Menu Highlight: Tea house owner stopped to tell me how to eat this dish, and I was grateful

When I placed my order for two appetizers, two entrees and two desserts at the counter at Oakland Tea House, the owner looked up at me and asked: “Is this all for you?”

One of the most asked questions I get as a restaurant critic is whether I order up several dishes on a menu to get a sense of a place. And while the answer is yes, attributing the act to a methodical approach to my process is slightly dishonest. Charging it to my inherently indecisive, and slightly gluttonous nature would be more accurate.

Well before my days as a critic, I’d order multiple dishes at once. Typically torn between two or three menu items, I’d opt to have a taste of it all, saving leftovers in my fridge to be heated and reheated for days. My father, aunts and cousins, and even parents of childhood friends mock the pre-pubescent Lyndsay who’d, at diners, order an omelet with home fries and buttered toast — with a side of French toast with bacon and a cup of fruit for breakfast. I'd add a cup of black tea, light and sweet for good measure.

Though my toxic trait might be having eyes bigger than my stomach, at Oakland Tea House, there’s just so much to be desired. I had to have it all.

There are milky bubble teas of various flavors with slippery boba pearls sunken to the bottom of the cup. There are housemade dumplings that have been pan fried to the point that the juices of the filling spill out of those mini envelopes to create crispy bits that give the impression the dumpling is coated in bronze lace.

There are soup dishes and puff pastries, fluffy bao buns and desserts topped with seasonal fruits.

And while I was impressed with nearly every dish I tried during my first visit to the Tea House earlier this month, one deserves its own recognition.

It was a glimpse of the Spiced Oil with Shrimp Wonton Noodles that the Tea House had recently advertised on its Instagram page that enticed me to take the 40-minute drive to the Auburn Hills strip mall. A highly seasonal eatery and a small, family-run operation, the Tea House doesn’t guarantee every menu item to be available daily, and therefore uses social media to keep diners aware of its offerings.

The dish in the photograph featured cellophane noodles, for example, while the dish of the day during my visit starred what appeared to be Taiwanese oil noodles.

The owner, whose name I’d later learn is Yingchuan Yu, wheeled a cart of dishes to my table, plating the bowl of noodles in front of me. A red puddle of spiced chili oil pooled at the bottom with tiers of ingredients layered on top. Next came the noodles, then a bed of steamed Napa cabbage and bok choy leaves, then a puzzle of seared shrimp dumplings and a handful of chopped fresh green onions, red chili peppers, cilantro and crushed peanuts.

Wanting to experience each element of the dish individually, I started with the noodles, first swirling them in the chili oil. The sauce was mildly spicy and bright, delivering equal parts acid and heat. The vegetables were perfectly crisp, the cabbage bursting with water before absorbing the bold flavors of the chili oil. The dumplings, filled with a mixture of shrimp and egg, offered the texture of shrimp ravioli or tortellini.

“You have to mix it,” Yu said, interrupting my analysis. She glanced down at my table while delivering her cart of entrees to the high table beside me. Disapproving of my approach to the dish, she instructed me to stir everything up so that the ingredients were well-incorporated. I wasn’t doing it right, she said.

Before I could go any further, I obeyed.

Yu wasn’t wrong. Stirring the bowl allowed all of the parts to harmonize, the way a good choir does. The doughy noodles fell to the background, while the zippy cilantro and crispy dumplings hit the high notes.

In true fashion, I left with boxes of leftovers, including a container for the Spiced Oil with Shrimp Wonton Noodles.

In this case, I wasn’t too overly stuffed to finish the meal, I just wanted to savor it a little while longer.

Oakland Tea House

Walton Village Plaza Shopping Center

3081 Walton Blvd., Auburn Hills. 248-677-2158; oaklandteahouse.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Oakland Tea House menu highlight: Spiced Oil with Shrimp Wonton Noodles