Tang Lee working the woks in the kitchen at Royal China in Metairie in 2021, the restaurant he and wife Shirley Lee started in 1977. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune) ...

Royal China in 1979 - Shirley Lee, Tang Lee and Donna Chick at the Metairie restaurant. (Photo by Ronald LeBoeuf from the Times-Picayune archive) Both Shirley and Tang are natives of Hong Kong.

The menu makes you wonder how such a small restaurant can deliver everything it promises. At Royal China, the job falls to the capable hands of Shirley Lee, a sometime chef and full-time hostess ...