Three years ago with just RMB 300 in hand, small town girl Lily Zhou came to Beijing to explore the opportunities that the big city might have to offer. After two years of waitressing and half a year of delivery experience, Lily launched her own American diner-style restaurant – Lily’s – in the burgeoning Shuangjing area.

Did you ever think you would end up a cook and restaurateur?
No, not at all. I was born in a very small, very remote town in Anhui province. I had never eaten at a restaurant until I came to Beijing. I had no idea what a chef was like before then. The reason I came to Beijing is no different than many other young people – looking for a job, hoping to experience life in a big city and earn some money.

Was it easy to learn to cook foreign cuisine?
It was not easy at all! These dishes are not what I ate growing up, they were all strange and new to me. At first I did not even like eating foreign food. But, over time, by observing, studying, cooking and tasting many times, I began to know what a good burger or pizza should taste like. My partner Joe and I have close to 15 years combined experience in a variety of foreign restaurants, so we feel confident that we have an appreciation of what is good American food. We talk to foreigners on a daily basis and we always learn something new from them. There are so many different styles and ways to cook American food, but we focus on sourcing the best quality ingredients and cooking things as simply as possible.

What dishes are you most proud of?
Our Lily’s burger is something that I am really proud to serve. It is now one of our most popular dishes and is something that no one else makes in Beijing. I will not tell you all of our secrets for making this burger, but I can say that using fresh, creamy coleslaw as a topping is key – it really is delicious, and is a must try if you are a burger fan. We also spend a lot of time making all the breads on site and we never seem to have enough. Our Mexican food is very popular and we get many wonderful and sweet compliments from our customers.

What’s next?
I want to continue to make our customers happy by focusing on good service and quality food. We also want to continue to offer new dishes and we are always looking for ways to improve. In the future I would like us to open more restaurants, but for now our goal is simply to do our best and make sure all our customers are pleased with our service and food.

What’s fun in the Shuangjing area?
Shuangjing is known as a great residential neighborhood with many nice compounds to live in. But it is also more than that. There are a few big shopping malls, an art district, a UME International Cineplex where all the newest movies are shown, a KTV, many different kinds of restaurants, a very big Carrefour and our neighbor, the Brick, which is a very cool pub people who live in this area go to for drinks.

Lily’s Restaurant
Daily 7am-late, 24 hours free delivery. 2-18 Tianzhijiaozi, 31 Guangqu Lu (on the street just south of the Tianzhijiaozi complex, a few doors east of The Brick), Chaoyang District. (6592 5548) www.lilysbeijing.com 朝阳区广渠路31号院天之骄子2号楼2-18

The Brick
Daily 4pm-late.1/F, Tianzhi Jiaozi building (northeast corner of Shuangjing Qiao), Chaoyang District.(139 1113 6564) 朝阳区双井桥东北角天之骄子底商2-11