A practical approach for restaurants
Your menu should give the restaurant a voice and help guests compare dishes. Establish a repeatable order: section, dish name, description, then price. If every line uses a different weight, style, or decorative flourish, there is no clear rule for the reader to follow.
DM Serif Display and Inter make a useful starting comparison: the display face can introduce sections, while Inter carries descriptions and prices. Keep dish names identifiable, and give dietary notes and substitutions their own consistent treatment. Use a proof with several courses and your longest description.
Research found a relationship between measured visual clutter and visual-search performance in complex images. Rosenholtz, Li & Nakano (2007) Applying that result to a menu is a design inference: reduce competing decoration so the information has room.
Compare the printed menu and the version someone reads on a phone. A beautiful full-page image is an awkward format if guests must zoom to inspect every price. Test whether a reader can locate a vegetarian dish and its price without a guided explanation.
Dish and description hierarchy
Keep category headings distinct from dish names, and descriptions distinct from both. Set a generous sample containing a starter, a main course, and a longer description. Change size or weight deliberately rather than choosing a different font for every level.
Price alignment and dietary notes
Give prices a stable position, including when a dish name wraps. Keep dietary notes in a consistent supporting style and explain the symbols you use. Review the actual menu wording before publication; the type layout cannot establish whether a dish suits a dietary requirement.
Print and phone menu comparisons
For the phone version, use readable page text rather than relying entirely on a photograph of the printed menu. Keep the category order recognizable and check that long names and prices fit. Use the same content in each comparison so the typography is the meaningful difference.
Check before you commit
Ask readers to find a specified dish, price, and dietary note in both versions; record errors as well as time.
Research behind the advice
These font pairs are editorial recommendations. The cited studies did not test these specific combinations. Business applications are design advice, not measured promises of sales or bookings.