'On the Menu' or 'In the Menu'? What Is the Difference? | Mastering Grammar

On the Menu or In the Menu: What Is the Difference?

Are you ever confused about whether your favourite dish should be described as on the menu or in the menu? Or whether the 'Save' option is on the Edit menu or in it? This post offers guidance on choosing the correct preposition to use with menu in different contexts. 

1. Menus Showing Availability: On the Menu

In restaurant settings, on the menu is used to indicate that food or drinks are listed on the menu and are available for ordering:

✅ Is the vegetarian lasagna on the menu today?

✅ There's a chocolate lava cake on the menu for dessert.

✅ What's on the menu? I'm starving!

✅ I didn't see that dish on the menu anywhere.

The entry for the noun menu (sense 1) in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

2. Menus as Documents: In the Menu

When treating a physical menu as a document (similar to a brochure or a book), we use in the menu to describe content within it:

✅ There is a section in the menu dedicated to the chef's specialities. 

✅ The desserts are grouped together in the menu.

✅ There are many typos in the menu.

✅ There are no descriptions or photos in the menu, so everything you order is a bit of a surprise!

3. Computer Program Menus: In the Menu

In the context of software, in the menu is used for options within a drop-down or pop-up menu:

✅ The 'Save As' option is in the File menu.

✅ You'll find the font settings in the Format menu.

✅ Look in the Tools menu for the spellchecker.

✅ Right-click to open the context menu; 'Copy' should be in that menu.

The entry for the noun menu (sense 2) in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

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Examples from the Media

Since opening day in 2014, Fat Pasha's whole roasted cauliflower has been the most popular dish on the menu. It's also gone through multiple price changes as the cost of ingredients went up and down over the last decade. —Toronto Star (2025)

Each dish on the menu has personal significance, though Hadid sees the pippies and chippies as a signature. —The Age (2025)

That dish, which will be on the restaurant's menu starting next week, also incorporated aquafaba, the slightly viscous water in cans of chickpeas, which is sometimes used as an egg white substitute. —The Washington Post (2019)

Cheng's background in French cuisine is apparent in the menu, but the Asian influence is there as well, which he holds close to his heart. —Toronto Sun (2024)

Tap on WhatsApp in the menu, then tap on 'Delete Hidden App Data', then 'Delete'. —Daily Mail (2018)

Photoshop has distortion correction functions in the Edit menu, labelled Perspective Warp. This is much harder to use than the new module in Lightroom, but once mastered it works well enough. —The Sydney Morning Herald (2016)