Michael Lee
Summer Tables Collection 2026

About the Chef

Born and raised in Kaohsiung, Michael Lee – 李祈睿 – followed his interest in hospitality into professional cooking, then continued his formation in Japan and France. Those experiences gave him a technical language grounded in French cuisine and sharpened by the precision and restraint of Japanese culinary practice.

Before leading Li.nu, Michael worked within Kaohsiung’s fine-dining world, including as sous chef at Liberté, Kaohsiung’s only two-MICHELIN-starred restaurant. He also served as chef of a former sister-restaurant project connected to Tokyo’s Bon.nu. These defining experiences have played an important role in shaping the distinctive culinary style he expresses today.

At Li.nu, each dish begins with one principal ingredient. Everything around it is measured according to what that ingredient can express and how its aroma develops through heat, moisture and time.

About the Restaurant

Li.nu is located on Zhonghua 5th Road in Kaohsiung’s Cianjhen District. The restaurant is shaped in Taiwan by Chef Michael Lee and the Kaohsiung team, with an ingredient-led language formed through Michael’s personal journey, his French and Japanese training, and his experience in some of the city’s most demanding kitchens.

The restaurant pursues the essential flavour and originality of each ingredient. It does not try to fit neatly inside French, Japanese or another established category. Instead, it uses a pared-down language to make the character of local fish, vegetables, fruit, meat, tea and herbs more legible.

The MICHELIN Guide lists Li.nu as a Selected restaurant in its 2026 Taiwan edition. Head sommelier and restaurant manager Bonnie Chiou has also received the MICHELIN Guide Sommelier Award – a separate distinction recognising the clarity and hospitality of the restaurant’s beverage service.

Summer Inspiration

For Michael Lee, summer is the season that most vividly expresses the character of Taiwan. Seafood reaches a pure and concentrated moment. Vegetables become sweeter and more succulent. Fruit, tea and herbs open into their fullest aromatic register.

Li.nu’s summer menu is not fixed. It changes with the condition of the day’s harvest, the natural peak of each ingredient and the frequency of a guest’s visits. A returning diner may encounter a different course because the landscape itself has changed.

The menu moves from jellyfish and ponzu to cuttlefish layered with seaweed and Taiwan’s five-flavour seafood sauce. Heritage tomatoes appear with clarified consommé and watershield. Bluefin tuna, octopus, mango, citrus and Penghu sea urchin trace the island from field to coast.