Nora Lum, known professionally as Awkwafina, has launched a new series titled Awkwafina: The Unlikely Cook on Apple TV. The program follows the entertainer as she journeys across the United States to study under contemporary Asian American chefs, with the stated goal of reviving her family’s Cantonese restaurant that shuttered decades earlier. Lum acknowledges limited cooking experience but demonstrates surprising aptitude in the kitchen, particularly with wok-based preparation methods.
The show carries significant personal weight for Lum, as it centers on her family’s restaurant history. Her great-grandfather Jimmy established Lum’s restaurant in Flushing, Queens during the 1950s, which became one of New York’s early Chinese-American establishments and helped popularize dishes now considered classics in the cuisine. The restaurant operated until 1982, before Lum’s birth, but remains deeply embedded in family memory and identity. Lum describes the closed restaurant as the foundation of her family’s American presence, explaining that “the restaurant is how we came to this country.”
A prominent feature of the series is the inclusion of Lum’s grandmother, who raised her following her mother’s death when she was four years old. The grandmother appears throughout the program, contributing both practical culinary knowledge and personal warmth. Lum notes her grandmother’s comfort on camera and her enthusiastic involvement in the project, including creative suggestions for menu items and restaurant naming. This marks an extension of their collaboration, having previously appeared together on Lum’s 2020 comedy series Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens.
The series represents Lum’s most biographical work to date, featuring real-life best friend Jimmy O Yang alongside candid portrayals of her own emotional responses and family dynamics. Lum has expressed some vulnerability about the increased personal exposure compared to her fictional work, acknowledging unfamiliar discomfort in seeing herself portrayed with unfiltered authenticity.
The project also explores broader themes within the Asian American immigrant experience. Lum discusses how earlier generations, including her great-grandfather, were often limited to restaurant or laundromat work despite the historical stigmatization of Chinese cuisine. Paradoxically, Chinese restaurants now outnumber major American fast-food chains nationwide. Her own grandparents faced financial hardship when a restaurant venture failed, resulting in bankruptcy and loss of their home.
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