299474 Fri Dec 17 01:03:08 -0800 2004 13 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1659276 Coworkers wanted to lunch today at a Vietnamese place near my office, that is popular for group coworker lunches, probabaly because it is more upscale in appearance and more uniform in food than some of the other (and in my opinion, better) Vietnamese restaurants in the neighborhood.... Still, it is far from the worst choice non-hound coworkers could make, so we go and I ordered a chicken soup listed on the menu as follows: "Mi Tom Cua Thit - Prawn, crab, pork, egg noodle soup". It was tasty enough when it came, other than the crab, which was imitation crab! (I was really surprised and disappointed, particularly since crab is in season here right now around here). Should I have sent it back? I didn't, for two reasons: 1. main reason: it took 30 minutes to be served. Usually the place is pretty busy, but today it was slammed, and I really didn't have time for a long lunch. 2. besides, I was only charged $5.50, and the soup was certainly worth that much. I even wondered if the low cost should have clued clueless me in( that I wasn't going to get real carb (?) (just to be clear though: this is not a little hole in the wall. It is a fairly large well-known place that does an excellent lunch business) So the real question: in sending something back because it doesn't match the menu description, does it matter whether the restaurant in question is low, medium or high end? Does using a fake version of something count as false/inaccurate menu description? Fri Dec 17 01:03:08 -0800 2004 0 susancinsf 1 1659280 Since the use of imitation crab is a pervasive practice in the industry, I would venture that the burden is on the diner to query about whether it is imitation or genuine. If the menu had indicated the provenance of the crab -- a typical practice in Western-type establishments -- then you might be more justified in assuming it was genuine. But under the circumstances you describe, I would not. Fri Dec 17 05:57:42 -0800 2004 1659276 0 Karl S, 2 1659288 I agree. For $5.50 there's a good chance you aren't getting any Dungeness, even in season. Fri Dec 17 10:13:45 -0800 2004 1659280 0 srr 2 1659289 I agree. For $5.50 there's a good chance you aren't getting any Dungeness, even in season. Fri Dec 17 10:15:22 -0800 2004 1659280 0 srr 3 1659350 well, I'm inclined to agree, but not positive: a whole dungeness is only $6.88 at Best Panda.(see link below) After all, this was only a few pieces of meat in a soup with lots of other ingredients. Which raises the question: since most of you who answered think different standards apply at Asian than at non-Asian restaurants, if you went to say, Best Panda, ordered Salt and Pepper Crab, and got fake: would you not send it back based on that different standard? I don't think that it is necessarily 'fair' (whatever that means) that a restaurant should be able to engage in what in essence amounts to false advertising,(by advertising crab when they are in fact serving something else entirely, that is, surimi. why not just call it surimi on the menu? ) just because that practice occurs more commonly in one type of cuisine than another. Besides, I have eaten at many, many restaurants, both Asian and not, and this is the first time I've ever been served immitation crab/surimi unless I was specifially told, either on the menu or by a server, that it was immitation/surimi.... Nonetheless, you can bet I will ask from now on. At the very least, perhaps the restaurant in question would be encouraged to change their menu to accurately describe what they are serving, if people do repeatedly ask. Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/33130#147765 Fri Dec 17 15:38:21 -0800 2004 1659289 0 susancinsf 4 1659353 I would not accept a dish which claimed its main ingredient was crab but turned out to be surimi. At this point, though, I would try to head off that situation by asking. Fri Dec 17 15:44:56 -0800 2004 1659350 0 bibi rose 5 1659374 Agreed. Heck, live blue crabs are only a couple of bucks a pound in Asian and Hispanic markets here in Chicago, and I'd rather have an ounce of the real deal than a pound of surimi. Surimi should be labeled as such on the menu. At the very, very least, the word "crab" should be in quotes. It just ain't crab, no-how, and should not be advertised as such - and it strikes me as patronizing to say that Asian restaurants should not have to say it's surimi. Heck, I used to date a guy who was severely allergic to finned fish, but not shellfish (I swear this is true, seriously!). What, he's supposed to go into anaphylactic shock because it's "accepted" policy? There is a good damned reason that we have laws about this kind of stuff! *hops off soapbox, thanks friend Jeff for weird allergy citation* Fri Dec 17 19:04:02 -0800 2004 1659353 0 peg 4 1659364 Just be aware that false advertising is quite frequent when it comes to seafood generally. Lots of previously frozen fish is served under the rubric of fresh, and the names of the varieties on the menu may be loosely connected to what is served if the type of fish is generic or obscure enough. That is true regardless of cuisine. (It's one of the reasons that some people stick to fish varieties that cannot have imitations "pass" for them.) Caveat emptor. Fri Dec 17 17:28:50 -0800 2004 1659350 0 Karl S. 4 1659371 The comparison to Best Panda's crab special is like apples and oranges because deals like that are loss leaders for group meals. What's the logic of intentionally losing money on a single serving lunch dish? Fri Dec 17 17:54:20 -0800 2004 1659350 0 Pork Butt 5 1659383 actually, I am not at all sure the crab IS a loss leader at Best Panda. All of the prices for dishes there are low. For that matter, if I am not mistaken wholesale prices for Dungeness in SF are about as low as they ever get right now... Fri Dec 17 23:01:30 -0800 2004 1659371 0 susancinsf 2 1659294 I agree with Karl and srr Fri Dec 17 10:35:28 -0800 2004 1659280 0 Alan408 1 1659307 I should preface this by saying that I'm FAR from an expert, but my understanding is that what's commonly known as "fake crab meat" in the U.S. is actually a very old and common Japanese food called surumi, or fish paste. Asian diners understand that fish paste is its own foodstuff, not a substitute for something else. So perhaps this soup is meant to be made with surumi, and the translation on the menu simply reads "crab" because U.S. diners frequently associate surumi with (fake) crab. Link: http://www.surimithailand.com/Surumi.html Fri Dec 17 11:28:40 -0800 2004 1659276 0 just a thought 2 1659333 Agreed; with Asian restaurants in particular you have to expect to see surimi. If a Western restaurant does that to me I will object. It becomes a problem for me because I hate surimi and don't even want to eat anything it's touched on my plate. I was in a goodish Japanese restaurant for lunch recently and my teriyaki salmon came with a salad topped with shredded surimi. Very hard to get away from the stuff. Fri Dec 17 14:08:08 -0800 2004 1659307 0 bibi rose 1 1659380 I actually like fake crab once in awhile, like in a Calif roll. That said, it does annoy me when restaurants call it crab. The practice is pervasive and accepted. Most customers either don't care or don't know the difference. More examples of imitation items that enjoy similar descriptive ambiguity: bacon bits, "fresh" mushrooms, whipped cream. I always try to verify authenticity before ordering. Link: http://flyingfur.typepad.com/flyingfur/ Fri Dec 17 21:20:18 -0800 2004 1659276 0 Val Ann C