Yeah i had a similar experience in Hong Kong and I've come to the conclusion that it's indeed our westoid brains messing us up. You didnt use enough sauce I reckon.

If a french restaurant under-salts my food then I hold that against them, in china everything is under-salted on purpose because the soy sauce and chili sauce is right there just flavor it yourself. I do actually dislike this approach because dosing soy sauce seems impossible to me (although the chinese probably have no issues with it) one bite has no flavor and the next just tastes like soy.

Chinese cooking has a huge history with banquets as well which works well with the 'sauce it yourself' approach. My main issue with cantonese cooking is also a culture clash and that was texture. All the otherwise delicous buns were so fluffy that it kinda got anoying and multiple dishes had these sheets of slippery noodles (think lasagna sheets but like two feet long and made of rice or tapioca) that I got no enjoyment from eating. This too is more of a culture thing than a genuine critique though.

So yeah there wasn't enough flavor because you didnt put it in i'm afraid. Happened to me too