Farmington Hills, MI - Hong Hua: Finally a second Chinese restaurant in the Detroit area where I can get real Chinese food. Not the American food, sweet and sour chicken, almond chicken, General Tso's Chicken, etc... Well, actually you can get all these things, but why? There's a Chinese menu waiting for you, if you ask, and "Demand" it. That is, if you look like you shouldn't be ordering off that menu.

I heard from some colleagues that I could order "real" Chinese food here. After checking out their site, particularly the "Special Lunch Menu", I was convinced I would be able to find some "off the beaten path" dishes. Next time, I'm trying some Congee, but this time, I set my sights on braised shredded BBQ duck, salted fish, vermicelli, and bean thread.

However, it took some convincing to get it. Here's how it played out. After sitting down, I asked the server for the traditional Chinese menu, the "Special Lunch Menu". She said, oh, it's all on page 1. Looking through the list, it did have a few things on there, but not the real stuff. It didn't have Congee or any of the other traditional dishes I wanted to try. I was already discouraged. Thank goodness for smartphones. I pulled up their menu on my phone and pointed to this dish and said, this is what I want. She looked at me and said, are you sure? Oh yes, was my reply. She looked at my phone again and said, "are you sure you like salted fish?" Oh yes, was my reply. The real answer is, I'm not sure, I've never had it, but you can't talk me out of this now. I'm hoping to get a real dish in front of me and I don't care how much you try to discourage me, now I'm getting it.

I'm so glad I was forceful. It was very good and I can't wait to try something else now. The noodles where cooked very well, but what I liked mostly about it was the BBQ duck. Normally, I don't prefer duck since it has a greasy flavor, but it was prepared very well and didn't even have a hint of that greasy oily-ness to it. So, you take one bite, mmmm, I have noodles, duck, but no fish. In fact, I don't even see any fish. Interesting. Next bite, boom-pow I had a bite of the salted fish. It's hidden in there and it packed a salty punch. mmmmm, I said again. Now we're talking, a hidden treasure.

The portion was enormous and I took lots of it home. If it wasn't for the hidden dishes, I would probably have given it 2 - 3 stars, because I don't like the American-Chinese fare, don't really care for the idea of a hidden menu, and it's a little too upscale for me. There is a sign that says, proper attire required. I like the mom and pops' dives that you can where you pajamas if you want and get really good traditional food. However, their rating is saved by the dish itself and I'm looking forward to trying some more traditional dishes.