Shirley Chung is a Chinese-American chef known for appearances on '' Top Chef: New Orleans'', '' Top Chef: Charleston'' and Food Network's ''

Tournament of Champions A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

''.

Early life and education

Chung was born in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China, and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was 17 years old. She was introduced to international cuisine as a child by her grandmother Liang Si Yi, who worked as a director for the Red Cross. Chung worked for several years in Silicon Valley, after graduating with a degree in business administration. She eventually left the tech industry to attend culinary school.

Career

Trained in classic French and Italian cuisine, Chung has since worked and opened restaurants for chefs including

José Andrés José Ramón Andrés Puerta (; born 13 July 1969) is a Spanish-American chef and restaurateur. Born in Spain, he moved to the United States in the early 1990s and since then, he has opened restaurants in several American cities. He has won a num ...

Thomas Keller Thomas Aloysius Keller (born October 14, 1955) is an American chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, the French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Found ...

and

Guy Savoy Guy Patrice Savoy (; born 24 July 1953) is a French chef who is the head chef and owner of the eponymous Guy Savoy restaurant in Paris, France, and its sister restaurant in Las Vegas, U.S., both of which have earned multiple Michelin stars. He o ...

. In 2014 she opened Twenty Eight with Stacie Tran, acting as partner chef at the Irvine, California, restaurant. Chung opened her first restaurant, Ms. Chi Cafe, in Culver City in 2018. She spoke openly about her experiences with

anti-Asian racism Racism against Asians (or anti-Asian racism) is when people of Asian descent are subject to racist policies, discrimination, and mistreatment from institutions or non-Asian people - typically in the Western world or in other countries outside As ...

following the onset of the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

in order to draw attention to the impact of hate-motivated behavior on

Asian Pacific American Asian/Pacific American (APA) or Asian/Pacific Islander (API) or Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) or Asian American and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) is a term sometimes used in the United States when including both Asian ...

owned businesses. In addition to working in restaurants, Chung has appeared on numerous cooking-related television shows. She first appeared as a contestant on

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo in March 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs ...

Season 11, where she finished in third place. She returned to the show during Season 14, competing against winner

Brooke Williamson Brooke Williamson is an American chef and restaurateur. She won season 14 of the US television reality cooking competition series Top Chef and has owned several Los Angeles-area restaurants. Early life Williamson was born in Los Angeles to C ...

in the finals. The pair previously competed against each other as part of ''

Top Chef Duels ''Top Chef Duels'' is an American reality competition series that premiered on August 6, 2014, on Bravo. The culinary show is one of the several spin-off series of the popular cooking competition show ''Top Chef'' aired on the same network. Anno ...

'', where Chung bested Williamson. In 2022, she began participating on Food Network's ''

'' hosted by Guy Fieri.

Personal

Chung is married. In May of 2024, Chung was diagnosed with stage four tongue cancer. She underwent chemotherapy and reported in 2025 that while she's still recovering, that the cancer is now in remission.

Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chung, Shirley 1970s births Date of birth missing (living people) Living people Chinese chefs American women restaurateurs American restaurateurs Women television personalities Chinese emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from Beijing