At the end of Qing Dynasty, Niu Changyuan, the chef of Henan Changyuan, became a famous royal chef in the palace, and nine princes liked him very much. Many years later, his son went to Beijing to study cooking, and he was congenial to Gege in Wang Fu. The cow strongly opposed it for a long time, and the father and son turned against each other. In a rage, my son left Niu Changyuan, worshipped Zhang Ziqiang, the famous chef of Taiping Building, as a teacher, and launched a challenge with his father. Niu Changyuan found that there are many similarities between Zhang's recipes and Niu's in the cooking competition with him. He found Zhang Ziqiang, but he was rejected. After the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Zhang Ziqiang was imprisoned because he would rather die than cook for the Japanese. Before his execution, he secretly entrusted someone to give Niu Changyuan the secret recipe of the Zhang family. At this time, Niu lived in seclusion in Changyuan for a long time, devoted himself to studying cooking skills, and finally completed the recipe of "Dachangyuan", which was passed down to later generations.

The King of Chefs takes the life experience of chef Niu Changyuan in Changyuan as the main line and Changyuan, the hometown of chefs, as the main scene. Through the legendary life experience and fate of the protagonist in the late Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China and the founding of New China, and through the ups and downs and gripping storyline, it reflects the broad feelings of the people of the Central Plains who are hardworking, enterprising, generous, loyal and patriotic. It is a film and television work that appeals to both refined and popular tastes and integrates ideological and artistic qualities.