i don’t really know what msg is made of.
but i don’t mind it as long as it doesn’t make a food taste too salty.
i like my food less salty these days.
as for wonton, i don’t eat it at restaurants.
i only eat homemade ones made by my mom.
i don’t know how much fat is really in them, i just recall that they put shrimp in them.
speaking of sauces, my favourite chinese sauces are sesame oil and a sauce that cantonese people call “sweet sauce” or “seafood sauce”.

You won’t get the appetiser at normal dining… it normally comes in a set, a banquet set (not sure how to say this properly in English). Most smaller scale Chinese restaurants won’t have the banquet set on their menu because of the preparation time.

Most of the Chinese restaurants I saw in Europe are Cantonese style, which is one of the eight (or seven) major Chinese cooking styles. I think Sichuan food is also getting popular in the west, so it’s 2 out of 8… but obviously the westerners are still experiencing only a small fraction of what Chinese cooking is about.

cole… about the MSG, sometimes I wonder if it’s really such a bad thing. If the chefs don’t use MSG they might add in a few more table spoon of salt and sugar to add up the taste anyway, which is still bad for health at the end of the day.

Chinese wontons are meant to be fat, at least half fat lol… to be honest Chinese food in general is not the healthiest food around, but Chinese in traditions are mostly labourers and thus could burn off the calories… it only becomes a problem when modern lifestyle creeps in, when people are eating more than what they need.

I tend to stay away from the typical fried sweet and sour stuff, and fried rice etc. Although I do like curry chicken also.

the appetizer looks pretty interesting.
when my family goes out to eat chinese food, we usually don’t get appetizers. =[

the dish with the broccoli and mushrooms look like a typical dish that my family would get.
but i’m really getting bored of it.
actually, i’m already getting bored with chinese food…not all, but some…

i love rice, but not fried rice.
chinese restaurants usually use bad oil to make it.
plus, i think the ingredients they put in the rice aren’t that great either.
i don’t understand why it’s supposed to be a popular chinese food for westerners.
some chinese dishes are just too overrated in the western world, lol.
i personally love plain white rice served with my all-time-favourite dishes.
as long as the other foods are good, i don’t mind eating more than one bowl of plain white rice!
my record of eating plain rice is actually 4/5 bowls.
but i’m cutting down a lot now…haha.

my all-time-favourite chinese dishes are peking duck and oysters.
lol, i don’t know how to describe the oysters.
it doesn’t really have a special name.
but my family usually get it as steamed garlic oysters or in a pot.

cole… thanks for the compliment and advise.

Most of the popular Chinese food in western Chinese restaurants (at least in Europe from my experience) are common in Asia as well… fried rice, sweet and sour pork etc. Just that the western-Chinese restaurants are probably not offering as much variety, and that some of the ingredients might not be easily attained in the west.

ipohchai… and it taste better than how it looks ;)

I’m getting hungry. ;p