Li Xiao Lou

Review

Li Xiao Lou is tucked into a narrow alley at Lane 293, Section 2, Xitun Road, near Fengjia Park. It is a remodeled old house with a low-key exterior, a pared-down interior and a Japanese-style wooden counter facing the open kitchen. It first entered the Michelin Bib Gourmand list in 2024, one of two new Taichung entries that year, and remains on the 2025 and 2026 lists.

The focus is small portions of Taiwanese home cooking, sometimes described as having a touch of old banquet-house style, so solo diners and groups of two or three can order just enough. Michelin's inspectors single out the eel stir-fried in house-made goose fat, cooked with precise heat: aromatic, bouncy, sweet and sour, and great with rice. Media also name the Kinmen kaoliang liquor sausage (NT$90), with a thin casing and clear liquor aroma, and the signature salt-baked corn-fed chicken leg (NT$250), best with a bowl of braised pork rice with fermented winter melon; judges praised both.

Most reviews call the food fresh with modern plating and warm, homely service, a good choice for refined Taiwanese food without a big restaurant. A common observation is that small plates add up when you order several, and some diners say the air conditioning is not cool enough in summer. Michelin places it in the mid price band, roughly a few hundred NT dollars per person.

Hours are Tuesday to Saturday 11:30–14:30 and 17:30–20:30, closed Sundays and Mondays. The restaurant handles its own bookings by phone, so call ahead for peak times; the Michelin page says cards are accepted. The alley is narrow, so drivers should find a parking lot elsewhere.

It suits small groups or solo diners who enjoy Taiwanese home cooking and counter dining. Build the meal around the goose-fat eel and salt-baked chicken, add the kaoliang sausage as a drinking snack, and finish with a bowl of winter-melon braised pork rice each.