The Hong Kong Chef [The 1980S]

There's a restaurant in Mong Kok that's been open for over thirty years. It's always packed, and diners rave about it. But even amid all its success, danger is looming. The elderly owner has no successor, and his apprentice has opened a rival restaurant, luring customers away with low prices. The diners secretly lament that the restaurant probably won't last more than a few years. One day, the owner brings his biological granddaughter over from the mainland and decides to hand the restaurant over to her. That granddaughter, they say, is a shepherdess who grew up in the Gobi Desert of the northwest. The diners secretly sigh. The restaurant probably won't last more than a few days. * Yue Ning was a Cantonese chef famous for cooking seafood. She was particular about her ingredients and her customers, yet food connoisseurs still adored her. Reborn into the food-scarce 1960s, she grows up in the far northwest, nowhere near the sea. She has never even seen grouper, abalone, sea cucumber, or bird's nest. Cattle and sheep belong to the state: she can feed them, but not eat them. As the country opens up, Yue Ning dreams of moving to the city and opening a little restaurant. She vows never again to be picky about ingredients or customers. One day, an elderly gentleman who claims to be her grandfather finds her and tells her that he owns a Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong… First blurb version: January 18, 2024 Theme: Hard work brings prosperity