Can I Customize My Order?

ANSWER

Requests like "no pork" or "no fish stock" are turned down at a lot of restaurants, and it isn't usually about willingness — it's about how the kitchen works. Broths, sauces, and pre-made bases are typically prepared once, in bulk, well before the restaurant opens for service, so there is often no version of the dish without the ingredient in question; making an exception would mean cooking a separate batch from scratch. Smaller, made-to-order kitchens and chain restaurants with standardized, itemized ingredient lists tend to be more flexible than old-style specialty shops built around one perfected recipe. If a substitution genuinely matters, it's more reliable to look for restaurants that describe themselves as accommodating dietary requests (often signposted in English near tourist areas) than to assume any given shop can adjust on the spot.