Have you ever Kee Chan Experienced? (Mulan)

LTH,

Mulan, is a Kee Chan Experience, and quite an experience it is. Bleeding edge hip, curvaceous sensual interior, open kitchen, attractive black-clad waitstaff, design touches even a Grabowski like myself can appreciate and menu populated with Asian accented surf and turf or, as our engaging waiter so enthusiastically recited, the Kee Chan land-sea world view experience.

Mulan


Liquor license had not gone in to effect and they were pouring, no, check that, generously pouring, nice bottles of Gruner veltliner, Pinot noir, among others, from the ever so swank decanters which grace each table. Menu read slightly contrived, though did not fall prey to descriptor overdrive.*



Unable to decide between the three appetizers, two soups and two salads, we 'spun the wheel' and ordered the full compliment, which is not as over the top for four people as it sound, portions are small and prices reasonable. For example the generously portioned Spinach Udon w/King crab crème was delicious, rich crab offset nicely by a vinegary tang.

Spinach Udon w/King Crab Crème


Tuna Sashimi w/blood orange marinade, $6, did not fare well in the portion category with but a 'sneeze' worth of tuna, but was niecly accented by quail egg.

Tuna Sashimi w/blood orange marinade


Unfortunately soup did not fare quite as well with Kobe Beef and tomato broth a startling analog for Campbell's, and Caramel corn crème putting me in mind of Grandma's split pea, though the breaded clam croutons were a nice touch.

Kobe Beef broth and tomato


Crisp calamari w/berry vinaigrette was fine, a little long on the greens and short on calamari, though the Watercress and pea sprout w/strawberry alone might be enough to bring me back to Mulan

Watercress and pea sprout w/strawberry


Right about the entrees, which the menu labels Innovative, things started to unwind, though Mulan, a brand spanking new restaurant, in soft opening, and pouring, no check that, generously pouring, free wine, deserves a bit of rhythm on kitchen/service fumbles. That said, someone needs to cut back on the salt/soyu/oyster sauce/fermented black bean/ especially in combination, as salt quickly overpowered.

Kuro Buta, wild black pork with green mussel pate, gobo pan sauce, read substantially more interestingly than it ate. With the beautiful black pork being, at least to my taste, overdone.

Kuro Buta


Wagyu Beef with spiny lobster mashed potato, the most expensive item on the menu at $32, should be renamed salty beef with lobster essence mashed potato. The beef was overpoweringly salty, potato with but a hint of lobster.

Wagyu Beef


Wild Columbia Sturgeon faired better, though my preference would be a little less time on the heat.

Wild Columbia Sturgeon


Thai Land Black Tiger, a combination of chicken and shrimp with Manila clam was fine, nothing that, 72-hours later, really springs to mind. However the memory of Kamo, Margaret [sic] duck breast and Sea horse served with rice cakes is quite vivid. Yep, that's right, Sea Horse

Kamo


Cubed duck breast was salty (note to Chef Chan, please lighten up on the salt) and the rice cake was, well, rice cake, but the sea horse, crunchy, crisp, crackling good fun to eat!

Desserts read well, though we only tried gelato, Valrhona chocolate was rich with a great mouth feel, Frormage [sic] Blanc a bit bland and gritty on the tongue.

Gelato


Toward the end of the evening the music, pulsing techno of course, was turned way up. When I inquired of our waiter Dan, a hell of a good fellow, looked at me, with a perfectly straight face, and said, it's almost 10, as if that was explanation enough.

Funniest portion of the evening, aside from the 20 somethings at the next table getting crocked on free wine, was the survey they passed out at the end of the meal, can they really expect anyone to take this seriously. Sample question: How is color important to you. My answer, Race is not an issue. There were 6 or 7 additional new age type questions, very damn funny.

Though Mulan is in Chinatown Square it is somewhat difficult to find. The address given is S Wells street, which turns out to be the new section at the Northeast corner of Chinatown Sq.

View of Mulan from the East parking lot.


I should also note that we were feeling a bit peckish when we left Mulan and, encouraged by the wine and the fact Evil Ronnie had not yet been to Uncle John's, we found ourselves at 69th and Calumet munching on Uncle John's heavenly hot links and chatting with Mack.

Uncle John's BBQ


Enjoy,
Gary

Mulan
2017 S Wells
Level 2
Chicago, IL 60616

Uncle John's BBQ
337 E 69th Street
Chicago, IL 60619
773-892-1233
Mon - Thurs 11am - 11pm
Fri - Sat 11am - 1am

*(~~Daffy duck breast, sliced on the bias with a left handed Global sashimi knife, surrounded with figs from San Francisco's Mission District, scattered with a chiffonade of Melman lettuce and glazed with a wild raspberry reduction consisting of 82-year-old Bolivian balsamic, verjus from Catskill Mountain Vineyards and wild hand picked raspberries organically grown on Tommy Lasorda's upstate NY Slim Fast Estate.~ ~)

HI,

Forgive me for digging into the details, but curiosity drives me to it: did you eat the seahorse? If yes, what did it taste like? If no, was it intended to be eaten or a novel decoration?

Thanks again for sharing your interesting experience.

Regards,

oh wow. what an intriguing meal. cathy2 you read my mind... just how did the seahorse taste?

I was at Shedd Aquarium recently, but forgot to pick up on the cards detailing safe and endangered seafood. Where does seahorse fall on that list?

Seriously, after seeing seahorses swimming around, I'm honestly not sure I could eat one.

I've got to say...

My Uncle John's experience was a lot tastier than my Kee Chan experience.

Cathy2 wrote:Forgive me for digging into the details, but curiosity drives me to it: did you eat the seahorse? If yes, what did it taste like? If no, was it intended to be eaten or a novel decoration?

C2,

I hope it was meant to be eaten, as that's exactly what I did.

One seahorse came with the dish, I requested a few additional so we could all have a bite or three. Ellen and the Lovely Donna politely declined, Evil crunched on one, but did not seem thrilled, and I ate the entire little creature, pointy head to curly tail.

The dried seahorse had been flash-fried, was extra crisp, crunchy and in both taste and texture reminded me of crisp fried fish bones or deep fried fish fin. You would have liked the texture, the taste was somewhat neutral.

We were given three seahorses and I took the third one home where it now proudly rests atop my U Lucky Dog clip.


Enjoy,
Gary

Gary, did you say prices were reasonable? I stopped by to look at the menu and found the dinner prices rather high. It didn't seems as if a party of two could get out without spending at least $100. Entrees were in the mid 20's to 30's. I don't dine out much anymore so perhaps I'm not up to date on prices but isn't $100 for two a bit on the higher end? Or perhaps I was looking at a different menu.

Peety wrote:but isn't $100 for two a bit on the higher end? Or perhaps I was looking at a different menu.

Peety,

$100 for two is the Mulan ballpark. What I meant by reasonable was in the context of Mulan. Given ingredients, pedigree of chef, location, decor, ambiance, and overall gestalt of the joint the prices were reasonable. For example, I find the price at both Spiaggia and Diner Grill reasonable, even though the cost of a meal differs wildly.

I should also point out the evening I was at Mulan, just a week or so after they opened, there were miscues, I would give them a few weeks to get into the swing of things before going for dinner.

Enjoy,
Gary

I went here over the past weekend for something different in China Town and was really disappointed. I don't see this place staying open very long. The people that I was with told me this place was over priced and not good and I wanted to check it out for myself. The people that have been there all ordered the sea bass and I did the same. My roommate ordered the Camo and it was horrible. They just cut the duck breast into 4 chunks and then pan fried it. It was so dry and tough that he wanted to ask for a steak knife. I didn't put the rice crackers in there and they only had 1 sea horse and it was so brown. I don't think they changed the oil in awhile. All the dishes didn't come with rice or anything. It was just the meat itself or fish in my case. Afterwards we ended up going to Maxwell street and got some pork chop sandwiches to fill us up.

To sum up:
-really small portions
-nothing special
-bad to mediocre food
-overpriced

I'm not sure I could bring myself to eat sea horses - for one thing, I believe they're now an endangered species. I think I'd have to align myself with the Food Cops on this one - maybe Chicago's City Council could look into a new ban?

This is a silly restaurant with little to offer...especially to those heading to Chinatown square in search of a good asian meal. I have to admit that things got off to a bad start when our server explained they were "trying to offer something different from the 50 other identical places in the mall" (and then admitted he hadn't been to any of them). Serving seahorses just gives me something else not to like about it. The combination of mediocre ill concieved/ overly designed/ expensive/ trendy food make it unlikely that this place would do well anywhere, but if it succeeds in it's current location it will be a miracle.

I actually enjoyed my dinning experience at Mulan this past weekend, relatively. Service was great as we were one of the only two dinning parties onsite at 11PM on a Saturday. The hostess and waiter were actually both helping us, plus the busboy. I'm guessing they were bored . The hostess personally showed me the restroom which was nicely decorated, but had no signs on the door. Overall decor and attentiveness is a nice change from the other restaurants in the same area. I live in the area, so I was indeed getting tired of the typical Chinatown experience ( maybe I'm the exact target they were shooting for). I enjoyed all the little details such as nice silverware, modern furnishing and good presentation.

The downside. As the OP, my Kuro Buta was overcooked, but my Crab Udon appetizer was surprsingly delicious (as long as I don't consider it "Udon"). Other appetizers we tried were asari croutons, which was tasty to me, but too salty for my fiancee. Also beef tatar and something else I can't remember, both were unimpressive. My fiancee's seabass was indeed overcooked as others have said, but my other dinning mate's Duck w/ Ricecake+Seahorse was actually better than I expected (I'm a picky duck eater), another dinning mate's Elk was gamey as the waiter warned us, but tender, and it was a bit middle of the road, I wasn't loving it, nor was I hating it. Deserts were presented very well and quite tasty for a non-desert person as myself. We had the sorbet (four different kinds), served on a nicely chilled wide plate, also had the gelato, both were nice way to finish a 100 degree summer day. Total price came out to be about $35 per person.

I would agree it'd be a miracle if this place survives, but I welcome it as a new dinning option in my neighborhood.

I understand how you feel. I've been going to Chinatown with friends and family about two or three times a month for the last 25 years or so myself. Although the restaurants are simple, the food at its best can be good enough that we usually find the experience positive and often actually in some way uplifting. This is where we usually head after a bad week to set things right (works for us).

Nevertheless, I agree that plastic garbage bag tablecloths and grime encrusted teapots are not always going to fit the bill. It would certainly be great if there were some more upscale and innovative options in the area and in fact, this was what I hoped Mulan would be.

I have had the pleasure of eating in elegant and refined Chinese Restaurants in many places including Hong Kong, Kowloon, Singapore, San Francisco and Montreal and I hoped Mulan woul offer something similar locally. Maybe it was these high expectations that led to my being so unhappy...even annoyed with this place. The whole asian fusion concept is difficult enough to pull off as it is, and in my experience the best practiotiners start from a deep appreciation of classic cuisine (like Barbara Troop , Ming Tsai or Morimoto ). This is clearly not the case with Mulan, which is 'asian' in only the most general way (and obviously not Chinese at all). The overall experience is much too far removed from any ethnic base...too contrived... at least for me But I'm not a big fan of Redlight/Opera/Vong either (tho any of these will offer better asianoid type food in a pleasing setting ). I think the fact that Mulan was located in one of my favorite food areas led me to expect more...and to be somewhat dissappointed when it didn't deliver.

LTH,

I had the pleasure of dining once again at Mulan. I accompanied m'th'su, you can read his Chicago Reader Mulan review here, and pretty much agree with what he wrote, which paralleled my previous experience at Mulan, found upthread.

While I found our meal mediocre in the extreme, this time even the previously crunchy sea horse was limp and lifeless, as opposed to the crunchy goodness of my first visit, I thought the two desserts, which, sensing our displeasure, especially with the abalone, they comped, were head and shoulders above the rest of the meal with Green tea cheesecake with wasabi syrup and warmed bananas rolled in panko absolutely terrific.

Green tea cheesecake


No comment one way or the other on the "dissected vulva" aspect of his review, though I happen to have a picture of the $65 abalone Mike references. One thing I might add, not only did the abalone taste "like salty cow liver" it tasted like salty cow liver from an old and bitter cow.

Mulan Abalone w/baby bok choy


Enjoy,
Gary

My family and I had dinner last Saturday at Mulan. The food was pretty good, nothing spectacular. The tuna sashimi appetizer ended up coming w/ a white fish instead, but the waiter didn't mention the substitute. There was also a noticeable piece of quail egg shell under one of the slices of fish. The calamari salad arrived with only three rather small pieces, and the greens were substituted with those that resemble white ragged weeds. Those are the worst part of a bagged salad! lol We were a party of six, and 4 of the desserts took almost 20 mins (my little brother kept looking at his watch as he was eager to get home to play with his friends). The other two desserts, gelato and sorbets, came 10 mins later. I would think those desserts would be easier to prepare than the others, but perhaps the sorbets needed to thaw? I am not sure. We expected some sort of apology for the delay, but the waiter said nothing. The other aspect that confuses me was that there was only one other party in the restaurant when we were there. Am I being too critical? There were positive notes of our meal that I should mention. The owner (?) went to Dominicks to purchase a bottle of wine for us since father had accidentally left the bottle at home. The scallop appetizer was deemed tasty. I think they sliced two scallops in half horizontally in order to plate four pieces? My brother enjoyed his lamb entree. I thought my white fish (sea bass?) with green beans topped with egg white and baked sweet potato slivers was flavorful. The fish wasn't dry and the green beans were still crisp/tender. And the kumquat sauce added a slight sweet/sourish note that I thought went well with the other elements of the dish. The fish fillet was thin, but you receive two in one entree. My other brother ordered the duck with egg noodles. All the duck was consumed, but he complained that his noodles were oversalted. I hope not to sound over critical. Just wanted to share some thoughts from my dining experience. If friends were looking for a different dining experience in the Chinatown area I would go there again. But if we were in downtown, I don't think I would make the drive just to eat at Mulan.

Has anyone eaten here recently?

Chicago mag apparently has, since it was one of their 20 best new restaurants, in the current issue. Kind of weird to see that one of the "best new" restaurants is a place you've already written off based on reports here...

I hesitate to make a negative post, but we (us and another couple) had dinner at Mulan last Saturday night and we were underwhelmed. We arrived a bit late for our 7:30 reservation (we did call to tell them we would be late) and were told of their 5.00 martini specials at the bar. We ordered two cosmos and two glasses of white wine. After about 20 minutes we were seated at the table and that's where the night went downhill.

They were understaffed in the dining room and after a while we realized they must be understaffed in the kitchen too. The Host couldn't have been nicer, but he seemed really stressed out. No waiter or menus for 20 minutes. Finally menus, but no drink order. Drink order but no mention of specials. We stopped the waiter to order because we were starving and then we were told the specials. We ordered a variety of appetizers-baked garlic shrimp, soft shell crab, crab ravioli and some soup. Then we waited. And waited.

After 45 minutes my husband found the host and said that if we didn't get something to eat in 5 minutes we would leave. Our appetizers miraculously appeared 5 minutes later. They were delicious, no complaints there.

We then waited another 40 minutes for our entrees. My husband had the elk, our friends had the chicken and the waygu beef and I had the duck with noodles. No little seahorse . The food was really good.

We really wanted dessert, but after all the waiting, we just wanted to go home. So we asked for our check. After a minor adjustment to our check - they charged us 8 for the cosmos instead of 5, we paid and left. I expected so much more after the review in Chicago and was very disappointed. It's too bad because the space is really lovely and the food is good, but they seemed so overwhelmed. There were quite a few open tables so that wasn't the problem. The kitchen just didn't have it together and the staff was all over the place. No bus boys, the servers cleared the tables. The bartender served the wine. I feel bad, but I don't think they will be in business for long. No one looked happy in the restaurant, not the staff and certainly the patrons at the other tables.

I had dinner here last night. For appetizer, I was tempted by the scallops with Chinese bacon, but couldn't pass up a chance to try Wagyu beef, which I've never had before. This was very good: the beef was quite tender (except for one piece which had gristle in it) and flavorful, and the lemongrass complemented it nicely. For the entree, I had the Australian lamb rack, at my waiter's recommendation. There was nothing particularly Asian about this, as far as I could tell, but it too was very tender and flavorful. The shrimp bun with blue cheese that accompanied it was more weird than anything else; the blue cheese was more prominent than the shrimp.

For dessert, I had the green tea cheesecake, which I was disappointed by, especially since this week's Reader listed it as one of the best desserts in town. It wasn't bad, but I thought it was heavy and cloyingly oversweet, and the wasabi syrup accompanying it didn't taste like wasabi, or like anything much. The panko-crusted hot bananas were good, though.

I had no problems with the service at all, and the food came out in good time. I suspect that on the night of Diane's bad experience, they were overwhelmed by the initial surge caused by the Chicago mag review, and by the time I got there, things were back to normal. And, of course, she was there on a Saturday and I was there on a Thursday.

While my meal wound up being fairly expensive, I think the prices were reasonable given what I ordered. I don't know if I'd have felt the same if I'd ordered the more "Asian" dishes.