Now you can make Keanu Reeves’ favorite noodles from a Chinatown landmark 

The legendary House of Nanking has a new cookbook — and it includes the recipe for a noodle dish so good it made it onto the big screen.

Kathy and Peter Fang’s collection of more than 100 recipes and stories, “House of Nanking: Family Recipes From San Francisco’s Favorite Chinese Restaurant,” is a tribute to how much that rainbow-lettered sign means to the city. But at its heart, the book is really about Kathy’s relationship with her immigrant parents, Peter and Lily Fang, who are 75 and 76 and still work in their restaurant — which offers a taste of the oldest and largest Chinatown in the country — every single day. 

The Fangs opened House of Nanking in 1988, developing their own style of sweet and savory Shanghainese flavors, while appealing to fresh Cantonese and fiery Sichuan sensibilities. In the early days, Peter stationed his wok in the front window, so customers could see and smell what was cooking from the street. When the line ran long, he’d suggest what to order to keep it moving. Kathy joined the family business and opened sister spot Fang in 2009 and went on to become a Food Network star. 

Many actors, comedians, musicians, athletes, and politicians have visited both restaurants over the years. But the most memorable celebrity cameo involves Keanu Reeves in a hilarious story that captures a classic immigrant parent experience. “Not only do they not give an inch, but they can embarrass you, all within five minutes,” Kathy said with a laugh.

In 1997, Kathy was in high school — prime mortification age. She popped out of the restaurant and spotted Reeves waiting for a table. Reeves, who was in his heartthrob stage and wearing all black, had starred in “Speed” a few years earlier and was playing bass with his band Dogstar. He was Kathy’s “favorite actor of all time.” She ran to her dad’s wok station and begged him to let the movie star cut the line. 

Peter refused. “I always tell all the associates in my restaurant: You can never let any people, especially movie stars or rich men, cut the line to get in,” said Peter, who has fed the likes of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, billionaire Marc Benioff, and comedian Kathy Griffin. “House of Nanking has to treat all kinds of people equally.” Relenting a little, he walked over to Reeves to explain the house rules. Transfixed, Kathy watched from the doorway, until her dad turned and waved her down. “‘Kathy, come take a picture!’” he said. “‘It’s him! It’s Sean Connery!’” 

Kathy apologized on behalf of her dad, who, she explained, didn’t watch a lot of Hollywood movies. “Keanu Reeves was such a gentleman,” she recalled. “You know how everybody talks about him being the nicest person in the industry.” Reeves thanked Peter and said he was deeply honored to be mistaken for an actor as talented as Sean Connery. Before Reeves left, Kathy grabbed a disposable camera and took a photo with him, which still hangs by a front window in the restaurant.  

Decades later, Reeves came back to town to film “The Matrix Resurrections” in 2020. Kathy was 36 weeks pregnant with her second child and trying to keep the family restaurants afloat during the pandemic. She didn’t suspect anything when a producer reached out about a secret project. But after signing a slew of NDAs, they learned that House of Nanking was going to be part of the Matrix. 

A Hollywood production crew descended on the restaurant at 5 a.m. Kathy and her dad were the only ones in the kitchen. They fired the same plate of yang chun noodles about 20 times, to make sure it was steaming hot during filming. Despite the futuristic setting, the director, Lana Wachowski, wanted the House of Nanking to look as worn as always, so the props department took down every newspaper clipping and award, reproduced them to remove any legal concerns, then put them back up in the exact same spots. They kept that old photo of Kathy and Reeves in the shot as an Easter egg.

Kathy and her husband, Caleb Sima, had been planning to name their son Hawk. But right before filming, Sima — who had been a hacker, like Neo, Reeves’ character in the movie — had an idea: “We’re going to have to change our son’s name.” Their son Neo is now 5.

You can find the recipe for the “really good noodles” slurped up by the fictional Neo — a simple bowl of fresh wheat noodles and clear bone broth, seasoned with soy, sesame, and scallions — in the new cookbook. There are also recipes for House of Nanking’s signature sesame chicken, shrimp packets, and onion pancakes — plus family favorites like an ugly-delicious steamed pork hash that Kathy’s aunties used to make. “Every dish has a little story about it,” Peter said. “This is a very different cookbook. It’s almost like watching a documentary movie.”