MuLan Waltham

I craved some spicy food and what better place than MuLan in Waltham, they really can't do anything wrong, big portions of excellent food, quick and friendly service in a nice room. I really hate to pay for parking but for this place I can stand it to spend a quarter on parking.

Peanuts, pickled cabbage, hot & sour soup and for me, water, arrives within seconds of sitting down. Not sure why you get peanuts but they are fun to chase down with the chopsticks.

I ordered the completely mistranslated Lunch Special Combo Chicken in Chili Sauce. Well, it has chicken and chilies in it so that part is right. The salad was peas, edamame, and carrots and the seasonal veggies were lightly steamed but cold zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower. I'm not sure really what was the salad or the seasonal veggies, but all of it was a nice offset to the fiercely hot chicken. The salad could have used some dressing. The dish didn't look as hot as on a previous visit but trust me, it was. Loaded with dry chilies, fresh green chilies and lots of Sichuan peppercorns, that has no relation whatsoever to peppercorns, but gives a numbing sensation so that you can stand the heat from the chilies. The chicken was crunchy and tender. At 12:30 there was a few people waiting for tables, but at least the line were inside the front door.