Awkwafina's New Series Debuts Nov. 6: Revisiting Her Grandmother's Flushing Restaurant and a Family's Culinary Story
Chinese-American actress Awkwafina stars in 'Awkwafina: The Unlikely Cook,' an eight-episode Apple TV docuseries premiering November 6, 2026. Admitting she is not much of a cook, she sets out on a journey to learn, while exploring whether her family's historic Chinese restaurant, Lum's, might be revived. The Cantonese restaurant was founded by her great-grandfather in Flushing, Queens, in the 1950s and was long a beloved neighborhood institution.
Awkwafina said on NBC's 'Today' show on November 3 that the series is a tribute to her grandmother, who died earlier this year, and to her parents. In the series she travels across the country learning from professional chefs, explores Asian American food culture and reconnects with her family's culinary history; she also visits Hawaii to learn about the tiki culture that influenced her grandmother's restaurant, and works a shift in a restaurant kitchen in Los Angeles's Chinatown.
Apple TV says the series explores the possibility of reviving the old restaurant and has not announced any permanent reopening. For Flushing's Chinese community, the story of Lum's carries the entrepreneurial memory of generations of immigrants, and the series brings Flushing Chinatown's food culture back before a national audience.
Source: Parade
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：纽约皇后区法拉盛华埠缅街街景。Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 2.0。 / Photo: Main Street in Flushing's Chinatown, Queens, New York. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
- 2026-10-01Awkwafina to Star in Apple TV Docuseries 'The Unlikely Cook,' Tracing Her Family's Flushing Cantonese Restaurant
- 2026-11-04Awkwafina's New Series Debuts Nov. 6: Revisiting Her Grandmother's Flushing Restaurant and a Family's Culinary StoryThis story
