Japanese Steak House, Newbie Question

[antonia]

The family wants to meet at a Japanese steak house tomorrow and I'm not sure if I should risk allowing my daughter, suspected HFI, to order something at the restaurant or just bring her own food. Is the sticky rice they use in the restaurants HFI safe? I thought I could ask them to stir fry plain steak or chicken and let her eat it with plain rice. Is my understanding correct that soy sauce is not safe for HFI? We are converting from a DHI/fructose malabsorption diet, known as low fodmap, to an HFI diet. All these things would have been okay on the low fodmap diet but I'm not sure about HFI. 

Thanks,
Antonia

[colormist]

Sticky rice isn't okay, but depending on what sauces they use, the chicken, steak or fried rice might be okay. I really like the shrimp. The sauce, from my experience, is sometimes teriyaki (not safe) and sometimes soy sauce (might be okay--depending on the type). They might be willing to dedicate a part of the grill to a sauce-free meat. Plain rice with fried egg & mushrooms would also be okay. I tend to have better luck with the steak & shrimp being unsweetened than with the chicken (which has been sweetened at most grills I've visited).

[antonia]

Thank you colormist. I think I will bring her own rice and see if they'll use it to make some fried rice with egg, steak and/or shrimp. She just likes to be part of the gang, will mean a lot to her if the chef cooks for her as well.

I have San-J Tamari with ingredients: water, organic soybeans, salt and organic alcohol. Also have the low salt version with the same ingredient list. Do those ingredients sound okay? Is it the alcohol that may contain sugar? I would assume sugars in soy would be consumed by the fermentation process but much to learn.

Also, you said fried rice might be okay? Do they not use the sticky rice to make it then?

Thanks again,
Antonia

[denverjay]

I have not had any problems with the white rice at Japanese steak houses, it just steamed white rice nothing added. Not sure about San-J Tamari, never heard of it. But Kikoman soy sauce has no sugar in it. I just make sure the chef does not add any Teryaki sauce to the meats being grilled.

[colormist]

Those ingredients in your soy sauce sound like they might be okay, but it's usually impossible to tell without a taste test. The alcohol could be a sticky point. Does the label say how many grams of sugar are in it? Usually if there's a questionable ingredient and the sugars say 0g, then it's safer to take a risk.

The rice I've seen them cook with at the Japanese grills I've been to is just white rice. I think they might occasionally put chives in it (which are okay in small amounts, but I try not to eat them). A few of the grills I have been to have had sushi bars which DID use sticky rice (rice soaked in rice wine vinegar)--which is very, very, very sweet. But they only used that rice in the sushi rolls at the sushi bar. The rice I've had at the grill is not sweetened.

You could always call the restaurant and talk to someone to ease your fears. Find out what sauces they use and how they prep their rice for the grill. You could also bring a backup sandwich just in case the food turns out wrong.

[antonia]

So the tamari sauce lists carbohydrate as <1g on the regular and 1g on the low sodium for a 1 tablespoon serving size. Interestingly enough, I have rice vinegar that list 0g for same serving size. Are there different kinds of rice vinegar too? As of right now, I'm playing it safe and not giving either to her. Not a time to challenge. I have done a little regular white vinegar though as I thought that was safe.

[colormist]

I had to do some research on the rice vinegar vs. rice wine vinegar. It sounds like rice wine vinegar might have added sugars to make it sweeter. That's what's used to make sticky rice for sushi. All the sticky rice I've ever had has been EXTREMELY sweet. Even you should be able to taste it and say "that's really sweet).

Regular white vinegar should be okay. I haven't been able to find the details about the sugar breakdown, but in an entire cup of white vinegar there is .1g of sugar (doesn't say what kind of sugar). Since nobody in their right mind would EVER eat a cup of vinegar, it should be okay to consume in small amounts.

The other vinegars all have much more sugar (cider, red wine, balsamic) and people with HFI tend to avoid them.

Have you tried doing a taste test yourself? My husband has developed such a sensitive pallet (after eating my cooking for 15 years) that he can tell if something's sweet even before I try it. It's not a be-all end-all method, but it could be a good second step (after reading the label and doing research) to testing for sweetners. The sweetened soy sauces I have come across in the past are VERY sweet (much like the rice wine vinegar).