A researched professional record. Inclusion does not confirm representation, availability or interest in a new project.
At a glance
Chef 1996 is a private-rooms-only Sichuan restaurant in a bamboo-lined alley in Beijing’s Chaoyang district, opened in 2023 by Liang Dee. It is named for 1996, the year she and her husband opened their first restaurant in Beijing and began what became the Meizhou Dongpo group. The restaurant has private rooms named after years in the group’s history; the menu works through Sichuan’s 24 flavour types and seasonal ingredients, with dishes such as crispy tea-smoked duck with Shiranui marmalade and glutinous rice.[1] [2] [3]
Cooking & identity
The cooking is a modern, refined Sichuan register: traditional flavours and family-kitchen memories, but with precise technique, seasonal sourcing and a lighter aesthetic. The 24 flavour types are a working vocabulary, not a gimmick; the menu moves through them across the year.[1] [2]
The restaurant’s stated philosophy
Paraphrased from the restaurant, its group or a named chef’s statement.
In the restaurant’s own introduction, Liang Dee writes that the theme is love: “守一店终老，做一行终始” (stay with one restaurant to the end, do one trade from beginning to end). She frames Chef 1996 as a new beginning that gathers 30-plus years of technique, experience, resources and culture into a modern Sichuan restaurant.
The same text defines the menu through the four seasons and Sichuan’s 24 flavour types, with the line “one dish, one style; a hundred dishes, a hundred flavours.” The 2026 Asia profile adds that the menu evokes family kitchens and traditional flavours through a modern, refined lens.
[1] [2]Why this profile is included
Included through a 2027 MICHELIN star, Asia’s 50 Best No.52 and a detailed first-person restaurant statement. No dated collaboration was verified for this batch; that does not mean none took place.[1] [2] [3] [4]
Independent observations
ChefsLanding · · Editorial commentary on the public record
A chain-restaurant founder opening a small private-room restaurant is a familiar midlife move; the interesting part is whether the cooking escapes the chain’s logic. Chef 1996’s 24-flavour framework and seasonal menu are a good start: they give the kitchen a vocabulary beyond “authentic Sichuan” and a reason to change.
The risk is nostalgia as a business plan: 1996, the old store, the family story, the private rooms named after years. Those are good reasons to open; they are not proof that the food is good. We would follow the tea-smoked duck and the seasonal flavour work, not the memorial plaques.
Recent developments
- 2027 / 2026
The 2027 MICHELIN Guide Beijing–Tianjin promoted Chef 1996 from MICHELIN Selected to one star; the 2026 Asia list placed it at No.52 as a new entry.[4] [3] [2]
- 2023
The restaurant opened in 2023; Liang Dee’s own introduction is dated 6 June 2023, which is not necessarily the opening day.[1]
Collaborations & guest appearances
0 collaboration projects · 0 within the two-year research window
Projects are deduplicated: multiple nights, venues or reports do not automatically become separate collaborations. Food-and-drink events and shared festival appearances are labelled by format.
- No named collaboration project has yet been verified for this profile. This does not establish that no collaboration has taken place.
Recognition over time
Restaurant ratings and individual honours are listed separately. Editorial profiles are labelled as coverage.
Sources & dates
Public biographies, restaurant statements and named interviews checked on 5 November 2026. Exact employment dates and unreported engagements may remain unavailable.
- Chef 1996 · 梁棣 · 1996川菜·主厨餐厅自述 ↗Checked 2026-11-05
- 50 Best · Asia’s 50 Best 2026 · published 51–100 list ↗Published 2026-03-12 · Checked 2026-11-05
- MICHELIN · Chef 1996 · MICHELIN Guide selection ↗Checked 2026-11-05
- MICHELIN · MICHELIN Beijing–Tianjin 2027 · Chef 1996 promotion ↗Published 2026-10-27 · Checked 2026-11-05