The Dumpling Tree is an independent Chinese restaurant in Cambridge specialising in handmade dumplings, rice noodles and dishes inspired by the flavours of Yunnan in southern China. Their food is built around fresh ingredients, bold but balanced flavours and a relaxed style of dining designed to be shared.

They invited me in to photograph and film content for the launch of their new Yunnan menu. Food photography can easily become quite generic, so I wanted to create something that felt unmistakably connected to both the restaurant and the cuisine rather than simply photographing plates on a table.

I used creative lighting and elements already found around the restaurant to build a more distinctive visual style. One of my favourite setups involved shining a light through a Chinese-style room divider, creating patterned shadows across the scene and giving the images a warmer, more atmospheric feel. Combined with carefully chosen props, different angles and close-up details, this helped bring some of the character of the restaurant into the food photography.

The menu itself gave us plenty to work with, including handmade dumplings and Yunnan-inspired rice noodle dishes such as Cross Bridge Rice Noodles and braised beef noodle soup.

The project wasn't only about creating content for that particular launch. I also spent time with the team discussing how they could improve their own social media content moving forward. I recommended equipment and simple production techniques that would allow them to regularly create more polished photography and video themselves, while keeping the professional content I'd created as the benchmark for their visual style.