Nora Lum, known professionally as Awkwafina, embarks on an unexpectedly moving culinary journey in her new Apple TV series, attempting to resurrect her family's legendary restaurant despite having virtually no cooking experience. The actor, rapper and comedian's genuine bewilderment in the kitchen drives a series that balances chaotic humour with genuine emotional depth, culminating in a pop-up homage to her great-grandfather's famous establishment.
According to The Guardian, the series opens with a striking contrast: Lum's absolute ignorance of culinary fundamentals feels refreshingly authentic compared to the often-exaggerated incompetence typical of celebrity cooking shows. Her crouched, fearful stance by the oven, her tentative handling of spatulas, and her visible dread when confronted with raw ingredients all speak to someone genuinely untouched by the culinary arts. She pours milk over eggs lobbed uncertainly into a pan, and her eyes betray genuine hatred for the ingredients before her. This is not performance; this is real unfamiliarity with cooking.
The early scripted voiceovers undermine the authenticity somewhat. "I've been known to set soup on fire," she quips. "Which is impressive. As it's a dish that's mainly water." Fortunately, the production team recognises these forced jokes are weakening the narrative and gradually reduces them as the series progresses, allowing the genuine story to emerge.
That story is rooted in family legacy. Lum is a descendant of what might be called Chinese restaurant royalty. Her great-grandfather Jimmy founded Lum's restaurant in Flushing, Queens, in 1952, among the first Chinese restaurants in that neighbourhood according to Bon Appétit. Her father and grandmother, Powah Lum, worked there until it closed in 1982, before Nora was born. Powah, 91 during filming, remains formidable despite rarely leaving her home. When Nora asks why her grandmother never taught her to cook, the answer is blunt: "You too lazy."
Whatever truth lies in that assessment, Nora proves herself anything but lazy on screen. She radiates energy and charisma, mesmerising in her intensity whether mastering wok skills at the Culinary Institute of America—approaching the workstation "like a man walking up the line at Verdun," as she describes it—or exchanging banter with co-star Jimmy O Yang as they drive across the country sampling Asian-American fusion cuisines beyond Manhattan's Chinatown.
The series follows Lum on a cross-country culinary road trip, meeting Asian American chefs and restaurateurs, with her initial ambition to open a full restaurant soon shifting to the more realistic goal of staging a pop-up within nine months. This pop-up will honour Lum's legacy and celebrate the broader immigrant story: how Cantonese, Korean, and other immigrant communities came to America, established restaurants, and adapted their cuisines to local tastes while introducing their adopted country to something entirely new.
As Lum travels to various states—learning to make bulgogi sausages in Fredericksburg, tasting Peking duck in San Francisco at Mister Jiu's, and joining a chicken in 19 seconds under the tutelage of 1980s celebrity chef Martin Yan—she and her companions piece together a wider narrative. The second generation of immigrant families were encouraged to become lawyers, doctors, and professionals, escaping the relentless labour of kitchens and small business ownership. They succeeded, but at a cost: with no one to inherit them, most family restaurants, including Lum's, vanished. Yet in recent years, a reversal has begun. The grandchildren are returning—crucially, choosing to return—to start new businesses, often in the old locations, and doing so with pride rather than resignation.
Powah Lum sadly passed away shortly after filming concluded, but she appears at the opening night of Nora's pop-up homage to the original restaurant, its walls lined with family photographs and its menu featuring old favourites reimagined with modern touches. When Nora asks her grandmother if she enjoyed the food, Powah's response is characteristically spare: "I ate a lot." As she leaves, she delivers the moment the entire room has been waiting for: "I am proud of you. All the time."
The series, which premiered globally on Apple TV on November 6, 2026, balances comedy with genuine emotional weight. Lum's transformation from kitchen-phobic celebrity to someone capable of honouring her family's culinary heritage feels earned rather than manufactured. The show succeeds because it refuses to sentimentalise its subject or milk the emotional beats for easy tears. Instead, it allows the quiet pride of a grandmother in her granddaughter, and the reclamation of a lost family legacy, to speak for itself.
What happens next
The series comprises eight episodes total. According to Apple TV's official episode guide, "The Run-Through" is scheduled for December 11, 2026, with the finale, "Opening Night," airing on December 18, 2026.
