You might have seen the following photo of a curiously named restaurant called "LKY's Kitchen" in Shanghai going around on social media.

Here it is:

Yep, that's a legit place in China.

The Chinese words are a play on the late Lee Kuan Yew's name, but in different Chinese characters, i.e. 李光耀 vs 礼光要.

Understandably, it caused quite a commotion, with some netizens even thinking that it is a disrespectful gesture by the mainland Chinese.

But little did we know that, yes, it is 100 percent founded by a Singaporean.

According to The Straits Times, LKY's Kitchen it was actually the fruit of labour by Singaporean Jason Yap, who was not pleased with the quality of Singaporean food found in Shanghai.

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Why LKY's Kitchen, though? 

For most of us, we'd probably think of other ways to make it sound uniquely Singaporean.

But in Yap's perspective, naming it "LKY's Kitchen" was a way to let others know for sure that it's very, very Singaporean.

... And to let Chinese customers know intuitively that it is a Singaporean restaurant, he gave it a name that sounds like Singapore's most well-known icon in China -- Li Guang Yao -- or the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew. In English, the restaurant is called LKY's Kitchen.

"It's very common in China to have shops and restaurants using the same sounding name as Chinese leaders, such as Wen Jiabao (China's former premier)," said the 32-year-old who is from the IT industry. "I'm just following the Chinese way. I've not intended it to be disrespectful in any way".

Furthermore, LKY doesn't actually really mean Lee Kuan Yew. The initials stand for Yap's two friends, Leo Lau and Kelvin Wong. He's even got the logo and naming in both languages copyrighted in China as well.

Yap's not fazed by all the negative feedback either.

Other than receiving compliments and positive comments, part of the reassurance also comes from the fact that China is known for some pretty creative restaurant names, and they do play on words and even names of people.

This includes Wen Jia Bao, an eating place which uses the name of the former Chinese Premier, and creatively redefined it by replacing the last character of his name, 宝, with the similar sounding 饱, which means to be full.

Given that business seems brisk, who knows, they might be even able to open a restaurant or two in Singapore sometime in the near future-- if they can convince the general public that it's acceptable, that is.

Top image via 小松本太太AuntieCoco's Weibo