Ryan

Meet Ryan

Welcome

I'm ten minutes from Bao'an International Airport, so if you're landing in Shenzhen, in transit, or flying out the next morning, you can be at my table without crossing the city.

Most weekends, my apartment fills up. I cook, friends arrive, someone deals a round of cards, and by the time the food hits the table there are a dozen people talking at once. I've been doing this for years, not as a business, just because I love to cook and I like a full room.

I'm from Putian, on the coast of Fujian, and that's the food I grew up on: oyster omelette, braised noodles, razor clams steamed with rice wine. It's a regional cooking most travellers to China never encounter, and honestly most Chinese people from other provinces haven't either. Living in Shenzhen, I've picked up the Cantonese side too, so the table usually has both.

When I've travelled myself, I always wished something like this existed: a way to sit down in someone's actual home and eat what the family eats. That's what I want to offer you.

Here's how an evening usually goes. My friend Yang Yang co-hosts with me. My kitchen is small, so I do the cooking, though if you arrive early you're welcome to peel garlic and keep me company. While the wok is going, everyone plays cards. When it's ready we all photograph the table, because that's the tradition, and then we eat properly. Expect it to run long.

About me

Hi, I'm Ryan. I'm from Putian in Fujian province and I work in software testing here in Shenzhen.

Cooking is what I do with my weekends. The card games came later and now they're non-negotiable.

My friend Yang Yang co-hosts these dinners with me. He's been part of the weekend crowd from the start, and between the two of us there's always someone keeping the conversation going while the other one is stuck at the wok.

I also have a Russian Blue cat, who will supervise the cooking from a safe distance and then ignore you completely.

Travel Experience

I love to travel. Within China I've been to western Sichuan, Chongqing, Shantou and Guangzhou. As someone who grew up on the subtropical Fujian coast, seeing snow for the first time in western Sichuan was genuinely one of the strangest and best moments I've had.

Abroad I've travelled through Malaysia and Singapore, and I lived and worked in Singapore for four years. Life there was comfortable in a way that taught me something about how much easier a new country feels when someone lets you into their everyday life rather than just their tourist sites.

That's exactly the gap I wanted to fill here. When I travelled, I kept wishing I could eat in a local family's home instead of another restaurant. Now I get to be the person offering it.

Optional add-on activities

Activities are charged per group, not per person. Your first paid activity is complimentary when you book today; any activity marked free stays free.

Sample menu

Signature dish

Seasonal and market-dependent. A typical dinner is eight or more dishes, shared family style.

Here are the sample dishes

Dietary accommodations

Fujian food is savoury rather than fiery, so nothing on this table is very spicy. Dietary restrictions and allergies accommodated with advance notice.

Getting There

Bao'an District, Shenzhen

• ≈ 10 min from Bao'an International Airport
• ≈ 50 min from Futian CBD
• ≈ 65 min from Luohu / Dongmen

Nearest metro: Gushu (Line 1)