Chilli Garden

Low-key, pleasant Sichuan restaurant with friendly, informative service. Jesse and I received the customary heads-up that sliced pork belly with fresh garlic ($6.50) would be fatty; if anything, I'd have preferred it cut into bacon-like chunks rather than sliced. Spicy, too, but less so than a surprisingly lively salad of rice noodles, daikon, and carrot ($5.95).

Almost bland by comparison, lamb with Chinese leeks in soy sauce ($12.95) provided a respite from heat of our appetizers, though this entrée it would be tedious on its own. House special chicken with dry pepper (shown; $11.95) — first sautéed, then deep-fried — is more tangy than fearsomely spicy, with an agreeable balance between the crisped coating and the moist meat inside.

Chilli Garden
41 Riverside Ave., Medford, Massachusetts
781-396-8488