We’ve had the real bouillabaisse before in Marseille. The waiters gave us baguette slices and told us to rub raw garlic over them and dunk them in the soup. 
There’s supposedly a set of rules that specify how to cook this dish, including what kinds of fish to use (rascasse, John Dory, etc). Truth is – it’s not one of our favorite French dishes. Maybe the restaurant we went to in Marseille wasn’t good.
Anyway, we tried the Vietnamese version of bouillabaisse at Saigon Grill in NYC. It had crab, shrimp, scallops but not a whole lot of fish. It had pineapple chunks – definitely not part of the classic bouillabaisse recipe, but no garlic which is the dominant flavor in the original. It was pretty sweet, and I would have wanted more heat and yes, some garlic. It was OK and we finished it just the same.
We still like our Mexican cioppino . . .
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