A fine-dining kitchen looks flexible about allergies and diets, but safe eating needs more than flexibility: it needs a system. The six steps below summarise the process we follow at Sırça Mutfak from notification to service, and you can also use them as criteria when choosing a venue.

1. Notify in writing when you book

Send allergy information by form or email in writing. A written record is the only reliable source for the kitchen's preparation; spoken notes can be lost when staff change.

2. State the allergen and its severity

Instead of saying “I have a tree nut allergy”, writing which nut and how severe (whether even traces cause a reaction) makes the kitchen's decision easier.

3. Wait for the kitchen's confirmation

A good restaurant confirms your notification in writing and tells you what will replace removed courses. With us this ends in a sheet on which the menu has been rewritten for you.

4. Ask about cross-contact

Measures such as separate boards, knives and prep lines should be asked about. For highly sensitive guests a kitchen cannot be 100% allergen-free; an honest restaurant says so openly.

5. Check at the moment of service

Every plate is compared with your allergy card before it leaves the pass. You can also ask about the contents of a course as it is served; this does not mean disturbing the team, it is part of the process.

6. If needed, medication and an emergency plan

Guests at risk of anaphylaxis are advised to carry their adrenaline pen. Our dining-room team is trained to call 112 in an emergency and there is a defibrillator at the building entrance.

A note on diets

For vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free requests, 24 hours' notice is enough. For halal preferences you can drop the alcoholic pairing and move to the non-alcoholic one. We do not use pork products.

For more detail see our Allergens and Food Safety page.

Common mistakes

Telling only the server and not writing the allergy in the booking.
Playing the allergen down with “a little won't hurt”; the kitchen takes even a mildly reported allergy seriously but works with the information you give.
Hesitating to ask about the contents during service.

All three mistakes make the work harder for the team and for you. The shortest route to a safe evening is clear, written communication.

For children and older guests

For child guests the parent makes the allergy notification; for children aged 10 and over the common allergens such as egg, milk and peanut are marked from the start. For older guests, matters such as difficulty swallowing and medication interactions (for example with grapefruit) can also be notified to the kitchen separately.

For questions you can write to rezervasyon@sircamutfak.com or reach the dining-room team on 0212 555 81 00.

Allergy and diet notification: six steps to eating safely