Emperor's Kitchen

The story of our restaurant begins in 1912, when my grandfather immigrated to the United States from Canton, China, bringing with them the traditions and recipes they grew up with across the ocean. As many Chinese-American immigrants of the time, my grandfather supported his family by opening his first restaurant, the Canton Tea Garden, in 1926 in St. Louis, MO. The restaurant was a hybrid food service/night club, serving American versions of his favorite dishes and featuring big band music every weekend.

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In 1936, operations expanded and my grandfather opened a second restaurant called the Shanghai Cafe, which he owned and operated until he retired in 1959. At that time, my uncle then took over the family business and ran it as Chu Wah until 1976, and although he changed the name of the operation, the traditions and recipes remained unchanged.

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During this time, my parents relocated our family to Wisconsin, and we opened our own version of the family business in 1982. This was Emperor's Kitchen I located in Waukesha, and used the same recipes and styles as our family businesses back in Missouri. Later, in 1988, our family expanded the Emperor's Kitchen brand and opened a business in Brookfield. Our Waukesha location was later moved to Delafield, and finally consolidated with our Brookfield location in 2014, which is the business as we know it today.

 

Today, we are proud to serve the classic recipes of our family business passed down through three generations and five different locations. Maintaining our family legacy and providing you with the highest quality food has always been and always will be our family mission, and we are proud to offer custom made-to-order options prepared with only the freshest ingredients and highest quality, low-fat meat products.