Apple TV has released the trailer for its new eight-episode culinary docuseries ‘Awkwafina: The Unlikely Cook,’ which follows Nora Lum, better known as Awkwafina, on a cross-country culinary adventure as she attempts to reconnect with her family’s restaurant legacy.
Awkwafina may have built a career as an actor, comedian and rapper, but there is one skill she readily admits is missing from her repertoire: cooking.
That is about to change.
Her family once ran Lum’s, an iconic Cantonese restaurant in Flushing, New York, and Nora has inherited the family legacy. Now, with the help of acclaimed chefs, celebrated restaurateurs and members of her own family, she sets out to develop the culinary skills needed to reimagine Lum’s for a new generation.
The journey takes Nora across the country as she explores contemporary Asian American cuisine and gets to grips with everything from professional kitchens to Texas barbecue. She receives a crash course at the Culinary Institute of America before hitting the road with Jimmy O. Yang to discover the secrets of Texas barbecue.
Along the way, Nora also learns from culinary icons Roy Choi and Martin Yan, while a trip to Hawai‘i allows her to explore the tiki culture that inspired her grandmother’s restaurant.
The culinary education eventually gets very real when Nora takes on the challenge of serving at a restaurant in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. Everything builds towards one major test: opening her own restaurant and putting everything she has learned to the test.
And there is one diner whose approval matters more than anyone else’s: her grandma.
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‘Awkwafina: The Unlikely Cook’ premieres globally on Apple TV on Friday, 6 November 2026.
