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EDITOR Annie Chien｜TRANSLATOR Aurora Lin｜PHOTOGRAPHER Leon Hung｜LOCATION 知名李（Famous Lee）

藏身永康街巷弄內、一棟老公寓一樓，知名李（Famous Lee）低調得不像一間餐廳，卻是政商名流私下聚會的默契之選，張忠謀、蔡明忠夫婦與蔡依珊、連勝文、辜仲立等，都是座上賓。坐擁超過400萬粉絲、影片觀看數突破50億次的美食創作者Jack Goldburg，也在頻道《Jack’s Dining Room》的亞洲美食之旅中，把這桌台灣味介紹給海外觀眾。知名李，始於主理人Andy Lee與妻子Judy那些年一場又一場的李家家宴，三十年成衣事業之外，他們把私下款待好友的手藝，端成了一整桌待客的誠意。

The Warmth of a Family Feast
Hidden in Yongkang
Andy Lee Proprietor of Famous Lee

Tucked away on the ground floor of an old apartment building in one of Yongkang Street’s quiet lanes, Famous Lee is so understated that one might easily walk past without realizing it is a restaurant at all. Yet behind its discreet façade, it has quietly become a favored gathering place among Taiwan’s business and social circles, welcoming guests such as Morris Chang, Daniel M. Tsai and his wife, Patty Tsai, Sean Lien, and Andre Koo.Food creator Jack Goldburg, whose social platforms have drawn more than four million followers and over five billion video views, also featured this table of Taiwanese flavors during the Asian food journey documented on his channel, Jack’s Dining Room.The story of Famous Lee began long before there was a restaurant. For years, Andy Lee and his wife Judy hosted one Lee family dinner after another for friends. Beyond the garment business they had spent three decades building, cooking was simply how they welcomed the people closest to them. What began as meals shared among friends eventually became an entire table laid with the same generosity and sincerity.

家宴初衷

一場疫情，讓Andy與Judy深耕三十年的事業重挫，一邊眼見訂單從上千件掉到剩不足百件，一邊看著年幼的孩子，兩人開始想著事業第二春。疫情那段日子朋友無法外出聚餐，索性上門搭伙，也讓Andy的手藝漸漸在圈內傳開；「你有三十個好朋友，一個月都不用愁了，我們輪流一天吃一次就好！」朋友的鼓勵，讓知名李於2024年底正式開業，源頭正是這一場場家宴。店名也帶著人情味：Andy外號「小李」，ABC朋友都叫他「Small Lee」，後來朋友建議改叫更響亮的「Famous Lee」，Judy用Google翻譯，譯出「知名李」，天外飛來一筆，貼切又溫馨。

Andy坦言並非科班出身，靈感都是從吃來的，兒時常在母親身邊看她做菜，母親一手眷村好手藝正是啟蒙；愛吃又懂吃的人，就是一張活美食地圖，交往時，Andy總能帶Judy嚐遍在地好味道，婚後出國也必訪米其林、吃遍街邊小吃，旅行漸漸成了他的靈感庫，化作自己的味道。

From the Family Table

The pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the business Andy and Judy had spent thirty years building. Orders that once came in by the thousands dwindled to fewer than a hundred. With young children at home and the future suddenly uncertain, the couple began to consider what a second chapter might look like.During those months, when friends could no longer dine out as freely, many simply came to their home for meals instead. Little by little, word of Andy’s cooking spread through their circle.“If you have thirty good friends, you won’t have to worry for a whole month,” one friend joked. “We can each come over for dinner once, taking turns every day.”It was encouragement like this that eventually led to the opening of Famous Lee at the end of 2024. At its heart, however, the restaurant still traces back to those dinners shared around the Lee family table.Even the name carries a story of friendship. Andy had long been nicknamed “Little Lee,” while his American-born Chinese friends called him “Small Lee.” Later, someone suggested a name with a little more presence: “Famous Lee.” Judy put it into Google Translate and out came the Chinese name Zhīmíng Lǐ—literally, “Famous Lee.” A happy accident, perhaps, but one that felt both fitting and endearing.

Andy makes no secret of the fact that he never trained professionally as a chef. His inspiration has always come from eating.As a child, he often lingered beside his mother in the kitchen, watching her cook. Her repertoire of hearty dishes rooted in Taiwan’s military dependents’ village tradition became his earliest culinary education. For someone who loves food and knows how to seek it out, every meal becomes another point on an ever-expanding map of flavors.
When Andy and Judy were dating, he always seemed to know where to find the best local dishes. After they married, food remained central to the way they traveled: Michelin-starred restaurants were on the itinerary, but so were humble street stalls and neighborhood favorites. Over the years, those journeys became Andy’s personal archive of taste—memories he would gradually reinterpret in a language of his own.

滿席生香

看著Andy在灶邊掌勺、Judy一旁張羅擺盤細節，默契十足，像極自家宴客的主人夫妻。這份熱絡招待，正是Andy口中「自己人的灶腳」，讓客人卸下應酬感，像朋友來家裡作客。熟客的喜好都被記下，忌口也會特別備一份，連老饕念念不忘的牛肉麵，也願意花兩天熬煮滿足。

開場兩道精緻小品：「貴妃荔枝蝦球」選用當季海蝦手工打漿，紅脆米兩段式油炸，鎖住鮮甜，佐薄荷葉提香；「花鮭回巢」以印度脆球盛入北海道煙燻鮭魚，帶一抹微辣，尾韻是檸檬皮柑橘清香，足見巧思。

招牌「小李的黑胡椒螃蟹」源自Andy峇里島旅行的味覺記憶，融合五種黑胡椒；新研發的「鹹檸檬陳皮肉餅焗沙公」，以10年老鹹檸檬與新會老陳皮入味，蟹鮮、肉香與陳香層層交疊。「青藤椒南非鮑片」鮑魚軟嫩彈牙，佐台灣唯一專做豆芽的銀芽快炒；「火焰山牛魔王」選用未滿六個月小牛的少見部位，花椒醃漬後高溫爆炒，端上桌花椒滿覆宛如烈焰，入口卻溫潤麻香，是店裡最具辨識度的招牌之一。

A Table Filled with Aroma

Watching Andy at the stove while Judy moves alongside him, tending to plating and the smallest details of the table, one sees the easy rhythm of a couple accustomed to welcoming guests into their own home.That warmth is precisely what Andy means when he calls Famous Lee “a kitchen for our own people.” The idea is to take away the stiffness of formal entertaining and make guests feel as though they have simply come to a friend’s home for dinner.The preferences of returning guests are remembered, right down to the foods they avoid. If necessary, a separate dish will be prepared without fuss. And when a discerning regular finds himself craving Andy’s beef noodles, Andy is willing to spend two days making them simply because he knows how much they are missed.

Dinner begins with two delicate bites.For Lychee Prawn Balls, seasonal sea prawns are hand-pounded into a paste, coated in crisp red rice and fried in two stages to seal in their natural sweetness. A fresh mint leaf lends a final aromatic lift.Salmon Returns to the Nest pairs a delicate Indian crisp shell with smoked Hokkaido salmon. A gentle touch of heat gives way to the citrus brightness of lemon zest, revealing a playful sense of balance in a single bite.

One of the signatures, Little Lee’s Black Pepper Crab, grew out of Andy’s memories of a trip to Bali. His version brings together five varieties of black pepper, transforming a remembered flavor into something distinctly his own.A more recent creation, Mud Crab Baked with Salted Lemon, Aged Chenpi and Pork Patty, draws depth from ten-year-old preserved salted lemon and aged Xinhui chenpi. The sweetness of the crab, the savoriness of the pork and the mellow fragrance of aged citrus unfold in layers.

For South African Abalone with Green Sichuan Peppercorn, tender yet springy slices of abalone are quickly wok-tossed with silver sprouts sourced from Taiwan’s only specialist grower devoted exclusively to bean sprouts.Then comes Flaming Mountain Bull Demon King, one of the restaurant’s most distinctive signatures. Andy selects an uncommon cut from calves under six months old, marinates the meat with Sichuan peppercorns and flash-fries it over intense heat. When it arrives at the table, the beef is almost hidden beneath a mantle of peppercorns, recalling a mountain engulfed in flames. Yet the first bite is surprisingly gentle—the numbing fragrance is warm and rounded rather than fierce, leaving behind an impression that is unmistakably Famous Lee.

人情有味

面對台灣私廚愈開愈多，Andy與Judy對「不可取代」有清楚定義。Judy說，「最無法取代的是溫度、是人，就是Andy」，他好客，幾乎每天都會走出廚房與客人聊上幾句，也因此，這幾年需要出遠門的行程，他總是缺席，「像我後天要去歐洲，他就不能去！」，Judy笑著說。Andy則認為，食材、空間或許可以複製，但味道無法：「我們的菜，在外面真的吃不到一樣的味道」，他幾乎每天都在琢磨怎麼讓熟悉的味道保有新意。

牛肉麵，這道連Judy都直呼「一絕」的私房手藝，也預計在今年底至明年，獨立成一個新品牌。知名李規模在變，不變的，是Andy與Judy始終想留住的，那份讓客人「走的時候是滿心歡喜的」好客初心。

The Flavor of Hospitality

As private dining restaurants continue to multiply across Taiwan, Andy and Judy have a clear sense of what makes Famous Lee difficult to replace.“The most irreplaceable thing is the warmth. It’s the person—and that person is Andy,” Judy says.A born host, Andy steps out of the kitchen almost every day to exchange a few words with his guests. The habit also means that longer journeys have become increasingly difficult for him to join.“I’m leaving for Europe the day after tomorrow, and he can’t come again!” Judy says with a laugh.For Andy, ingredients and even a dining space can perhaps be reproduced. Flavor cannot.“You really won’t find exactly the same taste anywhere else,” he says.Almost every day, he finds himself thinking about how familiar flavors might be given something new without losing what made people love them in the first place.

His beef noodles are one example. Even Judy describes them simply as “exceptional.” The closely guarded house specialty is now expected to take on a life of its own, with plans for a separate brand later this year or next.Famous Lee may be growing, but the heart of it remains unchanged.What Andy and Judy still hope to preserve is the spirit with which everything began: welcoming people as they would friends into their own home, putting a table full of good food before them, and making sure that, by the time they leave, they leave with full hearts.

INFO
知名李
地址：臺北市大安區永康里永康街2巷9號
電話：0974-216-788