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Edmund Lee

3.5/5 stars
Trading the sun-drenched treks to some of Hong Kong’s most far-flung corners that featured in his idiosyncratic romantic comedy Far Far Away (2021) for the nocturnal intimacy of private domestic spaces, writer-director Amos Why (real name Wong Ho-yin) has created an ideal companion piece in The Dating Menu.
If the dates between Sham Ka-ki’s IT professional and five attractive women in that earlier film were quirkily amusing, the encounters between Lo Chun-yip’s free-spirited drifter and his four dating app matches here strike a very different tone: laid-back yet bittersweet in their search for human connection.
Lo plays Hark Lam, a talented chef whose instinctual refusal to face reality sees the Japanese omakase restaurant he opened with two long-time friends suffer financially in post-pandemic Hong Kong. His stubbornness also prevents him from getting over the girlfriend he broke up with three years ago.


Now living out of his compact camper van, Lam is encouraged by his pals to explore a dating app. But instead of moving on, he looks to the past, seeking to meet every “Zelda” he matches with – “Princess Zelda” being the username of his anonymous internet chat room crush 20 years ago.
What follows are cosy rendezvous with four women: Rachel Leung Yung-ting as a mysterious professional overly familiar with dating rituals; Crystal Cheung Man-ka as a single mother of two; Renci Yeung Sz-wing as an unusually cold businesswoman; and Kearen Pang Sau-wai as an emotional wreck of a divorcee.
The screenplay by Wong, co-director Frankie Chung Wang-kit and Kong Yu-sing is fascinating in its forbearance: temperamental though he otherwise is, Lam always delivers on his promise to cook a tailor-made meal for each of his dates, no matter how remote the prospect of a romantic connection may feel.
While its food-preparation sequences are naturally pleasing, The Dating Menu is more memorable for the authentic conversations between its characters. They may not drive the plot forward but they certainly leave a lingering, wistful impression, not unlike the Japanese TV and film series Midnight Diner.


In this follow-up to his big-screen leading man debut in 2023’s Time Still Turns the Pages, Lo’s low-key performance again cements his special niche: a good-looking actor who excels at playing the everyman, lending his charisma to the narrative only as much as it demands – and not a fraction more.
It is hardly an exaggeration to say that The Dating Menu would only work with him in the fundamentally paradoxical part: a charming chef who alternately makes his female customers blush and suffers cruel rejections from his potential hookups for being too much of a hopeless romantic.
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The Dating Menu movie review: a drifter chef looks to connect in wistful romantic drama

Lo Chun-yip (left) and Crystal Cheung Man-ka in a still from The Dating Menu.

Lo Chun-yip (left) and Renci Yeung in a still from The Dating Menu (category IIB, Cantonese), directed by Amos Wong and Frankie Chung. 

Rachel Leung (left) and Lo Chun-yip in a still from The Dating Menu.

Lo Chun-yip (left) and Kearen Pang in a still from The Dating Menu.

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Hong Kong actor and filmmaker Lo Chun-yip, also known as Siuyea, at an interview with the SCMP at the Golden Scene office in Jordan. Photo: SCMP/Jonathan Wong

Hong Kong actor and filmmaker Siuyea Lo Chun-yip attends an interview with the South China Morning Post at the Golden Scene office in Jordan on August 10, 2026. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Lo in a still from The Dating Menu.

Lo in a still from Time Still Turns the Pages (2023). The role earned him a best actor nomination at the 2024 Hong Kong Film Awards. Photo: Roundtable Pictures

Louise Wong (left) and Lo in a still from Night King.

(From left) Lo, Fish Liew and Yau Hawk-sau in a still from No. 1 Chung Ying Street (2018). Lo and Liew have been dating for more than six years. Photo: Boundary Film Production

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Lay Zhang in a still from Kung Fu Soccer.

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(From left) Ronald Lam as Kit, Ling Man-lung as Mark and Renci Yeung as Man in a still from Unidentified Murder.

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Lo Chun-yip plays a chef who tries out a dating app and cooks for four very different women as he tries to get over a previous relationship


Lo Chun-yip plays a chef who tries out a dating app and cooks for four very different women as he tries to get over a previous relationship.


Chinese language cinema

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Asian cinema: Chinese films

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An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Lo Chun-yip plays a chef who tries out a dating app and cooks for four very different women as he tries to get over a previous relationship

Lo Chun-yip plays a chef who tries out a dating app and cooks for four very different women as he tries to get over a previous relationship