One warning about Vietnamese food....fish sauce!!! It is one of their
favorite seasonings. (Actually, same goes for Thai food but I have had
a lot of luck asking restaurants to leave it out.)
A lot of Vietnamese restaurants have opened near my home (upper west
side, NYC) and I had a very uncomfortable experience recently when I
went to one and asked that they not use fish sauce when preparing the
dishes I wanted to order.
The waiter said to me "fish sauce vegetarian!!" and when I explained
that I did not want the fish sauce and could he ask the cook to leave
it out, he again said, in a slightly louder voice "fish sauce
vegetarian!!" (At this point, whether it was or wasn't vegetarian
should have been no concern of his. In fact, I had never said that I
was a vegetarian, I had only requested that there be no fish sauce in
my meal. His response and reaction were rude at the very least.) He
finally went back into the kitchen to ask what dishes did not have
fish sauce and came back and told me that every dish contained fish
sauce.
Not a happy dining experience and I have not returned there. I hope
that there are other restaurants [and waiters] who are more willing to
accomodate their paying/tipping clients.
jayne
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