Richie Lin

Born in Hong Kong, Chef Richie Lin began his culinary career by moving to Australia to pursue his cooking dreams. Here, he began working at  Quay Restaurant under the guidance of Chef Peter Gilmore. Richie also met Australian Chef Kai Ward whilst working at Quay, and the two chefs hit it off immediately.

Following Quay, Richie headed north to Copenhagen where he met fellow NOMA stagier and future co-head chef, Long Xiong. Post Noma, Richie was brought on as a consultant in 2013 for an ambitious opening of a restaurant in Hong Kong, NUR, and invited Long to join the opening too, thinking that having previously worked at Per Se, Long might have something to add to the conversation. NUR was awarded a Michelin Star in 2015.

After going through a difficult but educational opening of Restaurant NUR in Hong Kong, it was time for Richie to make his own dream a reality, and he began working towards opening his own culinary space, MUME. The pieces were in place, he just had to assemble them. He brought both chefs Kai and Long onboard by introducing them to the abundant, untapped and underrated local resources of Taiwan. In 2015, MUME opened as a gastronomic establishment which uses modern European cooking techniques to create casual fine-dining dishes using local produce in the heart of Taiwan. Mume has also been awarded a Michelin Star.

MUME, name of the plum blossom, is the national flower of Taiwan, and also shares the same Chinese characters of Richie’s mother’s first name.

• 1 Michelin Star at NUR in Hong Kong | The Michelin Guide 2015
• NUR #59 of 101 Best Restaurants in Asia | The Daily Meal 2015
• 1 Michelin Star at MUME in Taipei | The Michelin Guide 2018
• MUME #43 of 50 Best Restaurants in Asia | Asia‘s 50 Best Restaurant Awards 2017
• MEMU #18 of 50 Best Restaurants in Asia | Asia‘s 50 Best Restaurant Awards 2018
• MUME Highest Climber Award | Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards 2018
• MUME #137 | OAD Top 100+ Asia Restaurants 2017
• MUME #31 | OAD Top 100+ Asia Restaurants 2018
• MUME awarded World’s Best Restaurant for 2017 and 2018 | La Liste

Describe your culinary philosophy in FOUR words:

Nature, Freedom, modern, simplicity.

What is your greatest inspiration?

Inspiration comes from everywhere, but I have to admit traveling does inspire me a lot.

If you could take a plane ride to any restaurant in the world, just for one meal, where would you go? 

NOMA, Copenhagen

What FOUR items would you take to a desert island?

Knifes, Lighter, Fishnet and my family photo.