Wan's Mandarin House just celebrated 60 years of serving Chinese food to South Florida, a milestone made sweeter by the fact that the Fort Lauderdale restaurant nearly disappeared for good less than two years ago. The Victoria Park institution, located at 664 N. Federal Highway, marked the anniversary with a ribbon cutting, toasts, and bubbly, honoring a family business that traces back to a single storefront on Miami's Eighth Street in 1966.
That original restaurant was opened by Lee Pong Wan and Hide Wan at Eighth Street and First Avenue in Miami, according to the Miami Herald. The family moved the business to Hollywood in 1977, and Davie Wan and Oi Ling Wan took over operations in 1973. In 1996, Christina Wan and Jason Huynh took the reins and renamed the restaurant Christina Wan's, later relocating it to downtown Hollywood that same year before the business settled into its current Fort Lauderdale home in 2005.
Today it's Alex Kuk, the fourth generation of his family to run the restaurant, who operates Wan's Mandarin House alongside his cousin Courtney. Kuk's roots at the restaurant run deep — he started working there as a busboy at just 13 years old, per the Herald's reporting. He told the paper that the restaurant's meaning extends beyond its brand, reaching into the community and his own family history.
A Sudden Closure and a Family Rescue
The road to this year's 60th anniversary wasn't smooth. Wan's Mandarin House closed abruptly at the end of 2024 after founder Christina Wan retired, following nearly three decades under the Christina Wan's name. A handwritten note posted on the restaurant's door during the 2025 Lunar New Year announced plans to reopen under fourth-generation ownership, timed symbolically with the Year of the Wooden Snake, according to OutSFL. Fans had mourned the closure online, and the sudden loss of a longtime neighborhood fixture struck a nerve across Broward County.
Kuk reopened the restaurant under its original name, Wan's, in March 2025. He kept Jason Huang, a ten-year veteran of the Christina Wan's kitchen who had previously worked under co-owner and chef Jason Huynh, in place to lead kitchen operations — a move that preserved culinary continuity for longtime regulars even as the ownership changed hands. The restaurant continues to butcher its own meats, chop vegetables fresh, and wrap dumplings in-house daily, with cooks adjusting recipes based on variances in ingredients like pepper quality or pork rib fat content, the Miami New Times reports.
Building a Reputation Before Coming Home
Before stepping in to save his family's flagship restaurant, Kuk had already built his own name in Fort Lauderdale's dining scene. He met co-founder Diego Ng in 2006 while both were students at Florida International University's Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, and the pair opened Temple Street Eatery in 2014. That restaurant marked its own 10th anniversary with a street block party in 2024, according to Lifestyle Media Group. Kuk has since stepped back from day-to-day operations there and is no longer affiliated with Temple Street Eatery, choosing instead to run Wan's full-time.
Temple Street Eatery had already expanded its footprint into Pembroke Pines in December 2023, becoming one of five vendor kitchens inside Baoshi Food Hall + Bar, which Hoodline previously reported was Broward County's first Asian food hall. That regional growth speaks to the same entrepreneurial instincts Kuk has now redirected toward preserving his family's original business.
Old Favorites Meet New Touches
At Wan's, Kuk has brought back tablecloths and classic dishes like Hunan beef and Szechuan chicken, while also using social media to reach new and younger customers. He said family-style eating is a form of love language for Asian families, and he plans to introduce younger diners to the classic Chinese dishes that built the restaurant's reputation over six decades. Christina Huynh has said that customer-first standards were drilled into the family from the start, a value Kuk appears determined to carry forward.
The restaurant's staying power hasn't gone unnoticed locally. Jenny Diborja, senior business development and membership executive for the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, called the 60th anniversary a special milestone for the city. Broward's restaurant scene has been growing amid a wave of more upscale dining experiences, including the Michelin Guide's arrival in Fort Lauderdale in 2025 — a shift that makes a scratch-kitchen, family-run survivor like Wan's stand out even more.
Marking the Milestone With Cooking Classes and Vintage Dishes
The restaurant's official 60th anniversary celebration ran from August 12 through August 16, featuring an official city proclamation, returning vintage dishes, Chinese cooking classes, a prix-fixe brunch, and a historical memorabilia exhibit, according to Miami Culinary Tours. The events were timed to align with Dine Out Lauderdale, Broward County's annual summer restaurant promotion, per the restaurant's own website.
Wan's Mandarin House is open 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 9 p.m. Monday and Wednesday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday. The restaurant is closed on Tuesdays. Regulars should note that Wan's will close entirely from September 7 through 24 for family and staff vacations before reopening for its next chapter.
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