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Angela Hui

“My mum’s Chinese restaurant is dying,” Scottish-born Chinese actor Lisa He says, recording herself speaking as she walks down a street in Edinburgh. “And I have three months to save it.”
He posted the video to her social media account in April 2026, detailing the problems that have plagued her family’s restaurant, from the uninviting exterior to the colossal, outdated menu. The post has been viewed more than 16 million times on Instagram and TikTok.
After her video went viral, comments flooded in, with viewers offering advice to slim down the menu and update the ordering system.
It was not long before customers came to visit, including major food influencers such as Eating with Tod, flying in from around the UK to promote the business.












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A post shared by Lisa He 贺漓洒 (@lisaluluhe)



“I could see how hard my mum was working and I wanted to do anything to help,” says He, who had been living in London for the past five years. “I posted out of desperation, but I never expected it to blow up in the way it did. I’m just figuring it out as I go along.”
Feeding a family
He’s parents are from Henan province in central China; her father Yubin (later known as Ben) moved to Edinburgh to study comparative literature for a PhD, while her mother Wei Li, who goes by Sophie, arrived on a spouse visa with He’s older sister Emma.
While raising a family, Sophie worked in Chinese restaurants, starting out washing dishes before becoming a waitress to support her husband through his studies. Over time, she saved enough money to open her own restaurant, China Star, in 1997.
Neither of He’s parents is a chef, which has made hiring staff and running day-to-day operations more challenging. Her father has been based in China for the past few years, leaving Sophie to run the restaurant largely on her own, despite now being in her seventies.
Sophie, who has arthritis, is finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the demands of the business, including the long hours, physical strain and the challenges of modern technology.
“Their whole life has been about the restaurant. It’s almost become an identity, a sense of purpose and who they are,” He says. “We’ve had some offers to buy the restaurant, but at the last minute, we both knew we didn’t really want to let it go.”

Continuing the legacy
He decided to return to Edinburgh to help take over the nearly 30-year-old business, but her mother was not happy about it. Sophie had worked hard to give He and her sister an education; she did not want either of them to go through the same hardships and work the same long hours she did.
Since stepping back into the day-to-day running of the business, He has introduced CCTV cameras, streamlined the menu and called on friends to help manage the sudden influx of customers. Still, she knows the current pace is unsustainable – like applying a plaster to a wound as a temporary fix.
The past month has been a non-stop roller coaster for He. She has been running on only five hours of sleep a night since one of the chefs quit, after which the restaurant was forced to close for several days.
Thankfully, the family was able to hire a second wok chef; there are now three people working in the kitchen. Skilled Chinese chefs are increasingly hard to find, adding further pressure on the remaining team, He says.
“The language barrier makes it hard to hire staff, and because nothing has changed for the past 30 years, we still take orders manually, write them in Chinese and send them down the tube to the kitchen,” He says. “The only staff we can get are often international students studying here, but they usually move on after six months or a year.”

Financially, China Star is just weeks away from sinking. Although it still operates as a sit-in restaurant, the business had been relying heavily on delivery platforms to make up for the sharp decline of walk-in customers over the past five years.
Until recently, most of the restaurant’s revenue still came through delivery apps, where the high commission fees leave margins painfully thin. Meanwhile, customer complaints about prices, portion sizes and cold food added further pressure.
‘It’s like a baby to us’
Since China Star took off on social media, there has been a marked change in how its customer base interacts. “We’ve gone from being around 95 per cent takeaway to a much healthier balance of roughly 50/50 between takeaway and sit-in customers,” He says.
“Even though it’s hard work and there’s barely any life outside it, we’re deeply attached to the restaurant,” she says. “It’s like a baby to us and a huge part of how we grew up. The challenge now is finding a way to keep up with the times without compromising the food, the story, or everything behind it.”
The next two months will be crucial for China Star as He uses the momentum of being in the spotlight to lead the business into its next chapter, working to secure its long-term future.

In June, He will partner with the British noodle brand Lucky Boat and chef and food creator Chin Taylor, alongside his mother Choo, who are known for sharing Chinese takeaway cooking on the platform Ziang’s Food Workshop. Together, they will take over the China Star kitchen to serve a limited-edition chow mein dish alongside three of the restaurant’s most-loved classics.
In a gesture of community spirit, all proceeds from the pop-up will go directly back into China Star, to celebrate the legacy of this long-standing, family-run restaurant and in hopes of attracting new and loyal customers while encouraging diners to continue supporting local Chinese restaurants across the UK.
“I’m genuinely surprised that people care because I honestly thought nobody would,” He says. “This outpouring of love has been amazing; it’s given us fire to keep going and fight.”
China Star, 6A W Maitland Street, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 131 229 9178. Visit chinastarrestaurant-eh12.co.uk.


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Food and Drinks

Lisa He with her mother Sophie at their family restaurant, China Star. The Edinburgh takeaway is months away from closure, but He’s viral social media post has brought lots of attention, and hope. Photo: courtesy of Lisa He

Young Lisa with her mother Sophie, who moved to Scotland from China’s Henan province. Photo: courtesy of Lisa He

A selection of dishes at China Star. Photo: China Star

Lisa He and Sophie in front of China Star. He says that the next two months will be crucial for the survival of their family restaurant. Photo: courtesy of Lisa He

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Chefs Li Chi-wai (left) and Dong Zhenxiang at The Legacy House in the Rosewood Hong Kong hotel, where they recently collaborated on a two-night dinner. Photo: Rosewood Hong Kong

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Dong is the founder of the Da Dong catering group, one of China’s most celebrated restaurant empires. Photo: Rosewood Hong Kong

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One of Foo’s notebooks with his handwritten dim sum recipes. Photo: Lisa Cam

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Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Opened in 1997, China Star has weeks to turn things around before it sinks. Can the founder’s Instagrammer daughter Lisa He serve up success?


This Edinburgh Chinese restaurant is dying. Meet the daughter using social media to save it

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Opened in 1997, China Star has weeks to turn things around before it sinks. Can the founder’s Instagrammer daughter Lisa He serve up success?

Feeding a family

Opened in 1997, China Star has weeks to turn things around before it sinks. Can the founder’s Instagrammer daughter Lisa He serve up success?