I stumbled upon Sichuan Garden several years ago when I was traveling for work in Woburn – a town 9 miles north of Boston where a bunch of my customers are based.
It caught me by surprise to see that it’s in an old historic mansion! The tables are broken out in various rooms which makes it cozy since there’s only about 3-4 tables per room.
This is the oldest house in Woburn! How cool is that? You can find more info about the Baldwin Mansion here.
They’re known for their cocktail bar and their mixologist, but unfortunately since I’m usually dining alone when traveling, I haven’t yet had a chance to taste any of their cocktails.
But their FOOD! Oh my. I’ve had dinners here several times, and lunch – the setup in the picture above is during lunch. The setup at dinner is a bit fancier with cloth napkins and cloth tablecloths, and the service is really nice and attentive all day.
The Sichuan Pork Dumplings were SO GOOD. Steamed pork dumplings with this insane chili vinaigrette! YUM! I wanted to dip everything into that vinaigrette after I devoured these crazy good dumplings. I didn’t think they were that spicy, even though it looks red – I would rate it at a 7 in spiciness, but a 10 in tastiness!
Yelp reviews mentioned Double Cooked Fish Fillets, so I had to order them.
Leeks! Garlic! Hot peppers! Deep fried fish! How can you go wrong?? I totally should’ve ordered some vegetables, but ate enough leeks to make up for it. 🙂
The super sweet server brought me some white rice to cut the spiciness.
When I came back for lunch, I had to order the Cheugdu Hot Dry Chicken – Sichuan cuisine is known for bold flavors with liberal use of chili peppers and garlic, which is my kinda food!
This was INSANE. I don’t know why this isn’t like the #1 most ordered dish in the world – it’s INSANE. It’s spicy (but not that spicy), it’s salty, it’s garlicky – it’s AMAZING. The chicken is PERFECTLY cooked, crisp and hot on the outside and moist and juicy on the inside! I didn’t eat any of the hot peppers (I want to retain my taste buds, thank you), but I ate all of the big chunks of garlic. It’s a good thing I’m not seeing my husband for a few days!
The server also suggested some green beans, which were perfect. They were blistered with high heat, and garlic and caramelized onions melded together to create delicious vegetable goodness.
Everything here was so good! I feel like I could come to Sichuan Garden for dinner every night for a YEAR and not eat the same thing twice – their menu is huge (that may be a slight exaggeration – but their menu IS huge).
I couldn’t stop eating that Hot Dry chicken. I was there alone, and I finished most of the plate! I think the servers were impressed/horrified.
I’m SUCH a huge fan! You MUST go order that Chengdu Hot Dry Chicken!
Visit Sichuan Garden at 2 Alfred St in Woburn – they’re open for lunch and dinner every day.
eating and traveling adventures! 