Mulan

For some reason, there is a dearth of good Chinese food in Cambridge. Cambridge is filled with wonderful sandwich shops, really good upscale-ish cuisine, great gastro-pubs, and a fair share of interesting ethnic restaurants such as Portuguese, Indian, and Italian. However, most of the best Chinese restaurants are in Chinatown and Allston, with a few scattered throughout Malden, Quincy, and the suburbs.

Mulan is one of the better Chinese restaurants in Cambridge. It has an extensive menu full of many authentic Taiwanese dishes. Although the food is not phenomenal, it's decent for the area. This is one of those restaurants where you get really excited reading the menu and then you walk away feeling somehow dissatisfied with the experience, even though it seemed like it could have been so good.

Nevertheless, the food is decent, and some dishes are actually quite good. If you are around, especially during lunchtime, it's worth a visit. The prices are very reasonable (most of the dishes shown below were around $8 or so) and the food is decent.

Eggplant with Hot Garlic Sauce

Shredded Pork with Baby Bamboo

Fish Filet in Black Bean Sauce

Tofu with Dry Bean Sauce

The tofu with dry bean sauce is one of Mulan's "Must try" dishes and also happens to be one of my favorite dishes there. The crunchy soy bean based topping is sweet, savory, and fragrant. It contrasts perfectly with the soft blocks of plain tofu. I really love this dish and I often find myself scooping up bits of the crunchy topping that's left on the plate so I can eat it with rice. Unfortunately, I have found that this dish is not always consistent, and on my last visit (during lunch), the topping was a bit over-salted. At other times, however, it has been delicious, so it's unpredictable.

228 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-441-8812