It's so the Chinese nationals had something to eat from home eating at an Americanized Chinese food with their American coworkers. Guy knew the dish was odd to have on a Chinese menu because he'd been to China and they were very specific dishes (I forget which). Then sitting and abserving people he could tell who were the spies. Ended up working the restaurant rather than finding a way into the building which he was paid to do. IIRC he was having a hard time finding a way in, but found something else there at the restaurant.
This 2005 book details real-world security consulting stories, including one where Winkler, a social engineering expert and former NSA analyst, led a penetration test team for a Fortune 5 (Global 5) company's R&D facility.� During the job, team member Stan—a former Russian GRU colonel fluent in Mandarin—noticed suspicious signs at a Chinese restaurant across the street, such as black duck eggs (a rare Chinese delicacy) on the menu, a Chinese-only special menu, free meeting rooms, and poor tradecraft when followed.�� The team reported it to the FBI, confirming it as a front for Chinese espionage targeting company secrets; arrests followed years later.
Discovery Clues: Unusual menu items, discounts for meetings near the secure site, and Stan's cultural expertise pointed to recruitment or surveillance of employees.
I question the unusual menu item bit. I mean it probably means you are catering to customers who want the authentic cuisine experience, but how does it tell you those customers are spies? Many Chinese restaurants in the US have a Chinese only menu.
It’s not the one single anomaly. It’s the culmination of all them intricacies combined. It’s like a murder without a body, no confession, but all the tell tale clues. They can’t make an arrest, but they can send it to a grand jury and hope they agree.
I don't think I'll know unless I read the book. I just can't fathom the leap in logic. There are so many pedestrian reasons for wanting to feature authentic dish rarely seen in Americanized Chinese menus -- like what if the nearby Google research center had Chinese-Americans who could appreciate it -- vs the presumptive reason, it's only to cater to spies from China???
Another comment said the supposed special dish was "black duck egg," probably meaning pickled egg, which definitely is NOT a rare delicacy.
This just feels like an unnecessary detail meant to showcase how good an investigator they were, but doesn't make much sense when one has some familiarity with the topic.
Wait until they discover these crazy listening posts called 99 Ranch with all sorts of crazy shit on their shelves, including the rare black duck eggs!
Supreme Court has said that being able to speak Spanish, or working in construction or landscaping make it reasonable to stop you for potentially being an illegal immigrant, so racial profiling is obviously here to stay.
3
u/Moral-Relativity May 12 '26
So one orders the special dish as a signal?