Cambridge: Mu Lan

Let's Eat by Kitty Kaufman

Small neighborhood places can earn big reputations when what they cook is what we want even if we live somewhere else. Dilusha and I stop in to Mu Lan, a Taiwanese restaurant in Cambridge, for a quick lunch with le bébé. They like kids. As soon as we sat our server brought her plate and plastic ware even before we got ours.

We order shredded pork with baby bamboo tasty without the spicy. We choose eggplant with basil that turns out to be a nifty combination. Bright purple eggplant comes in brown sauce and if you're short on vegetables, this is a good way to go. The service is pleasant. On another visit the fried dumplings, all ten of them are piping hot with afterburner on the garlic but that could just be me. In lieu of bread, you get peanuts and pickled cabbage.

Thirty-two lunch specials, weekdays from 11-3, include soft bean curd, octopus with dry bean curd, fish with black bean, beef with satay, pork chop on rice, seasonal vegetables, crispy pork, and shredded pork in many variations. They recommend spiced chicken, smoked duck and deep fried crispy chicken.

You can bring a party of ten for dinner in the round complete with candles. There's wine, Tsingtao and Sapporo. The tiny strip mall, just outside Kendall Square, has parking for three cars so if you're not a Cambridge resident, plan on going a couple of blocks for meters. Mu Lan is closed Mondays.

See it on TripAdvisor

© November 9, 2012

Write to us:
Kitty@corp-edge.com

Share it on X Twitter:

See Boston restaurant stories via One for the Table on Zomato

Locanda Del Lago in Santa Monica
Italian Western
Santa Monica Seafood Cafe
Fine kettle of fish
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Food, and art
Ming's Blue Ginger Wellesley
Red hot and blue
Deli after Dark Dedham
Yes, we have no meatballs
Sophia's Grotto
Meatballs and calamari in Roslindale
Pon Thai Bistro
Pon cooks with fire
Island Creek Oyster Bar
Happy, happy new year
Amelia's Trattoria in Cambridge
New York state of mind
Cafe Sushi in Cambridge
Industry standard
Black Trumpet in Portsmouth
Ta dah
Flour Bakery
Eat dessert first