Sylvia Wu

Sylvia Wu (née Cheng; ; October 24, 1915 – September 29, 2022) was a Chinese-American restaurateur, philanthropist, and cookbook writer. She ran Madame Wu's Garden on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles from 1959 to 1998. She later briefly opened Madame Wu's Asian Bistro & Sushi. She wrote Madame Wu's Art of Chinese Cooking in 1973.

Personal life Wu was born October 24, 1915, in Jiujiang, Jiangxi, China. Her husband died in 2011 after 67 years of marriage.

Restaurant career

Wu opened Madame Wu's Garden in 1959, when she was 44 with her children away at boarding school. The restaurant was on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, California. Her goal was to serve authentic Chinese food instead of the Americanized, chop suey–style dishes which were then served in most Chinese restaurants.

In 1968, she moved to a larger space which could seat 300 guests. It featured a koi pond and a waterfall. The pagoda-styled building included four dining rooms, a VIP room, and a crimson rotunda with a garden, including a tall pine tree jutting through the roof. In 1985, she was named Los Angeles Restaurateur of the Year—the first woman in 70 years to receive that honor—and in 1990 she was named Woman of the Year by the City of Hope cancer hospital in honor of her philanthropy.