Shop-bought stock is OK but FFS do not deceive your clients who are vegetarians.
Restaurant is Tamarind Mayfair in London.
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Or who are Muslim as the stock cube will not be halal.
Disgraceful practice, IMO.
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Ugh. Just shameful. I hope Michelin strips them of the star and Iām sure customer lawsuits will follow. Just so messed up.
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Nasty plus an arrogant attitude. Iām surprised that no vegetarian diners tasted something āamissā. I havenāt eaten meat or chicken in over 40 years and a chicken or beef flavor is instantly apparent and unpleasant.
Thereās a mexican restaurant nearby that uses chicken stock in all the rice and doesnāt mention it:(. Why?
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They probably figure everyone just assumes that the dishes are not vegetarian in any case.
It isnāt necessary for a restaurant to offer honest vegetarian food, just as not every restaurant has to have an always available plate to suit every dietary request or cultural preference. BUT it is unconscionable to mislable food in any way.
Equally discomfiting is the idea of a Michelin, or any really professional kitchen, using Knorr cubes. Thatās pretty shoddy. If you are going to include broth in a dish, use the real thing and be honest about that also.
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I understand what your saying, but an Indian chef would know how important it is to accurately label the food given the multiple dietary preferences of the subcontinent.
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I totally understand and agree. But also realize that diets of other cultures are not so circumscribed and that within those cultures, the consumer needs to be alert to oblivious kitchens. Regarding cultural, religious and allergy restrictions, the real onus is on the diner. Sad, even wrong, but true.
One has to ask when making reservations, ask when ordering, and then pray that everyone preparing oneās food attends to your request.
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Except that diners were actively deceived, even after all that.
Itās one thing to claim obliviousness or refuse to accommodate restrictions or preferences.
Itās entirely another to say you are doing so when you are explicitly lying.
[As an aside, I think many restaurants that list vegetarian or vegan options (as opposed to ones that are exclusively such) likely have ācross-contaminationā in the kitchen - spoons, pots, blanching water, hot oil, etc. My most rigid/observantly vegetarian family/friends will only eat at vegetarian places. Not that thatās the right outcome, but to them thatās the only guaranteed one based on other peopleās flexible notions of what they need to/should do with dietary restrictions/preferences.]
Your friends and family are wise.
eta, I absolutely abhor any misrepresentation of food or any product. The original example of the Michelin kitchen was reprehensible. I am cynic enough to think it isnāt singular, but that excuses nothing. Besides being stripped of any Michelin recognition, it should face some kind of civic penalty for misrepresenting product in the marketplace.
Iām sure they are right. For most restaurant kitchens, the vegetarian dish is simply just another dish.
One need always ask. An Indian vegetarian friend ordered a Greek salad once, and was not happy when it arrived with anchovies on top. Nor was he willing to trust them when they said they would make him one without anchovies, suspecting that they would just remove them from this salad and re-serve it.
Another friend described asking if something had meat in it, was told no, and then had the dish arrive with bits of bacon. āOh, thatās just for flavoring,ā she was told. (Admittedly, this was a several decades ago.)
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We are omnivores so have no issues here but I remember being in a restaurant in Tenerife. Mrs H ordered the āvegetable soupā. It came and, whilst it was indeed mainly vegetables, there were small cubes of meat in it as well. Out of interest, we checked the Castilian version of the menu just to see if there had been a mistranslation into English - but, nope, there was āsopas de verdurasā
