G I N.
Yelp
So Mad Heights is kinda sorta the Chinatown of SE MI. It's footprint is a carving of space between Dequindre and John R, from 14 MI to just south of 12 Mi. The Asian stores in this quadrant are sporadic but do contain all your usual suspects; there's a variety of restaurants, bakeries, and supermarkets, with the largest attraction being the 168 Food Mart in the Madison Place Plaza on John R between 13 & 14 MI Rd.
There are three Chinese bakeries in the area; QQ, Tai Pan, and the one in the 168 Food Mart. Everyone has their favourite for different reasons. I've tried all three but find myself returning to QQ time over time.
All three bakeries don't have the variety of baked buns I knew growing up, but QQ is my go to for two main reasons; the first is that they have something for everyone in my family, the other is that they make all their buns on site. So if you time it right, you can get some really fresh buns.
The bakery is tiny, with perhaps 50 sq ft of walking space. Their baked goods are displayed on two adjacent walls opposite the entrance, with a third wall housing a counter and cake display. The remaining face is the storefront window whereby a lone table and 2 chairs are parked should you want to enjoy your food there. There are about 20 different varieties of baked buns, and more than half of them are staples to their customer base.
Today, I did not find any specialty buns, but have seen some from time to time. I went with my regulars: pork cutlet sandwiches, pineapple custard buns, Ham and Onion buns, BBQ Pork buns, and sugar twist donuts.
Pork Cutlet buns. With cucumber, and mayo. The bun is mildly sweet and deep fried, as is the pork cutlet. Add mayo on top of that and you have one high calorie sandwich that's not to be consumed too often. Despite the caloric intake, it's pretty tasty. 3,5 stars.
BBQ Pork bun. Your typical baked BBQ Pork bun, different from the steamed ones you get at dim sum, but with the same filling. I only succumbed to this because they just brought out a tray, and they were super fresh and warm. They use a lot more sauce than I'm used to for the filling, but still no slouch. 3,5 stars.
Pineapple Custard Bun. Another Chinese Bakery staple. They do a great job with the pineapple crust, but fall a little short on the filling here. Unlike the BBQ Pork, the custard was too dry and a little light on flavour. 3 stars.
Ham & onion bun. Savory and sweet, this bun is a sleeper! They did an excellent job here; a little lacking with the ham, but we'll executed none the less. 4 stars.
Sugar twist donut. Your typical yeast donut, deep fried and the rolled in white sugar. Nothing fancy here, but for me, it's better than those from the big chain supermarkets and donut shops. 4 stars.
Everything is relative. If this place was in an area highly populated with Asians like LA or TO, it would probably rank at 2,5 rounded up to 3; however, in SE MI, QQ is a solid 3,5 star Chinese Bakery, rounded up to 4. Of course all opinions are also highly subjective and IMO, it's as good as it gets for the area, and for that I'm giving them an honorary 5 stars; my 14th designation of this rating, congratulations QQ!
If you would like to read more, come dine-with-me@yelp.com, I'd love to have your company...