Restaurant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Affordable Michelin-recognised Taiwanese worth booking.
A Michelin Plate-recognised Taiwanese kitchen in Kaohsiung, earning back-to-back recognition in 2024 and 2025 at an accessible $$ price point. With a 4.3 Google rating across 525 reviews, it offers consistent, credentialled local cooking that works for solo diners, groups, and takeout. Go weekday lunch for the smoothest experience.
Yung Yen is a Michelin Plate-recognised Taiwanese restaurant in Kaohsiung that earns a direct recommendation for anyone after affordable, quality-assured local cooking. With back-to-back Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025, a Google rating of 4.3 across 525 reviews, and a $$ price point, it sits at a practical intersection that is hard to find in a city where the credentialled options mostly skew expensive. Book it for a weekday lunch or early dinner, and if you're returning after a first visit, start thinking about what travels well, because the format rewards both dine-in regulars and the takeout consideration.
Picture a Kaohsiung street, mid-afternoon light, the kind of modest shopfront that gives nothing away from the outside. That's Yung Yen. No hotel lobby, no tasting-menu theatrics, just a Taiwanese kitchen that has now earned the Michelin Plate distinction twice in consecutive years, which in the context of the city's food scene is a signal worth taking seriously. The Plate designation doesn't carry the weight of a star, but it represents Michelin's documented confirmation that the cooking here is good enough to seek out, not just stumble upon.
For the returning visitor, that context matters. Your first visit confirmed it was worth the trip. The question now is how to get more out of it. At the $$ price range, Yung Yen is not asking you to commit seriously in financial terms, which means the main variable is how you order and when you go. A Google score of 4.3 across more than 500 reviews suggests the kitchen is consistent rather than occasionally brilliant, which is exactly what you want from a place you're planning to visit regularly or order from repeatedly.
On the takeout question, which is worth spending time on at a venue in this format and price tier: Taiwanese cooking as a category tends to travel reasonably well when the dishes are broth-based, braised, or composed around proteins that don't lose texture quickly. Stir-fried dishes are the least forgiving in transit. If Yung Yen's strengths align with the cuisine's more strong preparations, such as braised pork rice, minced meat dishes, or noodle soups, those are the orders to consider for delivery or takeout. The Michelin Plate recognition, earned in consecutive years, implies a consistency of execution that should hold across formats to a reasonable degree. That said, without specific menu data confirmed from the venue, ordering in-person first and identifying which dishes hold their character is the practical move before committing to regular off-premise orders.
Timing matters here in a specific way. Weekday visits, particularly for lunch, tend to offer the clearest read on a kitchen at this price tier. Kaohsiung's Taiwanese dining scene runs hot on weekends, and neighbourhood spots with Michelin credentials attract queues at peak times. Going mid-week gives you a calmer room and more attentive service. If you're advising a friend, tell them: Tuesday or Wednesday lunch, arrive close to opening, and treat the first course as a test of the kitchen's temperature that day.
Visually, Taiwanese restaurants at this price level prioritise function over form. Don't come expecting a designed dining room. What you're looking at is likely clean, practical, and focused on the plates rather than the setting. That's a deliberate trade-off that the $$ pricing reflects honestly. If you want the room as part of the experience, this category of venue isn't the right choice, but if the food is the point, that calculation works in your favour.
For the solo diner, Yung Yen at this price range and format is a strong fit. A 4.3 Google rating across a large sample of reviews suggests no particular friction around counter seating or single-cover hospitality. For groups, the $$ price point means a table of four or five can eat well without coordinating a budget. The Michelin Plate context also makes it an easier recommendation to anchor a group meal around than a spot with no external validation.
Within the broader context of Taiwanese dining in the country, Yung Yen sits in productive company. For context on the wider spectrum of Taiwanese cooking you can pursue during a visit, venues like Fujin Tree Taiwanese Cuisine & Champagne (Songshan) in Taipei and Golden Formosa in Taipei show where the cuisine goes at a higher price tier. Locally in Kaohsiung, Chao Ming and Chang Sheng 29 are worth cross-referencing when building out a visit. Further afield in Taiwan, JL Studio in Taichung and logy in Taipei represent the higher end of the island's contemporary dining conversation, useful reference points if you want to understand how Yung Yen sits within the national picture.
For Kaohsiung eating beyond restaurants, our full Kaohsiung hotels guide, Kaohsiung bars guide, and Kaohsiung experiences guide cover the rest of the city's picture. The full Kaohsiung restaurants guide gives you the complete comparison set.
Price: $$ (accessible, suitable for regular visits and groups without budget coordination). Awards: Michelin Plate 2024 and 2025. Rating: 4.3/5 (525 Google reviews). Booking difficulty: Easy. Leading timing: Weekday lunch or early dinner for shorter waits and a calmer room. Reservations: Not confirmed as required given Easy booking difficulty, but calling ahead is advisable for groups. Dress: Casual. Address: 4226 N Arlington Heights Rd, Arlington Heights, IL 60004 (listed address in the data — confirm directly with the venue before visiting).
Yung Yen is a $$ Taiwanese restaurant in Kaohsiung with Michelin Plate recognition in both 2024 and 2025, which puts it in a small category of affordable, externally validated local cooking. Go for lunch on a weekday, keep expectations calibrated to the price tier rather than the star category, and treat it as a reliable neighbourhood kitchen with credentials rather than a destination fine-dining experience. The 4.3 Google rating across 525 reviews confirms consistency.
The $$ pricing makes it one of the more practical group options in Kaohsiung — a table of four or five can eat well without straining a shared budget. Seating capacity is not confirmed in available data, so call ahead for groups of six or more. For larger parties with more budget, Haili at $$$ offers a step up in formality. For similar Taiwanese value with groups, Beef Chief (Zihciang 2nd Road) is the closest peer comparison.
Booking difficulty is rated Easy, so advance reservations are unlikely to be required for most visits. That said, the Michelin Plate designation (two consecutive years) does attract attention, and weekend evenings at credentialled affordable spots in Kaohsiung can fill up. Booking a day ahead is a reasonable precaution; for weekday lunches, same-day should be fine. Compared to Kaohsiung's $$$$ options like Sho or Papillon, Yung Yen is significantly easier to get into.
Yes. At the $$ price point and with a casual format, Yung Yen is a solid solo choice in Kaohsiung. The 4.3 rating across a large review pool suggests the experience holds up for single diners, and Taiwanese restaurants at this tier typically include counter or small-table seating that suits solo visits. Weekday lunch is the lowest-friction time to arrive alone. If you want a higher-end solo experience in the city, Sho offers a counter-focused Japanese format at $$$$.
Specific menu data is not available in Pearl's confirmed records, so naming dishes would be speculation. What the Michelin Plate recognition does confirm is that the kitchen is executing Taiwanese cooking to a standard worth visiting for. As a practical rule at venues in this cuisine and price tier, lean toward braised and slow-cooked preparations over stir-fries if you're considering takeout, as those travel better. For returning visitors wanting to broaden their Taiwanese reference points, Fujin Tree in Taipei and Golden Formosa in Taipei show the cuisine at a higher register.
Go in expecting a no-frills Taiwanese meal that punches above its price point. Yung Yen holds a Michelin Plate for both 2024 and 2025, which at $$ pricing is a strong signal for value over ceremony. Skip the formality expectations and focus on the food — this is a neighbourhood-register restaurant, not a special-occasion room.
The $$ price range makes it a practical group option with no budget coordination required. For larger parties, call ahead to confirm table availability since smaller Taiwanese restaurants in Kaohsiung often have limited large-table configurations. Yung Yen's accessible pricing means it works for mixed groups where not everyone wants to spend big.
Michelin Plate recognition two years running draws consistent local and visitor traffic, so booking at least a few days ahead is advisable for weekends. Weekday visits are lower risk for walk-ins, but with 525-plus Google reviews pointing to a well-established following, don't count on last-minute weekend availability.
Yes — the $$ price point and Taiwanese format make it one of the easier solo decisions in Kaohsiung. You're not committing to a multi-course tasting or a minimum spend, and the neighbourhood atmosphere removes any pressure around dining alone. Michelin Plate credentials mean quality is consistent, so you're not taking a risk on an unknown.
Specific menu details aren't confirmed in available data, so ordering advice here would be speculation. The safest approach: ask staff what the kitchen does best that day. At $$ across a Michelin Plate Taiwanese kitchen, ordering broadly and sharing is the standard play — Taiwanese cuisine at this register is built for that format.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
