Hi Eatinggreen, If I may politely and calmly suggest... If you have such an aversion to a particular ingredient in your food, how about specifying that to the waiting staff? A hotel receptionist would be able to write it down for you perhaps? Or how about one of the online translation tools? You then help waiting staff to help you? Also your remark... "scared us off the idea of trying it again so we opted for a la carte in decent non-vege restaurants" What a shame. There's a lot of all vego eateries in HK. If your enthusiasm to eat in all vego places is so fragile, that of course is entirely up to you just like anyone else to decide on what your priorities are. Best wishes for the future, Stevie