Reborn in the 1980s, Starting with a Northeastern Restaurant

Chu Yunfan, a master of Northern Chinese cuisine who once cooked for state banquets, devoted his life to reviving the nearly lost traditional dishes of Northeast China. But after working himself to exhaustion, he suddenly passed away.

When he opened his eyes, he had been reborn.

Chu Yunfan found himself in Longjiang City as the third generation of a family of cooks, unemployed and stuck in a dead-end life. His father was an unremarkable cook, and the tiny Chu Family Restaurant by the entrance to the factory grounds was on the verge of closing.

The newly opened Cantonese soup restaurant next door was packed. The factory’s once-secure jobs were hanging by a thread, and everyone was on edge...

Facing a golden age full of both opportunity and crisis, Chu Yunfan tied on his apron and picked up his wok.

“Who says Northeastern food is nothing but stews and pickled cabbage?”

Crispy old-fashioned Guo Bao Rou, rich and fragrant smoked pork bones, the long-lost Flying Dragon Soup, authentic red sausage...

Starting with a little restaurant on the factory grounds, he took over state-run cafeterias, won the railway dining car contract, and built Northeast China’s first food brand.

With nothing but a wok, Chu Yunfan would stir up the true flavors of Northeast China in this remarkable era!