It's not an action movie, but a wonderful screwball comedy with asports movie structure. Our heroes: a proud restaurant owner with a heart condition, his rebellious daughter, and a former loan shark who wants to go straight (Leslie Cheung) look for China's greatest chef after the restaurateur is challenged by an evil chef to the ultimate cooking contest. If he loses the contest -- to cook the Han Qing Imperial Feast for only the third time in history -- he loses the restaurant. The cooking sequences are a riot, set up with all of the energy and tension of a climactic kung fu battle or Western shootout. And, like Tampopo, don't see it on an empty stomach!

[Reviewed by Anonymous]