MSG Free restuatants in Dublin

GerardKeating

Can any one recommanded a good resturant in Dublin which does not dose it's food in MSG...

thanks

Samson

Excuse my ignorance, but what is MSG?*










*I'm sure it's fairly obvious and I will slap myself when the answer comes, but at the moment I don't have a clue.

dod

Thanks for asking Samson, I haven't a clue either

Dr. Loon

Monosodiumglutamate (sp?)
An additive that goes into foods - like chinese takeaways and most places uses it. Around an hour after eating you'll find yourself hungry again. I believe it's bad for you.

Sandi

It is bad for you. Apparently it's a cancer-causing additive.
As far as I know it's called E621. It's in most crisps n' stuff as a flavour enhancer.

sharkman

http://www.truthinlabeling.org/


Mmmmm Interesting ...

GerardKeating

Originally posted by Dr. Loon
Monosodiumglutamate (sp?)
An additive that goes into foods - like chinese takeaways and most places uses it. Around an hour after eating you'll find yourself hungry again. I believe it's bad for you.

Also there are people whom react badly to it...

Samson

Okay, now I'm with you.

So, back to the original question.
I would imagine most decent restaurants in Dublin would not be using this additive, provided they are cooking/serving freshly produced food versus bought in processed food.
I'm no expert on the ingredients used in Chinese (pastry, dumplings etc) cooking so won't comment on that, but I would be very suprised if any of the non-Chinese restaurants I frequent (Gruel, IFC, Aqua, Halo, Fadó to name a few) would even think of using processed food in their ingredients, as I imagine it would be a major turn off for their client base and bad for business.

Lukin Black

It is a really common substance in Chinese Restaurants afaik. It's a 'flavour enhancer', so it doesn't just be added to processed foods.

sci0x

Siam Thai Restaurant, Malahide and Monkstown and Bahay Kubo
14 Bath Avenue Sandymount Dublin 4 are two restaurants which don't use MSG.

Samson

Originally posted by Lukin Black
It is a really common substance in Chinese Restaurants afaik. It's a 'flavour enhancer', so it doesn't just be added to processed foods.

Any chance you could give me an example?

I have had a look through the few Chinese cookery books I have, and have not seen a single recipe with anything other than "normal" ingredients. Nor have I ever seen Ken Hom add anything of the sort when I have watched any of his TV programs.

sci0x

Originally posted by Samson
I have had a look through the few Chinese cookery books I have, and have not seen a single recipe with anything other than "normal" ingredients. Nor have I ever seen Ken Hom add anything of the sort when I have watched any of his TV programs.

MSG is very common in Chinese food from Restaurants. There is even a thing called Chinese restaurant syndrome which is caused from monosodium glutamate.

Lukin Black

6190 examples courtesy of Google.

Samson

1 tsp MSG

Jesus H. Christ, I've seen it all now.
Adding chemicals for the sake of it, I'd be very curious to know how much of a difference adding MSG would actually make to a dish.

Krusty_Clown

It's probably alot more common than you think.

'Knorr' for example, produces a product called Aromat, which has long been a staple of the Irish Housewife's (househusband's) condiment press. Used to enhance the flavour of food dishes, Aromat is essentially mono-sodium-glutamate...

Recognise it from Mom's food cabinet?


The good news is that if you suffer any of the side-effects of MSG, you probably already know about it by now. It's used in so many commercial foodstuffs, it's hard to avoid...

Don't worry, eat happy..

casper-

Yep .. MSG is definitely what makes most Chinese food taste good Most of the 'actual' Chinese restaurants in Ottawa, Toronto, even NY for that matter will use MSG to a certain extent. Even though Ottawa is around the same population as Dublin, our ChinaTown is massive (comparatively). The ones that don't use MSG advertise it quite blatantly (proudly?) in a big sign on their store front or menu. Looks like the no smoking sign, except has the letters 'MSG' where there would normally be a cigarette

It really comes down to personal reaction. The huge backlash against MSG in the 80s (cancer-causing, etc) is pretty much disregarded now, and it's really about how you feel after eating the stuff that counts.

casper-

Originally posted by Samson
Jesus H. Christ, I've seen it all now.
Adding chemicals for the sake of it, I'd be very curious to know how much of a difference adding MSG would actually make to a dish.

*Massive* amounts of difference. If you take a normal recipe from a chinese cookbook and disregard the MSG (or cornstarch, or oil, or any number of things), you end up cooking something that taste like it's a feeble home-made attempt as opposed to what you would get if you went out. At the same time, it depends which dish you're talking about -- for instance, any chicken/vegetable dish that has semi-hot spices will taste pretty similar without MSG. However, if you try to make wonton soup broth without MSG, it will turn out rather plain.

Spacedog

from what I can recall from home ec' (needed the extra subject) MSG works like salt, it opens the taste buds on the tongue, making bland foods seemingly alive with flavour. I don't think it makes you feel full for an hour when your not. Food composed of soy proteins (McDonnalds fries I'm told) are broken down quickly in the stomach and may cause this effect.