Heading to SE Asia, getting a bit overwhelmed.

One idea is to eat at Jollibee, the Philippine fast food chain, in Singapore, Vietnam and Hong Kong. I don't believe they operate in Thailand and South Korea. Jollibee is unlikely to be operating on a cruise ship.

As a rule, I do not eat fast food, especially when I travel overseas, because I want to get the local culture, but this is a special case because of your allergy. As fast food chains go, Jollibee is much better than comparable U.S. chains. The idea of eating at Jollibee is only to play it safe now and then. You could also look for other Asian chains.

I've traveled in Asia, too (Philippines and Japan), and loved the cuisine.

We loved Singapore, spend five nights there before our Singapore to Dubai cruise. You can do the city on your own. Hotels are expensive, but the city is very clean and safe.

KimberlySEA,
I travelled to Japan and Thailand with a gluten allergy/sensitivity. It is not life threatening for me, as I believe it might be for you. For the Japan trip our travel agent provided a card written in Japanese that explained my allergy. Also I was able to find different restaurants with a little online research. In Thailand many people spoke English and I could ask questions combined with online research.
My suggestion is to see if you can get a card or note from a travel agent if you are using one in different languages. Also do some research before your trip and have some ideas or options before you travel.
What might happen is that you stick with hotel restaurants or ones that might be able to better accommodate your allergy.
I hope this helps. Good luck!

Former Singapore resident here.
As you've noted you'll want to avoid the hawker stalls and food courts that abound in the city and stick to traditional restaurants where the wait staff will all speak english and can help guide your choices.
Same in Hong Kong and Seoul (and elsewhere in Asia) for that matter. We always found the wait staff to be reasonably fluent in english ... at least well enough to understand your dietary concerns and advise accordingly.
A resource not to be overlooked is the concierge or front dest staff at your hotel - they can suggest a variety of nearby options based on your concerns. They handle these sorts of requests all the time.

You may or may not run into breakfast buffets in Singapore hotels. If you do, I wanted to mention that Malaysian food sometimes appears on the buffet - items like Char Kway Teow, Nasi Lemak, Mee Goreng, Laksa broth. Frequent use of dried shrimp, shrimp paste, fish and oyster sauce. You're probably already very aware of this.

As regards hawker markets, I checked on a couple of my favorite hawker market food items - due to cross-contamimation, not advised to try even those items where the ingredients alone should be fine. (as I'm again certain you are aware of)

English is an official language in Singapore and Hong Kong. There won't be any problem in Singapore, Hong Kong is less certain, but there should be some English speakers around. I have asked the HK hotel desk to write out addresses for me in Chinese - I'm sure you can ask someone to write out "shell fish allergy" if you don't arrive with a card already to hand out. I had no trouble in Seoul finding English speakers.

Hi Kimberly,

Your trip is very similar to the one I did in 2025. Here is a trip report:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/beyond-europe/asia-live-trip-report

In terms of your question about food, I recall being able to avoid all manner of seafood, even at the Hawker centres.

Thank you everyone for your replies! It definitely helps. Special shout out to Robert and Trav-o-ler for the detailed information. As someone with a life-threatening allergy, it is so helpful.
Andrea - We are doing the exact same trip as you!! I have forwarded your post to our friends who are going with us. Super helpful! Unfortunately my food allergy is such that I have to be very careful about hidden shellfish, such as the use of shrimp paste, oyster sauce, etc. that are often used in a variety of asian sauces/dishes as seasoning.
Keep the advice/suggestions coming!! Thank you!

It's been my experience in SE Asia that all the countries you are visiting (except South Korea, which I have not been to) take vegetarian food very seriously, in part because of the large representation of religions that eschew all animal products. Even in restaurants that serve meat and seafood, I was assured by locals I trusted that they are careful in preparing vegetarian dishes. I even took vegetarian cooking classes in Chiang Mai and Hanoi. In Hong Kong there is a lovely Buddhist restaurant overlooking the harbor where you can watch the nightly light show while having dinner. Sorry, I don't remember the name.

I have an anaphylactic allergic response to crab. I have travelled to Japan numerous times, as well as South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. My wife is gluten intolerant, so she has to be careful with food as well.

I carry my EpiPens with me always. I make cards with a picture of a crab with a circle and bar through it, as well as text that says "Crab Allergy" and "I have an EpiPen in my pocket" in the local language and English. I show the card when I enter a restaurant as well as leaving it on the table next to me. I review the food labelling requirements for each country ahead of time. I have Google Translate for translating labels and menus and a phone plan that works in those countries. I carry international travelers health insurance with medical evacuation.

That said, there are several things working against you. There is less allergy awareness in most of these countries. In some places It can be considered culturally insensitive to ask what's in the food, or for an item to be modified. There can be a tendency for food staff to "be agreeable" and tell you things are fine. Shellfish is so ubiquitous that there are many opportunities for cross contamination.

Some strategies that have worked for me:

Restaurants/Hotels catering to western tourists: Many places that cater to western tourists are much more likely to have good allergy awareness, labeling, and be conscientious of cross contamination. I always try to stay in a hotel with a good breakfast so that I can fuel up for the day.

Find vegan restaurants. Some of these countries have rich vegetarian cultures, but some consider fish/shellfish to be fine, particularly in broths or seasoning. In Japan my daughter was told a dish was vegetarian although it obviously had a beef broth. Strictly vegan restaurants tend to be much more careful.

Chain restaurants. Some chain restaurants are more allergy aware. Extra good if you can find a restaurant with an ordering tablet that supports English and allows filtering off by allergens. You still need to talk to the staff about cross contamination (shared fryers, grills, work surfaces, etc.)

Indian Restaurants: A weird hack, but I have found that most have English speaking staff, and there isn't much tradition of using seafood.

Convenience stores/Supermarkets: Getting raw food like apples, bananas or other fruit. Maybe you have a microwave in your room and can cook potatoes or sweet potatoes. Hard boiled eggs. Some convenience stores have hot baked sweet potatoes. Often you can find western made products that have more strict labelling.

Some country specific notes:

Thailand. My wife has to avoid oyster sauce since it contains soy sauce and hence gluten. But it's in everything. She found if she asked for plain sautéed vegetables and white rice, they would almost always add oyster sauce. But, if she asked for sautéed vegetables with butter, then no oyster sauce. There seems to be a need to add a sauce. Also, you will probably end up eating lots and lots of mango sticky rice.

South Korea: I think the food processing plants in South Korea all process seafood, so pretty much any South Korean processed food will be labeled as containing shellfish. Even some bakeries will label plain loaves of bread as containing shellfish. We found some Korean BBQ places (where you cook your own food on a grill that is scrubbed down between uses) to work avoiding any pre-marinated foods. But my main memories of eating in Korea are lots of fruit, eggs, Snickers Bars, convenience store sweet potatoes and white rice.

Singapore: This was the easiest for us. English is widely spoken and there was generally good allergy awareness. I would say comparable to eating in the US.

It is super frustrating for me to have to pass up so many food opportunities (and I love asian food), but I concentrate on staying safe and enjoying the other aspects of the countries. Best travels!

Thanks for the detailed information bguy36. These are my concerns as I know that oyster sauce/shrimp paste are seen as "seasonings" not "shellfish" which what makes it so complicated. You've offered me some good strategies. It makes me sad to think I can't truly experience the food as I am a foodie and really love to eat the local cuisine whenever and wherever I travel. A silver lining is that I love mango sticky rice so at least I'll be able to enjoy it!