This Sterling Heights essential specializes in Sichuan dishes with peppercorns that leave your mouth tingling. It’s also one of the few spots featuring vegan vegetarian-friendly fare. Returning patrons will rightly tell you to go straight to the fried squirrel-shaped fish, but Trizest also has exceptional mapo tofu, spicy popcorn chicken, sweet eggplant with ginger and garlic, plus some deep cut standouts like menu item 14 — a phenomenal side of pork with spicy garlic sauce. On top of its reputation as one of metro Detroit’s most popular Chinese restaurants, Trizest is also ideal for large group gatherings.

Tucked away into a busy strip mall, this carryout operation in Madison Heights zooms in on Cantonese barbecue. Drop in and pick up takeout containers filled with roasted duck, barbecued pork, and beef belly. The barbecue is hung up on display behind the counter and chopped with a huge cleaver to order. Remember to take cash, but Zelle payments are also accepted.

Kung Fu Noodle House features a variety of Cantonese, Sichuanese, and Taiwanese dishes. Expect options like beef noodle soup, noodles with soybean paste, and cumin lamb as well as a variety of chili pots, skewered meats, and dumplings.

The longtime bakery tucked in a well-trafficked strip mall of John R Road keeps customers satisfied with fresh and affordable Chinese pastries. Seek this spot out for durian pastries, taro root crispy cakes, and banana leaf-wrapped sticky rice with sausage. Bonus: This spot also serves bubble tea. Fill out a paper slip and place an order at the counter.

This modern, casual restaurant serves bowls of numbingly spicy Sichuan noodles and rich lamb noodles that are perfect for slurping, and a robot waiter may even bus your table. Beyond the soups, the restaurant also serves a handful of sides and dim sum options such as green onion pancakes or toasted pork buns.

This Chinese hot pot restaurant dishes out thinly sliced pieces of pork, beef, and veggies in flavorful terrines of broth. Lao Pot has a modern feel and a full bar. The restaurant accepts reservations as well as takeout orders by phone.

Located in a shopping center in Auburn Hills, this soothing Taiwanese tea house serves shaved ice and milk tea, in addition to meals like hot pot, cold noodles with sesame sauce, braised pork, and fried chicken bao. Oakland Tea House is a small, comforting, semi-private gem. The interior is mostly wood, as is traditional with Taiwanese tea houses, which makes for a cozy dining experience.

For more than 30 years, this Garden City restaurant has been dishing out Mandarin and Sichuan cuisine. House specialties include the Chinese-Korean dish ja-jang mein (jjajangmyeon), noodles stir-fried with chopped onion and shrimp, topped with a Chinese black bean sauce.

This Farmington Hills restaurant is one of a handful of establishments in southeast Michigan offering Chinese hand-pulled noodles. Choose from options like beef noodle soup and stir-fried noodles, tofu skin salad, and seven different styles of fried rice.

A highly regarded white-tablecloth establishment, Hong Hua is a good place to fill up on Beijing duck. It’s prepared in two styles: crispy with honey-glazed skin, Chinese crepes, scallions, and hoisin sauce or boneless and stir-fried with vegetables. Customers also love the honey-glazed, sliced barbecue pork.

Shangri-La is a local favorite for Cantonese cuisine. Reflective of her own heritage (born in Thailand to Chinese parents) owner Cholada “Nancy” Chan has developed her restaurant into a catch-all destination for everything from Thai-style Massaman curry to bubble tea, and roasted duck noodle soup.

Jeff’s Kitchen serves some of the best soup dumplings around, along with other Shanghai-style dishes like blue crab and sizzling beef with vegetables. They also have a dim sum menu with juicy pork buns, crispy spring rolls, and red bean pancakes. Jeff’s Kitchen is booked by reservation only.