Oriental Touch

Born in Liverpool, UK, to second-generation Chinese British nationals, Norman Han started his career in the hotel industry and quickly became a rising star. He was the first general trainee manager at the Hilton hotel on Park Lane, London, and the first person to fill that position in the Hilton chain worldwide.

“Well,” he says, “there were employees from over sixty nationalities in the hotel who couldn’t all understand English, so I learned to speak slowly.” He managed a large team and was offered opportunities in hotel management in Paris, Lisbon, and Hong Kong, but decided instead to move into the catering side of things.

Chinese Cut

In 1967, Norman Han took a bold step into the unknown when he opened a Chinese takeaway in Hackney, London, opposite Clapton Pond and not far from Stamford Hill. He’s pretty sure it was the first Chinese takeaway on the UK food scene.

“There were cafes and fish ’n chip shops, nothing else,” he says. “But I believed that there would be 500 takeaways opening in the next few years, and I was right — there were thousands. Now every main street has pizza, kebab, and chicken shops.”

Fifty-eight years later, the older takeaways have either upgraded and innovated, or withered and closed. Han chose to be from the former. Moving on from Hackney in 1977, he was one of the first to set up shop in London’s Chinatown, which is now a vibrant area centered on Gerard Street in the city’s West End.

“I was there from the beginning, before Chinatown, as we know it today, even existed,” he says. “The UK government originally had plans for the area which didn’t even take into account the Chinese community. I was a founding member of Chinatown, and my Chinese restaurant is still open there today, almost 50 years later. We set trends which have become standards as the scene has opened up.”

Never one to rest on his laurels, Mr. Han invested a lot of thought and effort into yet another business scheme. When it didn’t take off, he became somewhat depressed and stopped going to work at all. Then a friend, Philip Pell, called with a proposal he’d thought of: a kosher restaurant for London.

“It was an opportunity, because the kosher scene was pretty backward at the time. We thought that Jewish people deserved something better, and we jumped in,” he remembers.

The pair named the establishment Kaifeng, after the Chinese city famous for housing a Jewish community. Kaifeng, which lies in East Central China, is believed to have hosted a kehillah since around the 10th century. Jews arrived there from Persia as traders along the Silk Road. Although they were utterly isolated from other Jewish communities, they maintained their identity and observance, building a shul and mikveh, keeping kashrus and doing bris milah, even while the Emperor granted them rights and freedom and even allowed them to use certain Chinese last names.

The Chinese Jews of Kaifeng are mentioned in Marco Polo’s travel diary and other primary sources. But in the 19th century, their synagogue was flooded by the Yellow River and never rebuilt, and the community fell prey to assimilation.

Food for Thought

In order to be licensed by the London Beth Din, the establishment had to be under the full responsibility of a shomer Shabbos, fully observant individual. For many years, the licensee on Han’s behalf was Reverend Leslie Hardman, a much-loved United Synagogue minister who was famed as the first Jewish army chaplain to enter Bergen Belsen when it was liberated by British troops in April 1945. They developed an extraordinarily close relationship.

“Reverend Hardman treated me like a son,” says 83-year-old Norman Han about the man he viewed as a mentor. “We sat together a few times a week, and became very close.”

When Reverend Hardman aged, the dynamic Rabbi Alan Plancey a”h, who passed away this past summer, became Mr. Han’s licensee and close confidant. These two relationships gave the restaurant a solid footing in kashrus, which was further developed when Han and his partner Pell decided to take on an additional hechsher from Rabbi Akiva Osher Padwa, who has a senior position in the London Beth Din kashrus department but also works independently.

“The mashgiach holds the key to our kitchen. He unlocks it and remains until we close at night,” Han says. “He switches on all fires, and without him we have no access to cookers, fridges, or freezers.” Recently, Rabbi Yisroel Fine, the respected retired rav of Cockfosters and North Southgate, has taken on the licensee role.

Spending all that time with rabbis not only impressed Mr. Han, but rubbed off on him. In fact, he mentions Hashem throughout our conversation.

“I believe,” he tells me simply. “I have seen the power of Hashem in my own life.”

Juiced Back to Life

At the hostess station in the restaurant’s foreground, alongside a bowl of kosher lollipops for young clients, a large bunch of raw turmeric hints at something beyond premium dining. “I keep turmeric on the table to open the conversation,” says Mr. Han.

Han, who has developed a health drink he touts as a cure and prevention for cancer, is adamant that the formula came from Hashem.

“You have the word bashert in the Jewish world. Meaning, it was the right place and the right time for me to conceive of those ingredients. But the mind has to be receptive to the ideas Hashem sends,” he says.

While Mr. Han’s specific personal experience does not replace rigorous scientific research, and medical decisions obviously need the input of a medical professional, he is passionate about using his knowledge to help others, primarily in his favorite community, where news of his innovation has gotten around via the Jewish grapevine.

Mr. Han was first diagnosed with cancer back in 2003. He was treated successfully, but a routine checkup 18 months later showed that the cancer had returned in the lymph nodes.

“I had to wait for treatment to start,” he says. “In the meantime, I heard about the healing powers of two natural ingredients, turmeric and broccoli. I combined them and drank the juice. When I went back to the hospital, the doctors could not find my cancer. They wanted to do some treatment regardless, and I allowed them to do radiotherapy. But the cancer had already disappeared from my body.”

Not long after that, Avi, an old Israeli friend and a veteran of the Six Day War, came to visit Han in London. “We were catching up, and he said ‘Norman, you won’t believe this — I’ve just cured my psoriasis. I used cucumber and black grapes.’ ”

Then Avi shared that he’d recently been diagnosed with melanoma. Mr. Han gave him juiced turmeric and broccoli, which he added to the cucumber and black grapes he was already taking. Within a few weeks, Avi’s stage-one melanoma was gone without any medical intervention.

Mr. Han is happy to share the method for producing his healing drink.

“We use 500 grams of black grapes, two cucumbers, five large, fresh turmeric roots, and a large head of broccoli. Peel the broccoli and submerge it in a large bowl of water overnight, to rehydrate. Wash the cucumbers. Scrub the turmeric. Seeded black grapes are better, but not essential. First, blend the grapes. Then juice the other ingredients in a cold-press juicer.”

David, a longtime Kaifeng employee, then appears with the ingredients and a juicer, and soon enough, a glass of speckled brown juice is ready.

While the drink needs to be made fresh, Mr. Han is hopeful that one day it can be modified into a tablet. But in whatever permutation, he’s grateful that he can share his knowledge with others.

“Without Hashem I wouldn’t be here,” he says. “He saved my life, and I’m moving that forward save others.”

Guests to Impress

“Some of the biggest machers of the Jewish world have eaten here,” Mr. Han says. “We have rabbis who eat here on a regular basis. The Israeli Ambassador usually comes very soon after his appointment. The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the JNF and UJIA delegates, Ariel Sharon. The Jewish Labour peer, Lord Michael Levy, who brought Tony Blair along with him, before Blair became prime minister.” He indicates the long, narrow table that runs down the restaurant’s length. “We once had a dinner here for 22 members of the Knesset.”

While the clientele is almost completely Jewish, many people bring non-Jewish associates along for a dinner, and “they are always surprised at the standard of the food,” Hans says happily. When Kaifeng first opened, Fay Maschler, restaurant critic at London’s Evening Standard newspaper for nearly 50 years, famously wrote, “Knock me down with a feather; the best Chinese restaurant in London is kosher!”

Family traditions are also made in this little corner of Hendon, North West London. Among the thousands of clients, many come back again and again and have become good friends. Amy, who has been serving and managing at the restaurant for over 28 years, remembers all the families who come here regularly. She loves seeing the kids grow up, hosting happy sheva brachos gatherings for them at the restaurant, and then watching them come back with their own children in tow.

Taste Test

Mr. Han graciously asks the staff to prepare some highlights to show us, and impeccably plated dishes arrive at the table. From an impressive Imperial Hors D’oeuvres to a luscious main dish from the “Sizzling” section, every detail is tempting and every element crafted: rich meats finished with fresh greens to a bowl created from crispy ramen noodles filled with delicate shredded beef.

The cocktail and wine menu is considered the widest kosher range available in the UK, and includes classics alongside some nonalcoholic options. Creative cocktails include the Kaifeng Kosher Cooler, Walder’s Walderito, and something named “Rabbi’s Ruin,” which the menu alleges “could make a cantor out of you.”

After so many years dealing with the Jewish community, Mr. Han is as comfortable as can be. “I have a business that gives me ‘nachas,’ ” he says. “It’s that family feeling.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1098)