Asian Cusine without MSG?
Anyone know of a good place in the San Gabriel Valley that serves good food without MSG? I am trying to stay away from MSG because it makes me really sick. Even when I ask the restaurant not to make the food without MSG, it doesn't always happen. Anything will be helpful. Thanks!
rosieboat
Feb 20, 2008 10:11AM
Folks, we ask everyone to stay focused on where to find good chow without added MSG in the L.A. area. This board is all about good local chow.
The topic of MSG allergies is a hot button issue, and discussion / debate of it gets typically heated and argumentative. In any case, the subject is not allowed on this board. Thanks for keeping us on track.
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Your best bet is GreenZone.
http://www.greenzonerestaurant.com/
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Thanks for the link!
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Does anyone know if Chung King (the good one, at 1000 S. San Gabriel Blvd.) uses MSG?
www.infinitefress.blogspot.com
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Is water wet?
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I figured they did, but hoped not. Are you absolutely sure about this, funny guy? :)
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Canaan at the Diamond Plaza in Rowland Heights has "no-msg" advertised. I don't have an severe allergic reaction, but I usually get very thirsty in msg-ladened food.
Canaan seems to have a very light hand where sodium usage, oil and sauce is concerned also. Usually stir-fried dishes elsewhere have a glop of sauce, not so there.
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"Usually stir-fried dishes elsewhere have a glop of sauce ..."
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Really? Since when?
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Not sure if you are being sacrastic ipsedixit.
It's easier to list the ones that oversauced then the ones that didn't have excessive sauce. Sam Woo, Earthen, Seafood Village, Mei Long, the list goes on. You can tell because by the time you get the leftover to go the sauce just spills out of the containers on the way home.
Seriously though I am impress with Canaan's cook's light hand. Never oily, salty, or too much sauce. For the lamb stir-fry and the beef w/ broccoli stir fry you can just invert the plates after the dish is done and there won't be much of anything dropping out of there.
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No, not being sarcastic.
For example, many stir-fried vegetable dishes are not overly sauced, if at all. Think things like spinach, pea shoots, mustard greens with tofu skins.
Many meat or seafood dishes are not sauce dependent, including things like the dried scallops with asparagus at Seafood Village, or the nian-gao at Mei Long Village.
Of course, there are dishes with corn-starch based sauces but I wouldn't call that the norm by any means.
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Oh, I see. I guess I never considered them as 'sauce', but veggie juice. ;) Since greens are largely water based it's hard not to have them. The veggies I most commonly order (broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, eggplant) tend not to yield a lot of water.
I was thinking more along the corn starch based stuff.
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Would this be the same Canaan as the one in Cerritos/Artesia?
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Not sure, haven't been at the Cerrito's one. But that name is kind of unusual.
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Canaan is the only authentic Chinese restaurant I've seen that touts a low sodium, low fat menu. Food appears to be a combination of Shanghainese and Taiwanese dishes.
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I avoided Canaan for the longest time because I don't exactly know what type of cuisine they do based on their menu. It's a mixture of standard taiwanese, mandarin, some shanghaiese, and some cantonese style stuff too. Plus I always equate low sodium, no msg with no taste.
Anyway, we went there for at least 4 times in the last 2 months, and most of the dishes we ordered were good to excellent. The standout were the juicy dumplings (dare I say that it's better than Mei Long - the juice is not as sweet, and no msg aftertaste), the beef w/ broccoli, and the 2 lamb dishes. The orange chicken has tons of orange peel in the sauce (it's not like others which has a glop of sweet orange colored sauce that doesn't taste like orange), and the eggplant w/ fish sauce was more restrainted than other versions.
I am not sure if I just don't like taiwanese dishes but I didn't like the oyster pancake, which by tradition has that sweet gloppy sauce on top.
The only negative thing is that it's really just a glorified food court with waiter service. It's clean but absolutely no decor/ambience.
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This is the joint next to the "Ramen" stand in the Diamond Plaza food court, right?
If so, thanks for the heads up notmartha. I only visited Canaan once before for a Pork Chop rice which was too heavy for me (but I ordered fried pork chop... I was asking for it. :) I'll have to try those other dishes you're recommending.
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Yes, it's between the ramen and the hotpot place.
The best deal is the family style - 3 dishes, 1 soup with rice for $17.99 - listed on the paper menu. So even if you add the juicy dumplings ($4.5) it's about $25 before tip.
Actually just went again last night and tried out the rice cakes and the lion's head (they call it something else on the menu). Definitely lighter than most shanghaiese style dishes I had elsewhere.
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