"Hong Hau, Maybe #2. Last night we had an early “Mother’s Day Dinner” at one of the area’s better Chinese restaurants, the Hong Hua Restaurant on Orchard Lake Road, just south of 12 Mile Road. It’s not your typical neighborhood Chinese restaurant, but it’s a former “Hour Magazine’s Restaurant of the Year” winner and a reputation for fine dining. Our party of eleven (11) was seated in their rear room and the décor was modern and clean.<br/ <br/ We started dinner with their Corn and Chicken Soup which was hot and very tasty. It’s not on the regular menu, so you’ll have to ask it for by name. Next, we had the Peking Duck which in my opinion compares favorably with the Peking Duck we had last year in Beijing, P.R.C. <br/ <br/ Be sure to ask your waitperson to prepare the duck skin, sliced scallions, hoisin sauce, and mandarin skins. They do a lot better job than doing it yourself. This was an excellent dish! <br/ <br/ We followed up the Peking Duck with their Black-Bean Oysters, again off their “special menu”. It’s a large oyster on a shell that is steamed with generous amounts of black bean, a hint of garlic, and topped with thin, almost transparent, rice noodles. I’ve had this dish in NYC’s Chinatown and Hong Hau’s version compares favorably with the NYC version.<br/ <br/ Other dishes we ordered were as follows;<br/ <br/ Spicy Squid – ordered from the “special menu”; not very spicy and lacked crispness<br/ <br/ Sweet and Sour Chicken – pretty good, but you can order this dish just about anywhere<br/ <br/ Pork Chop with Spicy Salt – excellent dish with lots of flavor<br/ <br/ Braised Bean Curd – average without much flavor, but an excellent choice for our resident vegetarian.<br/ <br/ Szechuan Chicken – spicy with slices of tender chicken and vegetables<br/ <br/ Shrimp with Walnuts – tasty shrimp, but the broccoli was not even cooked<br/ <br/ Shrimp in Lobster Sauce – IMHO, other than the Peking Duck; my favorite dish. Tasty shrimp all sautéed in a thick Lobster sauce with lots of black beans and garlic.<br/ <br/ Rib-Eye with Asparagus and “Maggie Sauce” – the most disappointing dish of the dinner. Their presentation was great, the asparagus was perfectly cooked; but the rib-eye was well-done, and we especially asked for 'rare”. Since this is a Chinese restaurant and not a steakhouse . . . maybe this should be expected.<br/ <br/ <br/ For dessert they gave us the traditional “Fortune Cookies”, but we also ordered their Mango Pudding, which was really firm and only semi-sweet. Most other fine Chinese restaurants provide fresh fruit for dessert.<br/ <br/ Overall, Hong Hau lives up to their reputation with excellent quality, pleasant ambiance, and professional service. I would rate it 4 stars.<br/ <br/ But, for strictly excellent Szechuan and Cantonese food, with the addition of great Dim Sum, and a very affordable price; I still vote for Cheng’s Chinese Restaurant in Rochester hills, Michigan. While Hong Hau in Farmington Hills, Michigan would be a close second."
