From the producer of Eat Drink Man Woman, this humorous and thoughtful multigenerational tale set in Hangzhou, China tells a delicate story of social classes, careers and romance, while turning an especially attentive eye towards depicting the importance (and joys) of cooking and eating. Vegetarian chef Tang Shize provides patrons with otherworldly culinary delights and a brief experience of sanctuary. The seemingly perfect equilibrium of his restaurant environment is interrupted when Chef Tang announces his desire to retire and sell his business, and his family and employees attempt to prepare for big changes. Matters are further complicated when Tang’s eldest daughter’s boyfriend introduces his aunt Pai Ping, who hasn’t returned to Hangzhou since she fled to Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War. Ping infuses a nervous energy into the situation with her brash, sometimes inappropriate directness, a perfect tonic to the film’s lavish formal environs. Still, Ping’s uneasy fit belies a deeper relationship to the film’s setting than one might initially suspect.


Written by Neko Xu, Shih-Chieh Chen, Miao Tan, Hsiang-Wen Tu, Tzu-Ang Wang, Yankee Zho. Photographed by Ting-Chang Ching. With Hsiao-Chuan Chang, Ah Leh Gua, Xuan Huang, Siyan Huo, Mengjie Jiang, Zheng Long Lan, Qin Li, Kenneth Tsang, Yang Yang. (107 min. In Mandarin with subtitles, Creative Century Entertainment Co., Ltd.)