Being consummate foodies, Shalini and I are always on the lookout for new and exciting restaurants in and around the twin-cities. For a while, her favorite cuisines were Chinese and Thai and mine were Italian and Mexican. We used to find common ground on Vietnamese. But the preferences have shifted around, until all of the above and many more are loved by both of us.
So, it was to our great delight, when a Chinese co-worker of hers recommended Tea-House to us. "Ethnic Chinese love to dine there." was her proclamation. This sounded too good to be true!! So we went to check it out and fell in a deep love-at-first-taste that still endures.
At the time, Tea-House was a family owned and operated restaurant in a nondescript strip mall in Plymouth MN. While it still exists in that location, they have opened up another on the Eastern side of St.Paul MN.
Tea-House has two kinds of menus: a menu serving American-style (milder and sweeter) Chinese food, that most people expect and an authentic Schezuan menu to cater to more adventurous foodies. This latter menu and the justice done to the dishes listed on it, is what makes Tea-House the special place that it is.
I must warn you though - that your run of the mill Chinese fast-food restaurant (Leann Chin, Panda Express) it is NOT.
The food is loaded with flavours of sesame, ginger, garlic, black beans and red chillies. If you ask for extra spicy, you could be mistaken for a fire-breathing dragon after the meal. But not all dishes are fiery hot to be delicious. Stir-fried catfish in black-bean sauce and eggplant in garlic sauce immediately come to mind.
Their Chung-king spicy chicken has been our most favourite. But from their recently enhanced and expanded menu, we are still discovering new favorites - Cumin Lamb is one and whole tilapia stir-fried in black-bean sauce is the other. The lamb was very savory with earthy cumin flavors and stir-fried to perfection, it was the fish that stole the show.
A whole tilapia is stir-fried in the most delicious mix of spices and cooked to a flaky perfection, yet it somehow remains entirely intact. Anybody who has ever attempted to pan-fry or pan-grill a fish fillet will tell you how difficult it is to avoid crumbling up a cooked fish. And then there are the myriad flavors in the sauce. The untrained palate could be forgiven for mistaking it as the Bengali Machher-Jhol (fish curry). Hats off to the chef!!
In all folks, until we visit China and actually sample some local food there, we are happy with Tea-House and recommend it heartily.
Once you get over the wow factor of the food, you might even begin to notice the exquisite decor with delicately carved wood art and paper lanterns etc.
Five Stars *****
So, it was to our great delight, when a Chinese co-worker of hers recommended Tea-House to us. "Ethnic Chinese love to dine there." was her proclamation. This sounded too good to be true!! So we went to check it out and fell in a deep love-at-first-taste that still endures.At the time, Tea-House was a family owned and operated restaurant in a nondescript strip mall in Plymouth MN. While it still exists in that location, they have opened up another on the Eastern side of St.Paul MN.
Tea-House has two kinds of menus: a menu serving American-style (milder and sweeter) Chinese food, that most people expect and an authentic Schezuan menu to cater to more adventurous foodies. This latter menu and the justice done to the dishes listed on it, is what makes Tea-House the special place that it is.
I must warn you though - that your run of the mill Chinese fast-food restaurant (Leann Chin, Panda Express) it is NOT.
The food is loaded with flavours of sesame, ginger, garlic, black beans and red chillies. If you ask for extra spicy, you could be mistaken for a fire-breathing dragon after the meal. But not all dishes are fiery hot to be delicious. Stir-fried catfish in black-bean sauce and eggplant in garlic sauce immediately come to mind.
Their Chung-king spicy chicken has been our most favourite. But from their recently enhanced and expanded menu, we are still discovering new favorites - Cumin Lamb is one and whole tilapia stir-fried in black-bean sauce is the other. The lamb was very savory with earthy cumin flavors and stir-fried to perfection, it was the fish that stole the show.
A whole tilapia is stir-fried in the most delicious mix of spices and cooked to a flaky perfection, yet it somehow remains entirely intact. Anybody who has ever attempted to pan-fry or pan-grill a fish fillet will tell you how difficult it is to avoid crumbling up a cooked fish. And then there are the myriad flavors in the sauce. The untrained palate could be forgiven for mistaking it as the Bengali Machher-Jhol (fish curry). Hats off to the chef!!
In all folks, until we visit China and actually sample some local food there, we are happy with Tea-House and recommend it heartily.
Once you get over the wow factor of the food, you might even begin to notice the exquisite decor with delicately carved wood art and paper lanterns etc.
Five Stars *****
