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That sounds excessive to me. Most of the asian places around here have one price for tofu/chicken/pork. Another price for beef and a 3rd higher price for shrimp. Swapping tofu would have been free or maybe a dollar. $5 seems uber excessive to me. Maybe the demographics are a little different here and they use a lot of tofu.
Tofu costs about a dollar at the supermarket for a large lump, sometimes $2, no way was the chicken more expensive, They can probably buy the tofu for pennies.
I just bought a 40 pound box of boneless skinless chicken breasts at the restaurant supply for under $1 a pound. The tofu there is in two pound blocks and it is definitely not under $1 a pound. So tufu is not cheaper for the restaurant.
But that is not the issue. OP asked for a completely new dish, not a substitution. The restaurant can not take out the chicken and drop in tofu into a sauce with chicken broth and make it a vegan meal. The entire thing had to be cooked from scratch and it is very possible that the ingredients for the sauce and everything else is slightly different for tofu than for chicken. Chinese cooking adjusts the seasonings to enhance the meat used.
I just bought a 40 pound box of boneless skinless chicken breasts at the restaurant supply for under $1 a pound. The tofu there is in two pound blocks and it is definitely not under $1 a pound. So tufu is not cheaper for the restaurant.
But that is not the issue. OP asked for a completely new dish, not a substitution. The restaurant can not take out the chicken and drop in tofu into a sauce with chicken broth and make it a vegan meal. The entire thing had to be cooked from scratch and it is very possible that the ingredients for the sauce and everything else is slightly different for tofu than for chicken. Chinese cooking adjusts the seasonings to enhance the meat used.
This! After reading the thread I'm surprised how many, including the OP, think that just by switching from chicken to tofu would make it vegan. It doesn't work that way 99% of the time. They would have to check and switch out all sauces. Even some soy sauce is not vegan.
The new price more then likely should have been disclosed but an extra $5 is not out of line. They asked not for a substitution but a whole new dish which had to be prepared from scratch. If the restaurant doesn't have any other vegan (most have vegetarian but not vegan) dishes on the menu it might have caused some confusion as well as extra work in the kitchen.
I just bought a 40 pound box of boneless skinless chicken breasts at the restaurant supply for under $1 a pound. The tofu there is in two pound blocks and it is definitely not under $1 a pound. So tufu is not cheaper for the restaurant.
But that is not the issue. OP asked for a completely new dish, not a substitution. The restaurant can not take out the chicken and drop in tofu into a sauce with chicken broth and make it a vegan meal. The entire thing had to be cooked from scratch and it is very possible that the ingredients for the sauce and everything else is slightly different for tofu than for chicken. Chinese cooking adjusts the seasonings to enhance the meat used.
Agree with you. Last week, I paid $0.39 for chicken leg quarters at the local IGA and $1.59 for the tofu. If the dish is truly vegan, there probably has to be several other modifications.
If a menu says "market price" or you need to do some modifications, it is really on you to ask for the pricing.
But that is not the issue. OP asked for a completely new dish, not a substitution. The restaurant can not take out the chicken and drop in tofu into a sauce with chicken broth and make it a vegan meal. The entire thing had to be cooked from scratch and it is very possible that the ingredients for the sauce and everything else is slightly different for tofu than for chicken. Chinese cooking adjusts the seasonings to enhance the meat used.
Kung Pao is not normally made with chicken broth.
It pretty much is just making it with tofu instead of chicken.
Sauce is the same.
Here you switch out tofu all the time. Why? Because chinese food is made pretty much fresh each time.
To me it's not the price, it's they didn't tell her upfront.
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It pretty much is just making it with tofu instead of chicken.
Sauce is the same.
Here you switch out tofu all the time. Why? Because chinese food is made pretty much fresh each time.
I had mentioned that as a theoretical possibility way upthread, with the idea that perhaps they really did make the entire dish from scratch to make it vegan. And in that case, yes, they'd be justified in charging a 50% up charge. But yeah, I think that's unlikely given the way Chinese restaurants typically operate.
Just pointing out..
The most inexpensive tofu I buy is $1.29 but at only 8oz.
While the most inexpensive chicken I buy is ($0.79 per lb for legs n thighs, $1.29 per lb for breast meat)... @ 16oz.
Tofu is way more expensive of the two hands down.
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