Women in Ringmer "furious" with Chinese restaurant after having severe allergic reaction to one of their dishes

A woman in Ringmer was ‘flabbergasted’ by a Chinese restaurant's response after she had a severe allergic reaction to one of their dishes.

The 43-year-old, who has a peanut allergy, had to call an ambulance after ordering a takeaway from The Wok Inn on Saturday night (December 4).

She said: "I ordered the Teriyaki Beef and have had this dish for years at other restaurants and the sauce has never had peanuts in it. So, I didn't think anything of it.

"But when I started eating it I could tell it was having a reaction, my throat was itchy and I could feel bumps on my tongue."

The woman's husband rang the restaurant to find out whether the dish contained peanuts. Once they were told it did, the couple called 999 and paramedics attended their family home to prevent her from having an anaphylactic shock.

The woman continued: “I wrote to them the following day and told them this is not acceptable and said it should clearly say on your description that the Teriyaki does have nuts in it.

"Their response was really arrogant and there was no offer of a refund, as we had to then throw the whole meal away because we had to get rid of any traces.”

The restaurant, based in Laughton, had a small asterisk next to the dish and at the bottom of their menu explained the asterisk was used to highlight dishes containing nuts.

Binghan Huang, manager of the Wok Inn, said: “It clearly shows on our menu which dishes contain nuts, the customer did not notice and did not ask a member of staff if the dish contained nuts.

"When we take an order, the customer needs to tell us they have allergies, so we can assist them in taking their order."

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The restaurant said they could only refund the customer if she gave proof she had been to hospital following the meal, telling her they would reclaim the money back on insurance as is company policy.

The woman felt the restaurant's response was ‘unacceptable’ and said: “They didn't take responsibility for the fact that I could have died Saturday night. The plain truth is that anyone could die from having one of their dishes because it's not clearly marked. In this day and age with a peanut allergy and with so many people having it.

"They didn't ask me if I had any allergies and they also grouped peanuts together with other nuts, to label them together is not clear enough.

“Nowadays you have to have it so clear when you have a dish with peanuts in. Which is what made it so shocking. I'm lucky, but it is simply dangerous and what they have got going on is dangerous and somebody could die from it.”

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