Get a Free Rachael Ray Ultimate Cookware Package and Start Cooking
Steven A. Shaw's new book, fittingly, is a mouthful: "Asian Dining Rules: Essential strategies for eating out at Japanese, Chinese, Southeast Asian, Korean, and Indian restaurants."
In his introduction, Mr. Shaw, co-founder of the eGullet Web site that caters to serious eaters, imagines a scene that is all too familiar. "You walk into an Asian restaurant, and you order a few things from the menu. While you're eating your moo shoo pork, pad Thai, chicken teriyaki, or chicken tikka, you notice there's a big table of Asians across the room eating completely different food--dishes that you didn't even see on the menu."
He recommends that diners taste and compare different cuts of tuna at sushi restaurants. "Most people order tuna but every sushi place has at least three or four, and as many as eight, cuts of tuna from the different parts of the body. They vary in taste as much as a rib-eye steak varies from a filet mignon. A tuna is a huge, cow-like animal."
Steven Shaw's five tips for eating at an Asian restaurant
* Go on an early week night where you have the place to yourself and the full attention of the staff. On Friday and Saturday nights you won't get the attention of a manager.
* Become a regular. The best restaurant isn't the one with the best reviews. It's where they take care of you as a regular.
* Speak up. Don't be a passive customer. Some restaurants have special menus they don't distribute to all customers; be sure to request all menus or lists of specials.
* If your waiter tries to advise you against a menu item, ask him or her to tell you what it is anyway.
* A key thing to remember about the social hierarchy at an Asian restaurant: Your waiter has no pull. There is always a guy in a suit up front. He's got the power to get you special stuff. Approach that person and make that contact. A waiter only brings you the food. For negotiating, go straight to the top.
Source: WSJ
No comments:
Post a Comment