It was our first visit to this new restaurant on a Saturday early afternoon. Our table for 2 was available instantly. Surprised.
A server recommended chicken and thousand year egg congee as today's special to us. We "casually" asked him if there's added MSG to the congee. We immediately got a lecture from the server. "We add MSG to all of our meat. How can you cook meat without putting MSG to it", he lectured us in a "matter of fact" manner. His tone made us felt we were naive and asked a stupid question. We are allergic to MSG, and seriously considered walking out. It was pouring outside. We had to give a chance to this new restaurant and challenge our bodies' reaction to MSG.
We obviously avoided the congee and order other dim sum plates. We tasted MSG in all dishes. To our dismay, we found the restaurant used fresh and good ingredients which should taste very well without MSG.
There are many other restaurants which pride themselves for not adding MSG to their dishes. If our server represents this restaurant, this place takes a very serious philosophical attitude about using MSG in their dishes. Good luck to the business owner. I am glad that I have many good choices elsewhere. I also do not have to make myself feeling stupid after asking questions about food that affect my health.
When we left the restaurant at 1:15 p.m., the rain stopped and tables were still quite available.