Menu calories

POST /v1/food/menu · $0.01 a call

Send a photo of a menu. A vision model reads every dish as printed (name, description, section and price) and estimates what a typical serving contains. Each component is matched to our reference nutrition database, and the dish gets a typical calorie figure with a low to high range, since restaurant portions vary.

For calorie trackers, restaurant ordering, diet coaches.

Request

Send the photo as image (multipart), image_base64 or image_url, as described in the overview. These fields go alongside it:

Field	Type	Description
`context`	string, up to 500 characters	Anything about the restaurant or the diner, e.g. "this is a fast food chain" or "large portions".

Photo tips. Photograph the whole menu page flat and in focus, without glare. One page per call; up to 20 dishes are read.

1curl https://truelens.keronlabs.com/v1/food/menu \
2  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRUELENS_KEY" \
3  -F image=@lunch.jpg \
4  -F context="example"

Response

Field	Description
`summary`	One line, e.g. "14 dishes, 380 to 1,450 kcal".
`is_menu`	false when the photo is not a menu; dishes is then empty.
`dishes[].name`	The dish name as printed.
`dishes[].description, section, price`	As printed, or null when the menu does not show them.
`dishes[].calories`	low, typical and high estimates for one serving. The range is 0.8x to 1.25x the typical estimate.
`dishes[].nutrition`	calories, protein_g, carbs_g, fat_g, fiber_g for a typical serving.
`dishes[].components`	What the estimate assumes: each ingredient with its grams and calories.
`dishes[].confidence`	0 to 1. Short names with no description score lower.
`notes`	Warnings, e.g. when only some dishes could be read.

Example

Output of this API’s own code on a sample photo. Values will differ for your photos.

1{
2  "metadata": {
3    "id": "req_9cf4da08fe7f40dab71a",
4    "engine": "food/menu",
5    "status": "success",
6    "cached": false,
7    "credits_used": 1,
8    "created_at": "2026-10-19T09:30:00.000Z",
9    "processing_ms": 3400
10  },
11  "summary": "3 dishes, 127 to 249 kcal",
12  "is_menu": true,
13  "dishes": [
14    {
15      "name": "Beetroot",
16      "description": "Feta, Pine-nut",
17      "section": "6 Course",
18      "price": null,
19      "calories": {
20        "low": 100,
21        "typical": 127,
22        "high": 160
23      },
24      "nutrition": {
25        "calories": 127,
26        "protein_g": 5.2,
27        "carbs_g": 4.8,
28        "fat_g": 10.4,
29        "fiber_g": 2.9
30      },
31      "components": [
32        {
33          "name": "roasted beetroot",
34          "grams": 70,
35          "calories": 34
36        },
37        {
38          "name": "feta",
39          "grams": 20,
40          "calories": 53
41        },
42        {
43          "name": "pine nuts",
44          "grams": 6,
45          "calories": 40
46        }
47      ],
48      "confidence": 0.6
49    },
50    {
51      "name": "Venison",
52      "description": "Carrot, Tarragon, Mushroom",
53      "section": "6 Course",
54      "price": null,
55      "calories": {
56        "low": 170,
57        "typical": 209,
58        "high": 260
59      },
60      "nutrition": {
61        "calories": 209,
62        "protein_g": 22.3,
63        "carbs_g": 8.5,
64        "fat_g": 9.4,
65        "fiber_g": 1.9
66      },
67      "components": [
68        {
69          "name": "venison loin",
70          "grams": 70,
71          "calories": 105
72        },
73        {
74          "name": "carrot",
75          "grams": 40,
76          "calories": 39
77        },
78        {
79          "name": "mushrooms",
80          "grams": 30,
81          "calories": 8
82        },
83        {
84          "name": "butter",
85          "grams": 8,
86          "calories": 57
87        }
88      ],
89      "confidence": 0.6
90    },
91    {
92      "name": "Apple",
93      "description": "Puff Pastry, Caramel, Vanilla",
94      "section": "6 Course",
95      "price": null,
96      "calories": {
97        "low": 200,
98        "typical": 249,
99        "high": 310
100      },
101      "nutrition": {
102        "calories": 249,
103        "protein_g": 2.5,
104        "carbs_g": 34.5,
105        "fat_g": 11.6,
106        "fiber_g": 1.7
107      },
108      "components": [
109        {
110          "name": "apple",
111          "grams": 60,
112          "calories": 39
113        },
114        {
115          "name": "puff pastry",
116          "grams": 30,
117          "calories": 167
118        },
119        {
120          "name": "caramel sauce",
121          "grams": 20,
122          "calories": 43
123        }
124      ],
125      "confidence": 0.5
126    }
127  ],
128  "notes": []
129}