Chicken bald back

[Cinnamon]

My daughters & I love a well known chain of restaurants, & it is our choice of place to eat at lunchtime, particularly because of the wide range of veggie options for my youngest girl.

However the last 3 times she has found either fish skin/scales or fish roe in or on her veggie dish.

They have always made us another (its very fresh food, made to order) , but we are getting a bit fed up of it frankly, & she is getting cross that she may inadvertently eat fish & is losing faith in them.

 

So, if the veggie stuff is being prepped in the same area as the fishy stuff, can they advertise it as veggie?

And to whom do we report it,officially.

[Geoid]

So, if the veggie stuff is being prepped in the same area as the fishy stuff, can they advertise it as veggie?

No

And to whom do we report it,officially.

Your local environmental health officer, you can find them here

[Cinnamon]

Marvelous. Wish we had taken photos too now.

[Geoid]

The Food Standards Agency guidelines are quite clear about this:

 

The term 'vegetarian' should not be applied to foods that are, or are made from or with the aid of, products derived from animals that have died, have been slaughtered, or animals that die as a result of being eaten. Animals means farmed, wild or domestic animals, including for example, livestock poultry, game, fish, shellfish, crustaceans, amphibians, tunicates, echinoderms, molluscs, and insects.

[Groovychook]

That's appalling

I'm a strict vegetarian and would be annoyed if that happened once but furious if it was repeated.

 

I'd report them without hesitation. Let us know how you get on...

[Cinnamon]

Will do!

Its a bit embarrassing really, because we eat there a lot,are friendly with the staff & so forth.....

But it has actually gotten beyond a joke now

I have also emailed the company & ranted freely about it on their Facebook page, so we shall see.

[soapdragon]

Is Trading Standards' the same thing? This is NOT acceptable... veggie should mean veggie so, even if you know them well and eat there a lot, if this is continually happening they need to wise up.....I think it may be a legal issue?

[Lavenders_Blue]

I'd also let the Vegetarian Society know. They are VERY hot on this sort of thing. One of their big campaigns at the moment is to stop restaurants putting Parmesan cheese on all their 'vegetarian' dishes... Which is one of my real bugbears!

[quickcluck]

are we allowed to ask which chain????

 

My pet hate is places that cook my veggie stuff on a grill that's had meat on it!!!!!

[Kirstine]

Would be totally unacceptable to me, too. I'm not veggie, but am allergic to seafood and frequently eat veggie food.

[Lavenders_Blue]

are we allowed to ask which chain????

 

My pet hate is places that cook my veggie stuff on a grill that's had meat on it!!!!!

 

Oh yes, this too!

[Cinnamon]

Sure you can ask...its Yo! Sushi, Reading branch.

So you can see what I mean...they are making her Avacado Maki or Firecracker rice to order & fish is finding its way in to the dish. Makes me wonder if the staff are actually changing gloves & using a separate work area, as they should be.

[quickcluck]

i'd definately complain.... it's not acceptable. Last time I had something by mistake I was sick for days!

[majuka]

You have my sympathies, it is so frustrating isn't it. I have got to the stage where we only tend to go out for meals when meeting up with other friends as frankly so many places offer such uninspiring vegetarian options, have odd ideas of what is vegetarian ( as already mentioned - parmesan) and places that have included meat in my 'vegetarian options'. It is cheaper to eat at home, we have more creative ideas and at least I am not going to find meat in there.

 

I have been served stuffed jacket potato skins in my local Mexican - 2 options - with bacon or without. Clearly ordered without but turned up with bacon which luckily I noticed before I ate it. My lentil dhal at an Indian, the last mouthful I took had something very chewy which when I spat it back out was a small piece of chicken - no idea how much I ate .......... (and no manager, the 15% discount loyalty card you gave us will never be used because I am never setting foot in there again).

 

Unless you are very lucky to know a decent place (we do know a couple), eating out sucks when you are a vegetarian

[Cinnamon]

Ah yes, Parmesan....................

 

We went to 'Ask' - lovely place - & the waitress asked me if I would like Parmesan, which I said I would. She grated it onto my dish, then went straight to Cleo's meal & started to grate it onto hers.

Cleo shouted her to stop (she hadn't asked Cleo if she had wanted Parmesan, & even if she hadn't been veggie, she would have declined as she doesn't like the taste of it anyhow) & the waitress said 'of course its vegetarian,its cheese

 

Took some real explaining,that one. Even the manager of the branch thought Parmesan was veggie.

In the end they hauled out a huge book outlining the ingredients of every single thing they use in the place, & sure enough it was marked as non vegetarian!

[Lavenders_Blue]

It's infuriating isn't it? The last time I went out for a meal the veggie dish was a boring pasta with tomato sauce and, you guessed it, Parmesan. I asked if I could have it with goats cheese instead of Parmesan (there was goats cheese in some of the other dishes on the menu, so they must have had some) but it was still served to me with Parmesan on top. Grrrrrrrr! The pasta was overcooked and horrid too, so all in all, pretty rubbish!

[merlina]

reading this, I am surprised, and substantially disappointed, at how little we've progressed since the 1970s

[Lesley]

reading this, I am surprised, and substantially disappointed, at how little we've progressed since the 1970s

 

Just what I was thinking! I became veggie in 1980 and nothing much has changed - forever the ubiquitous pasta in tomato sauce *sigh* and raw peppers......and raw mushrooms....and lots of black pepper! I stopped going to any Christmas 'do' years ago because I object to paying an extortionate amount for pasta and tomato. (I do eat meat now, at home, but only what we've reared ourselves)

 

I hope you get some satisfactory answers Sarah - once could be a mistake but it should never have happened again, once you'd mentioned it to them.

 

Dessert menus are a minefield as well - so many desserts with gelatine in....but denied by any staff you ask.

[sadietoo]

Some thoughts from a long term veggie foodie...

 

The last time I had a veggie meal with my Daughter at Wagamamas (we are both veggie)

 

we got it free because it clearly had bits of something animal in it (probs just been dished up with the same spoon tbh but I did stress the need to re-educate the staff!)

 

Indian and Chinese restaurants are a nightmare (although you would think they would know better for religious reasons in some cases) and you often find chicken in the bottom of your dish...don't trust them and don't go there

I refuse to eat pasta and tomato sauce anywhere - it's not a restaurant meal substitute and I can make a much much better version at home and so if that's all the only veggie meal on offer I have taken to telephoning "Chef£ in advance to see what he can offer off menu..Actually I have had some delicious food this way, and usually Chef is interested in the feedback and quite excited to create something different...if he isn't don't go there or just have a starter...both options infinitely better than the usual ubiquitous Brake Brothers reheated instant or having to say...I'll have the food because that's the only option on the menu....

 

As I have said before, we are lucky enough to live close to Brighton which has a brilliant range of Veggie restaurants (of which Terre a Terre is absolutely the best by miles imo) so that makes me stroppy...(hence ringing Chef in advance!) Good Veggie food is available people...you just have to fight for it a bit!!

 

Edited to add...I actually hate Goats Cheese and am not that struck with Aubergine (but will eat it at a push...that always floors them too, because it's a well known fact that all veggies love both!)

[Eggasperated]

Melon is the problem for me, very often the veggie substitute starter for fixed menus (and family do's) - and I'm allergic to it.