I survived a sneak prawn attack
Gather round boys and girls and I’ll tell you how @Royalchinaindia Bandra nearly killed me last night.
Tldr: they put prawns in my my seabass dumplings when I have a severe 🦐 shellfish allergy.
the long version: I have a cold. My sinuses are completely jammed and I had this brilliant idea that hot and sour soup will open them out. My friend suggested getting the soup from @RoyalChinaIndia.
Out of the entire menu (which is very seafood heavy) I chose the vegetarian hot and sour soup and the chilean sea bass dumplings. It didn’t even occur to me to ask them to hold the shrimp because … why would I? The menu clearly lists what’s in the dumpling: Chilean Sea Bass. There’s no conjunction, a “with” or an “and”. I think it’s fair to expect a flour dumpling stuffed with … sea bass fish.
For the record: I never order ambiguously named “seafood dumplings” or “seafood soup” because they’ll inevitably drop a crab or prawn or calamari in there.
So, cut to the order being delivered. I opened up the dumplings first and popped one (of three) in my mouth. And when I chewed, it all felt slightly more … muscular? — than it should. A sea bass is a moist, tender and flaky. This was chewy. I then poked at the second and third dumplings and panicked. I was definitely seeing and had swallowed at least some shrimp.
A note about my allergies here: The last time I consumed shrimp (by accident), I had hives the size of my little finger all over my body and face for hours. It subsided with allegra and icing, but the doctor I went to see after warned me that I was playing russian roulette with shellfish consumption. Any time could be my last; I could get hives again or I could go into anaphylactic shock. Which if you don’t know, can be deadly. As in: my windpipe could close up and I could die within minutes. https://www.webmd.com/allergies/anaphylactic-shock-facts
So! That’s my state of mind when I called @royalchinaindia and the concierge/receptionist passed me on to a man I presume was the manager. He cross checked my order, by which time I’m just losing the plot…and then said, he’ll ask the chef. A minute later, he came back, and, I kid you not, said “Yes, ma’am. I confirmed”
And I was like confirmed what? That it’s just fish or that there’s prawns in it?
“Yes, ma’am. There is little prawns in it”
And I said, my dude, I’m allergic. There is a reason ingredients are bloody listed on the menu.
And his response was: “Haan lekin is mein thoda prawns dalta hai” (“Yes, but a little prawns are always in this dish!”)
Then he offered to send me a fresh order of dumplings. I was so amazed, I fought with him about allergies, and said I was probably going to need my stomach pumped at a hospital because of this order and didn’t want any damn dumplings.
Spoiler alert: Obviously, I’m still alive.
I took an allegra. I got out my epi-pen (Purchased after my crazy reaction to shrimp the last time) AND my doctor friend in the next wing on standby to drive me to the emergency room if I felt my throat closing up. And I silently panicked. I’m also already on a lot of antihistamines and maybe that also helped, because I didn’t go into shock. My lips and forehead swelled up, my face got really hot and I was itching all over (Even my toes were itchy!) but it passed.
So, I’m posting this
1) to point out that @Royalchinaindia has lost a customer because of their ineptitude and attitude. No apology, only justification from them. Did they screw up the order and not want to own up to the mistake?Do they really not care about listing the ingredients to avoid guests’ getting sick from potential allergens? Who can say?
Royal China Bandra, btw, is a 20-year old fine-dining establishment with branches in Dubai + Kolkata, Delhi, and Bombay, we’re not talking about a fly by night cloud kitchen in a side alley.
Shellfish allergy occurs in 0.5–2.5% of the general population; it’s not uncommon. But since there’s ZERO accountability in our f&b industry, who gives an F, we’ll just offer to send more dumplings!
2) to warn you people with allergies that you have to be ultra vigilant. Even when you don’t expect an allergen, put it in the comments that you DON’T want that allergen in your order. Be very very careful! You cannot trust the restaurants. The people working in the f&b industry are ignorant of what allergies mean and how they impact people who have them.
I got off very lightly (although at one point I thought the stress and waiting for a reaction would only kill me), this could have gone very sideways!
