25th New York Asian Film Festival

July 10-26, 2026

Photo: © Dot 2 Dot Production Limited

International Premiere

The Dating Menu

廚師發辦

A private chef whose business is barely staying afloat looks for love the modern way: he opens a dating app and searches for Zelda, the girl who once captured his heart in a teenage chatroom. Instead, the app gives him four Zeldas, each with a different life and story. For each one, he cooks a meal, part flirtation, part confession, as if the right dish might recover the person he was, or the future he missed. Amos Why, director of the beloved Far Far Away (NYAFF 2022), and co-director Frankie Chung serve a funny, tender Hong Kong romance about old flames, new disappointments, and the strange comfort of not moving on. Around the table, the film catches a food culture under threat, and the small, stubborn memories that survive in what people cook for one another.

Directors: Amos Why, Frankie Chung
Producers: Amos Why, Teresa Kwong, Chen Pao Ying, Philo Wu
Screenwriters: Frankie Chung, Amos Why, Kong Yu Sing
Cast: Lo Chun Yip, Rachel Leung, Renci Yeung, Kearen Pang, Crystal Cheung
Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin with English Subtitles
2026; 102 min.; DCP
Countries: Hong Kong, Taiwan

SCHEDULE:

Thursday July 16, 9:00pm
Film at Lincoln Center

Intro and Q&A with director Frankie Chung

Frankie Chung
鍾宏杰

Frankie Chung graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in screenwriting, and began his career in television, developing and producing a range of cultural and docudrama programs for RTHK. He moved into film production in 2019, making his debut as producer with Beyond the Dream, which received multiple nominations and awards at both the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Golden Horse Awards. He has worked across writing and producing, collaborating with veteran filmmaker Amos Why’s Everyphone Everywhere (NYAFF 2023), with whom he co-directed his directing debut The Dating Menu (2026), which he is presenting at NYAFF 2026 following its world premiere as a Gala Presentation at the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival.