Taiwan’s MUME named among top 10 of Asia’s restaurants

台灣MUME被評為亞洲十大餐廳之一

The uber-cool fine dining establishment serves Euro-Asian fusion dishes with an emphasis on Taiwan ingredients


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- Taiwan’s MUME was named as the seventh best restaurant in Asia by the organization behind the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, at an awards ceremony in Macau on Tuesday (March 26).

The Macau Wynn Palace Cotai event was dubbed the “Oscars of the Asian fine dining world,” by CNN. MUME serves European-Asian fusion food and has been steadily gaining in reputation since it opened in 2014.

It was recognized by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants because of its use of “underrated local ingredients and applying modern European techniques to create stunning, colorful dishes such as Taiwanese lobster with chargrilled cucumber and sea herbs.”

The region’s top restaurant was judged to be Singapore’s Odette, followed by Gaggan in Bangkok and Den in Tokyo. The ratings are provided by writers, chefs, critics and restaurateurs, who vote for their favorites.

MUME is managed by chefs Richie Lin, Long Xiong and Kai Ward. The trio originally come from, respectively, Hong Kong, the U.S. via China’s Shanxi province, and Australia.

They have worked at some of the world’s greatest restaurants and are recognized as “culinary trailblazers.” They decided to set up shop in a city that was new to them, partly as a challenge, but also because of the great ingredients that can be sourced locally.

MUME first entered the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2017 and climbed to 18 last year. The restaurant’s signature dish is the quinoa tostada, for which the ingredients change according to the season.

Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants also commended MUME for collaborating with outstanding chefs from around the world, including Japan’s Yusuke Takada. His restaurant, La Cime, in Osaka, is 17th on the Asia’s 50 list.

MUME was named after Taiwan’s national flower, the plum blossom, Prunus mei, or meihua (梅花). The restaurant website quotes the owners as saying: “We work closely with farmers, fisherman, and local food producers to showcase the beauty of their products with the aim of supporting the local food supply chain and to decrease the carbon footprint of imported products.

“Our focus is not only on maximizing our guests’ enjoyment, or our own gastronomic discovery, but also our responsibility to our adopted home and to the future of our beautiful island.”

The restaurant is open seven days a week, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. The address is 1F, 28, Siwei Road, Da-an District, Taipei City (台北市大安區四維路28號1樓). Call 02-2700 0901 for reservations.