Danny Yu
Began in the restaurant business in China, trained as a chef, and opened his own 110-seat Chinese restaurant in Montreal in 1990 before coming to Michigan.
Farmington Hills · Since June 2000
Our Story
Over eighty years of combined experience, four friends, and one restaurant that has been theirs since the summer of 2000.
The name
鴻樺 — a great bird on a hardwood tree
Taken apart, Hong Hua describes a symbolic bird — symbolic the way the eagle is to Americans — perched atop a hardwood tree that survives bad times as well as good, and weathers whatever storms come. Said together, the owners chose the words to mean “grateful,” for whatever luck came to the restaurant.
As explained by the owners to HOUR Detroit, 2002.
The partners
Four partners since opening day.
When The Detroit News reviewed Hong Hua on its eleventh anniversary, it called the partnership remarkable: the same quartet still together, running the restaurant “in ensemble fashion,” all four on hand just about every day. That is where the consistency comes from.
Peter Chan
Executive chef. Started cooking in Hong Kong at 17 and trained in the city’s top private clubs, where every plate had to please a demanding clientele.
Gary Yau
Owner and manager. Ask for Gary for large parties, special menu items and catering — and order Gary’s Special Cocktail if you’re skipping alcohol.
Shetwai Seto
Owner and manager since the doors opened in June 2000. Look to the right in the foyer for the display of the menu’s rarest dried delicacies, abalone among them.
Tradition
Whole fish, boned at the table.
A whole fish is served head to tail for a good beginning and a good ending. At Hong Hua it is boned at the table, so no one flips it over — in Chinese tradition, an omen of a capsized fishing boat. Most of the fish are kept alive in the kitchen tanks until the moment they are ordered.
Described in HOUR Detroit’s Restaurant of the Year review, 2002.
The rooms
Three dining rooms and a bar.
Three dining rooms in a free-standing building on Orchard Lake Road: white linen, cherry wood, a bar at the back, and soft chairs in the lounge if you’re waiting for a table.
A fully stocked bar with American and French wines, Asian cocktails, and Chinese wine and beer to go with the food.
Guests from far and wide
An Iron Chef at the table.
Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto has dropped in to dine with his friends at Hong Hua.
“Hong Hua is fascinating and first rate, elegant but very comfortable. It uses only top-quality ingredients in a kitchen run by a dancing wizard.”
— Ric Bohy, HOUR Detroit — Restaurant of the Year, 2002
