Golden Harvest is Chinese food the way it's meant to be

Chinese food fanciers can be divided into two camps: those who are perfectly happy with almond chicken and sweet-and-sour pork (and there's nothing wrong with that), and those looking for something a bit more challenging.

If you are among the diners willing to try authentic Chinese food -- as opposed to the kind of Americanized Chinese fare most of us grew up with -- one restaurant that quickly comes to mind is Golden Harvest.

The big place on 12 Mile between Mound Road and Van Dyke Avenue not only serves dim sum from rolling carts at lunchtime every day, but also has the kind of extensive menu that we once had to travel to Windsor to find, such dishes as steamed whole fish, spicy salted crab, shrimp and squid, and braised noodles.

Some of the seafood comes directly from the saltwater and freshwater tanks in the kitchen that contain everything from lobster and crab to tilapia, eel, sea bass and frog.

Well-established now in the big free-standing building that once housed Arriva Italia, it's been just six years since Golden Harvest moved there from its original location on Van Dyke between 12 and 13 Mile. It is still run by Xi Chu Zhang and his family, who have developed a following, mostly Asian, but increasingly multi-ethnic. A glance at the faces around the big dining room is a virtual world tour.

One of the best times to check out Golden Harvest is between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. each day when the dim sum carts roll through the big dining room. Friendly servers push the metal carts from table to table, pulling the lids from the steamers to show diners what they have.

It's an especially wide-ranging array on weekends, when some 60 items are on the carts, ranging from pan-fried dumplings and steamed or baked barbecued beef buns, to sticky rice and deep-fried shrimp balls, all well-prepared.

There are also more esoteric choices, too, including chicken feet -- delicious, but oh, those tiny bones -- curried baby squid and pan-fried taro cake as well as congee, a rice dish that's a cross between a soup and a cereal. Many, but not all, dim sum items are served in multiples of three.

Say yes to an item, and the server checks it off on the special dim sum menu on the table. At the end of the meal, the check marks are totaled up.

You may order dim sum at other times of day as well, but the traditional Chinese practice is to have it at brunch, and the cart service makes it a more interesting experience than ordering from the menu.

There's much more than dim sum here. Starting at 4:30 p.m. each day, Golden Harvest offers a list of 54 authentic dishes which may be ordered at any two for $18.95, any four for $37.95, and so on up to any 10 at $94.95.

The amenities at Golden Harvest are pretty basic, with paper napkins and bare-topped tables and not much effort in the way of decor, but that fits right in with the school of thought that says the less fancy a Chinese restaurant looks, the better the food will be.

And I've found that to be true on many occasions, including this one.

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