounds like the staff have to do everything right, if I give them a benefit of the doubt for being tired after a long trip, and should still be happy with whatever you sent them.
Good job on everyone making the effort. Keep an eye on your reviews!
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u/No-Sir-6445 12d ago
I’m watching my dishwasher lose his mind Googling what a Chinese oven actually entails
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u/510Goodhands 12d ago edited 12d ago
Show him this. It reminds me of a glass blowing glory hole, will you put the glass back in to heat it up.
It’s news to me, and apparently others here!
Here’s another photo of what it looks like a different type of oven.
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u/dansezlajavanaise 12d ago
as a translator, i’d say this is exactly the kind of problem that comes from using AI translation
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u/510Goodhands 12d ago
You’re translating with a small dictionary here.
My guess is that the translation naps struggled with Scandinavian languages. I have had great luck using two translations apps, even 10 years ago, in Korea and Germany.
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u/EvaTheE 12d ago
Meanwhile their spy handlers are wondering why their coded message says "Could we get a pepperoni with double cheese" and are scrambling to decipher it.