Ceeeelebrate Good Times, Come On!

To celebrate with some of my favorite people, we (Thu, Jeff, Caitlin, Tai, and I) trek to Sichuan Garden in Woburn - although, not a trek for Thu and Jeff, who live less than 10 minutes away. Approaching the restaurant, I found it a bit odd; it's basically a converted yellow mansion off of I95.

Caitlin, Tai, and I start at the bar on the ground floor (I guess there's another one hidden somewhere), which is very dark and modern. The bar is serious business, and the space/seats are mostly booked with reservations.

Our drinks:

Caitlin's Old Gin of All the Joints (I think?) - this was really good - light, refreshing, lime-y.

My Pisco Punch - I really liked this, especially once everything blended together.

Tai's first (and last) - Father's Advice - strong, with a nice sweetness, but strong.

Caitlin's second - the Bahia Sling - so pretty, and with cacao? 

Then Thu and Jeff arrive, and we go to the dining area. Which is markedly different from the bar. Where the bar area is dark, the dining rooms are bright. They are small converted rooms with about 4 to 5 tables each. 

Caitlin, of course, has another drink, the Golden Mai Tai. I'm losing track of how her drinks tasted at this point, sorry. 

And then the food comes:

Tiger skin peppers - the vinegar on this was great, but boy does that spiciness kick in at the end.

Braised beef filets with Napa cabbage and roasted chili - my least favorite dish of the night. The beef was soft and tender, but not seasoned enough (or at all). And the sauce itself was almost like a watered down hot oil. Would probably not order again (but we did finish the dish, hah!)

Pea pod stems - can never go wrong with pea pod stems. But these were fresh and not overcooked, which is key.

House hat crispy fried fish - sooo good. Perfectly crispy, with tender meat, and a delicious sweet and spicy sauce.

Chengdu chicken wings - the table favorite of the night. Crispy (even after sitting at the table for thirty minutes), great flavor, well-cooked meat. The sauce was also a nice sweet and spicy sauce. Well worth the drive to Woburn.

Tangerine chicken - this is definitely not Panda Express's orange chicken. This was so well-prepared, it had that perfect glaze, and you could really taste the citrus.







What a great dinner. Drinks, food, and of course, the amazing company :). Service was a bit lacking, but that is sadly par for the norm. But a really great place overall. And there's a parking lot! I'll definitely be back for those wings (and I'm usually not even a chicken wing eater) and drinks.


For dessert, we ended up at Sweet Kingdom Dessert in Malden Center. It's a cute little place, but I wish they had more offerings. The regular milk tea is good. The matcha milk tea was not sweet enough for my liking.

Soy pudding - overall, I actually liked this. But it needed syrup or some kind of sweetener.

Shaved ice with taro and red bean - this was a tad too sweet.










If only I could mix the two dishes together to achieve a normal level of sweetness.