Chuen “Paul” Wu and Eric Zeng first met in the early 1990s. Wu was the general manager at his parents’ Nankin restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. Zeng, a chef whose family owned a restaurant in Hong Kong, had just moved to Minnesota with his wife after a stint in Hawaii. The chef stopped into Nankin to see if any cooking jobs were available.
“At the time we didn’t have a position for him and he was hired by another restaurant,” Wu said. A few years later, the Nankin manager once again ran into Zeng, who by then was making a name for himself with his own restaurant, Hong Kong Noodles in Stadium Village.
Now, the families behind the two groundbreaking Asian restaurant powerhouses, one with a cult following for its authentic Cantonese and the other for its Chinese-American dishes and signature Wanderers Punch, are joining forces. They recently rolled out Jade Dynasty in Minneapolis’ Lyn-Lake area, ushering in a new era while honoring their pasts.
For Wu, whose parents owned Nankin until it closed in 1999, the restaurant is meaningful in many ways.
“My mom passed four years ago, but she was here when I bought the building. Unfortunately, my dad didn’t get to know about it, but my mom knew about it,” Wu said. “This does not replace the Nankin, but for me, it’s reclaiming something for my family. I’m just hoping they’re looking down and are proud.”

Steeped in history
Wu’s family came to the United States from Hong Kong in 1980 and purchased Szechuan Star Restaurant in Edina the following year, ran it for about a decade and eventually sold it. In 1989, they bought the Nankin, becoming the third generation to own the institution that began in 1919. Like Szechuan Star, the Nankin was a family affair in which his parents and sister Emily took on various roles, while Wu took the lead in the front-of-the-house and business sides. Their family ran Nankin for 10 years, until the restaurant closed when its lease inside City Center was not renewed.
Meanwhile, across town, Zeng and his wife, Jennifer, opened Hong Kong Noodles near the University of Minnesota, serving up traditional Cantonese dishes and other Asian fare. “I learned to cook from growing up in Hong Kong because of my family’s restaurant,” Zeng said. “It’s a tradition.”
They ran the restaurant from 1999 until they sold it four years ago.