Chinese restaurant chain in S’pore criticised over lack of English in Grab menu options: ‘Alienating’ and ‘unacceptable’
A Chinese cuisine restaurant chain in Singapore has come under fire for allegedly excluding English translations from some of its menu options on the Grab app, with netizens commenting that the practice is “unacceptable” and “alienating”.
The restaurant, So Do Fun, which offers authentic Sichuan with three outlets in Singapore, was called out in an April 3 Reddit post for only having menu options in Chinese.
A screenshot shared by the Redditor showed multiple dish options listed in Chinese.
Speaking to Stomp, the Redditor recounted that they came across the listing while trying to order sliced fish soup on the Grab app. They had patronised the restaurant at Waterway Point on a previous occasion.
Although the main menu on the app was in English, customisation options for certain dishes were entirely in Chinese.
As the Redditor could not understand the language, they said they were surprised by the situation, adding that they had expected Grab to require translations from restaurant partners.
“I feel that this can be quite alienating to those who don’t understand the language, and goes against the spirit of multiculturalism,” the Redditor explained, stressing the importance of “creating unity and shared spaces”.
The user recalled encountering similar situations in the past, citing restaurants in the Bugis area.
On March 27, a Chinese restaurant in Jurong East was slammed for having a Chinese-only menu signboard, while another Chinese pancake stall menu went viral in July 2025 for the same reason.
Stomp has reached out to Grab and So Do Fun for comment.
‘A slippery slope’: Netizens raise alarm bells
Netizens were split over the post, with some describing the practice as “alienating” and “unacceptable”, while others said there was “nothing wrong” with it.
One commenter said those who felt it was permissible were “short-sighted”.
“Decades of nation building will get undone by accumulative diversive acts like this,” the user added.
The Redditor who started the thread agreed, speculating that bigger companies might follow suit.
“It’s a slippery slope once you start allowing different pockets of ethnicities to use their own language without enforcing a common one,” the user wrote.
Others agreed that having English translations was a “reasonable accessibility baseline”.
“If they are trying to keep things simple, even auto-translation plus a few key item photos would solve most of it,” one user said.
Another commenter suggested that it was a technological glitch, calling it an “amateur mistake”, while others said that the restaurant was simply catering to its targeted customer base.
“This is how segregation begins,” concluded another.
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