Who is Kathy Fang? Meet the chef ahead of Chef Dynasty: House of Fang premiere

Kathy Fang
Kathy Fang's docuseries Chef Dynasty: House of Fang is set to premiere this Tuesday (Image via chefkathyfang/Instagram)

Chef and restaurateur Kathy Fang will serve authentic Chinese dishes alongside her father, Peter Fang, on the docuseries Chef Dynasty: House of Fang, which is set to premiere on Tuesday, December 27, 2022, at 9 pm ET on Food Network.

The father-daughter duo will be seen creating delicious dishes representative of their culture and heritage and will also challenge conventional culinary ideas at Fang, the hot restaurant she co-owns in San Francisco with her father. At Fang, Kathy and her father offer a fresh take on dishes influenced by both Northern and Southern China’s cuisine.

She is the daughter of famed House of Nanking (HONK) chef/owner Peter Fang and grew up around her parents and grandmother, spending most of her childhood at HONK.

On Chef Dynasty: House of Fang, Kathy will be seen putting a modern spin on classic and traditional Chinese dishes to give her customers a better experience. She will use modern menus, take risks, put content on social media, and have young influencers promote the dishes as opposed to Peter, who prefers to keep it traditional.


Kathy's passion for food started when she was young

The Fang Legacy began in 1988 when Kathy's father began House of Nanking (HONK), a "North Beach restaurant serving home-style Cantonese cuisine in a lively, no-nonsense atmosphere." She found her passion for cooking and classic Chinese food when she was younger and would spend all her time at the restaurant or at her grandmother's restaurant, which was also close by.

She began curating her own dishes and spins on traditional items at a young age. She left San Francisco to pursue a business career and earned a degree in operations management and entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California.

After graduation, the chef held several positions in companies, including Merrill Lynch and Johnson & Johnson. However, her heart was always passionate about cooking and her childhood memories of food. In 2006, she enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in Los Angeles.

Kathy's recipe ideas are a blend of her family’s Cantonese heritage and cooking style, as well as the experiences from her travels and tasting dishes from a variety of countries, cultural backgrounds, and traditions. She opened the Fang restaurant with her father in 2009, where she created a menu equally focused on tradition and innovation.

In the docuseries Chef Dynasty: House of Fang, the chef will try to convince her father that they must innovate in order to expand and achieve what she coins “Chinese cuisine world domination.”

In an interview with Niagara Frontier Publications, Jane Latman, President of Home & Food content and Streaming, Warner Bros. Discovery, opened up about the series and said:

“The Fang family are royalty in the Bay Area – Kathy is an incredible chef, entrepreneur, wife and mom who is dedicated to pushing culinary limits while staying true to her hard-to-please father Peter’s vision. Their push-pull dynamic is sure to resonate with our viewers, who will be charmed and inspired by this family’s business and home life.”
youtube-cover

The docuseries won't be an alien experience for Kathy, who has appeared in numerous cooking competitions/series throughout her career, including Beat Bobby Flay, Guy’s Grocery Games, and Alex vs. America. She has also won the popular cooking series Chopped twice.

Kathy has over 14K followers on Instagram and regularly posts updates about her dishes, the restaurants, and her travels to give viewers an insight into her journey. The docuseries will provide more glimpses of her personal and professional life as well as multiple interactions with her father on a possible expansion.


Don't forget to tune in to Chef Dynasty: House of Fang on Tuesday, December 27, 2022, at 9 pm ET on Food Network.

Quick Links

Edited by Shreya Das