First Restaurant Visit

Last night, my friend and I went to one of my favorite restaurants, The Elephant Walk. For those of you who don't know, The Elephant Walk has both Cambodian and French cuisine, with traditional and original dishes. I chose this restaurant, not only because it's delicious, but I knew they had a gluten-free menu. Normally, I'd order either: 

• Roasted bone-in chicken breast with potato gnocchi in a white wine cream sauce; with tomato coulis and sautéed spinach 

          or

• Rice noodles sautéed in a sauce of shredded chicken breast, tofu, garlic, salted soy beans, pickled shallot, Chinese chive, bean sprouts and red bell pepper; topped with shredded omelet

My mouth is watering just thinking about those dishes, but unfortunately, I could not have either. Looking over the gluten-free options, I thought I spied a dish that would be safe in terms of the ingredients listed, but knew I had to confirm my selection with the waiter.

When our waiter approached to take our order, I simply said "I have quite a few dietary restrictions and was wondering if you could tell me what's in a dish I'm considering." His response was a much better way to handle things. "Tell me what you need to avoid and I will guide you to the right dish." 

I gave him the biggies, figuring if he can avoid those, I can pick anything else out: gluten, olive oil, garlic, black pepper and basil. He was incredibly knowledgable about the menu, informed me that most items are pre-marinated in either oil or pepper, but that he'd go speak with the chef to see what they could do. 

Within a few minutes, he was back and I was in luck. They had a special on the menu that had nothing pre-made, so we could pick and choose ingredients. I ended up with Poulet Malika: Sliced chicken breast sautéed with lemongrass, shallots and garlic; with cubanelle peppers, tomato, jalapeños & Asian basil. The chef simply left out the garlic, basil and jalapenos (not an allergy, just an aversion to hot peppers). What resulted was very good:

Thanks, Elephant Walk!