Shen Wei has worked cheerfully away all afternoon on an array of dishes for the meal, some of them traditionally vegetarian, others with the meat component removed. It was a pleasant challenge to find suitable substitutions for fish and oyster sauce, chicken and shrimp and pork fat, while ensuring everything was still full-flavored and just the right texture.

When he's finished there's barely room at the table for empty plates and bowls to be filled, and that's even with the desserts set aside on the kitchen bar. There are sweet, savory and spicy steamed buns, glass noodles with winter vegetables and tofu, rice noodles with crispy peppers and mushrooms, braised bamboo shoots, stir-fried eggplant and peppers, cold pickled carrots, mushroom and cabbage shumai, hot and sour soup, and sauces for almost everything, from rich and deep to light and spicy and everything in between. And for dessert glutinous rice balls with black sesame, sticky rice cakes with red bean paste, Rags' old favorite almond cookies, and a wide assortment of fresh fruit. Mixed in with it all are dishes with xiao Jedao specifically in mind--unflavored crispy rice cakes and, very non-traditionally, meringues, steamed egg whites, a smooth cucumber sorbet shot through with intentionally crunch bits of ice that's so mild as to be almost tasteless. And of course the mildest jasmine tea in his cabinet, alongside a deep, rich pu erh for those who want a stronger flavor.

He's happy to explain each of the dishes and sauces if asked, quick to drop particularly appetizing morsels on xiao Edwin and Cho Hakkai's plates, as he asks gentle, leading questions to encourage them, especially xiao Edwin, to talk about themselves and their interests. It couldn't be more clear that he's delighted to have all of them there.