'Bean curd made by a pock-marked woman' becomes 'Mapo tofu', whilst 'Chicken without sex life' has been renamed 'Steamed pullet.'

Officials will no doubt have been keen to see 'Government abused chicken' rebranded as 'Kung pao chicken.'

Beijing's local government have produced a book of these translations and are calling on restauranteurs to pick up their copy and begin translating menus in readiness for the Olympics.

"It's not compulsory," said Su Shan of the Beijing Tourism Administration.

"They can choose to use the translations or not for bilingual menus."

"About one third of the hotels in Beijing, including the 119 designated Olympic hotels, have received the pamphlet."

But this kowtowing to foreigners has not gone down well with the Chinese.

"I don't like this new naming method, it's abandoning Chinese tradition," said one Internet commenter.

"There are many stories in the names of these dishes."

Commentators have also been critical of the translations.

"The process of standardising a menu translation is a double-edged sword," said Raymond Zhou of China Daily.

"It removes the ambiguity and unintended humor, for sure."

"But then it takes away the fun and the rich connotation too."

"It turns a menu into the equivalent of plain rice, which has the necessary nutrients but is devoid of flavour."

Zhou also pointed out inconsistencies in the way that dishes have been translated.

"What is puzzling is the use of transliteration when the meaning can be tersely put across in English," he said.

"Why is 'fish-flavoured' passed up and 'yu-shiang' chosen?"

"The latter does not mean anything for those who are not into the Chinese language."

But restauranteurs appear to be grateful for the translations, which they see as being of great help.

"Thanks to the pamphlet, we do not have to struggle to come up with the English translations of dishes any more, which is usually time consuming," said Mr Wang, a senior manager at Beijing's Guangzhou fine dining restaurant.