Former “Top Chef” contestant Shirley Chung is pausing operations at her Culver City restaurant, Ms. Chi Cafe, while she undergoes treatment for Stage 4 tongue cancer.
The Beijing-born celebrity chef, 47, revealed her diagnosis Friday on Instagram, sharing a video of her shaving her head in preparation for chemotherapy. In the clip, she jokes about what kind of egg she most closely resembles, later quipping about her buzzcut, “It’s kind of sexy.”
Since December, Chung wrote in the post’s caption, she’s had a “series of dental issues” that she initially attributed to being a “heavy teeth grinder.” Then in May, she developed ulcers in her mouth, leading her oral surgeon to discover a tumor hidden under her tongue.
Chung was diagnosed with Stage 4 tongue cancer, she said, “as cancer cells had also spread into my lymph nodes.”
“In light of Chef Shirley’s diagnosis, we have made the difficult decision to close Ms Chi so she can focus on recovery,” Chung and her co-owner husband, Jimmy Lee, announced Friday on the restaurant’s Instagram. They also said their last day of operation will be this Sunday, with their popular delivery orders via GoldBelly stopping Aug. 15.
“We are incredibly grateful to each and every one of you — our staff, supporters, and fans. We have truly enjoyed spreading the dumpling love over the last several years and calling Culver City our home!” the post read. “This is a temporary pause on orders, and we will be back!”
They did not disclose a reopening date, though Chung said she didn’t waste any time beginning treatment once she received her diagnosis.
“I was very calm when doctors delivered the news, as a chef, I’ve always thrive [sic] under pressure,” she wrote on Instagram. “I was extremely focused on getting all the tests and scans as fast as possible, so I can start on the treatment plans.”
But when she began discussing treatment plans with her oncologist soon after, she said, she “broke down, crying, trying to put thoughts together and ask questions but physically couldn’t.”
She was presented with two options, she said: “100% removal of your tongue” or “another option, which was a unicorn case, at University of Chicago, they cured a patient (a chef!) with radiation and chemo.”
“Higher survival rate, or keep my tongue?,” she said. “I chose to keep my tongue, I am a fighter, I am a chef, I can be that unicorn too.”
Undergoing chemotherapy is a “full time job,” Chung said, but after six weeks of treatment, her tumor is shrinking, her speech has improved, and she can eat most food again.
“I am learning to lean on others, to let go, to be more vulnerable,” she said. “I can be strong 98% of the time, it’s ok to be not ok.”
She concluded: “I have a tough long road to recovery in front of me. Your love and support will carry me through. Cheer me on, Shirley Chung 2.0 will be reborn in 2025!”
Several of Chung’s peers commented in support, with Food Network’s Alex Guarnaschelli advising her to not “be a chef at this time” but instead “be a person who’s cool with getting support and love.”
“This cancer clearly hasn’t met Shirley Chung,” “The Next Food Network Star” Season 6 winner Aarti Sequeira echoed. “Like, why would you even try?”
Chung, who immigrated to the U.S. at 17, left her postgrad career in high tech to pursue her passion for food, according to her website. She competed on seasons 11 and 14 of Bravo’s “Top Chef” and in 2014 opened Twenty Eight Restaurant and Bar in Irvine. Ms. Chi Cafe opened in 2018.
