Sichuan Palace Chelmsford Part Trois

After I finished the last write-up of Sichuan Palace in Chelmsford, I still had a long list of dishes to try, so here is the follow-up. This is a never-ending quest since they add new dishes every month. They have the best online menu I have seen anywhere.

Nothing new here; move on.

FISH FILET WITH GREEN PEPPERCORN (17.95 after 10% off). "Braised with tofu, cucumber and wood ear mushroom in spicy chili sauce and green peppercorn". Happily, there was no tofu present. Of course it wasn't green peppercorns, but Sichuan fresh peppercorns. This arrived in a cauldron with the most aromatic broth ever. My waitress, who I have known for a long time, asked if I wanted it MaLa? Of course! And it was. My lips are still tingling when I'm writing this. The fish was perfectly cooked, and there was a lot of it. I got a soup cup, ladled the broth and fish into it, and happily consumed it with some white rice. A smidgen of rice into the soup spoon and then submerged it in the soup and scoped up some fish simultaneously. Even the chili pods had softened enough to be edible. What an excellent dish! How big was it? I got three large meals out of it. 02/06/22

Pork Belly with Chili and Garlic sauce ($9.45 with 10% off). "Served in chili oil and soy sauce with fresh garlic and scallion". The scallions had been replaced with julienned cucumbers. Excellent sauce and they didn't hold back on the garlic. The pork was tender and tasty, but I would have liked it to be sliced thicker so it had some texture. 02/27/22

Sichuan Beef Noodle Soup ($10.50). "Noodle soup with braised beef, greens, chili oil sauce and peppercorn oil". The broth was even redder than what's shown here. I try this in every Sichuan restaurant I go to. 95% of the time, I get beef that has all the icky bits left on. Here it was quality beef. The noodles were perfectly cooked, and the broth was SPICY and really well seasoned. The noodles have a nice texture to them. Best beef noodle soup in a long time. Dumpling Daughter uses shank, and that was probably the last time I had a perfect one. This was so delicious that I finished the whole thing, and it was a lot of noodles. I took the leftover broth home. Cook up some pasta, mix in the broth, and I have another delicious meal. I now carry a napkin holder that goes around my neck because I got tired of chili oil stains all over my front 😋. 03/06/22

Lamb in Chili Oil Sauce (16.16 with 10% off). "Boiled with napa, green bean sprout, long leek in spicy chili oil and peppercorn". The redness of this dish didn't come out well, but it was RED from the chili oil! It shows somewhat at the top of the picture. The lamb was tended, and it was 95% lamb with some greenery hiding underneath. Again it was served in a cauldron. 03/20/22

Crispy La-Zi Chicken (15.95). "Deep-fried chicken with hot dry peppers". 15% discount this weekend to celebrate one year anniversary. This is a classic and can be found in every self-respecting Sichuan eatery. Dark meat? Check. Chili's broken open? Check. MaLa? Check. Are the peppers crispy, or do they resemble plastic? Crispy, of course. Everything was on point, maybe an excess of chiles, but I can't really complain about that, can I? Yanni bought me a Mai Tai today, and that was much appreciated. 04/03/22

MINCED PORK WITH PICKLED STRING BEAN (14.36 with 10% off). "Stir-fried with pickled string bean and red pepper". There were no red peppers present, but extra spicy got me fresh chili peppers. Looking at the pictures on the website, I think the spicy peppers are the red peppers. What an exciting dish this turned out to be! The beans were pickled and crunchy. The whole thing was really delicious with an interesting texture. 04/17/22

Address: 7 Summer St #17-18, Chelmsford, MA 01824 Phone number: (978) 256-8545

Optimism is a perfectly legitimate response to failure.

-- Stephen King