Liu's Cafe
Taiwanese restaurant · Koreatown ·
Taiwanese-Hong Kong cafe serving comfort food, pastries & teas
Taiwanese-Hong Kong cafe serving comfort food, pastries & teas
"An all-day Chinese American cafe in Koreatown just expanded its hours to serve dinner for the first time after shuttering its adjoining creamery earlier this year, converting the former ice cream space into a cozy secondary dining room to handle the busy brunch crowds. The daytime menu still hits with tried-and-true crowd favorites like Chiayi chicken rice and sesame cold noodles swirled in peanut sauce, but after 5 p.m. beef noodle soup joins the lineup, with tender beef cheek slices swimming in a full-bodied, dark broth. At $13.50, the soup can easily stand on its own as a soul-warming dinner or be paired with spicy wontons and a flaky scallion cheddar biscuit from pastry chef Isabell Manibusan." - Eater Staff
"In Koreatown, this Hong Kong and Taiwanese cafe has extended its hours to 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Wednesday to Sunday; the breakfast and lunch menu runs until 5 p.m. with dishes like Hong Kong French toast and chicken rice, while dinner offers a similar lineup with the addition of beef noodle soup." - Rebecca Roland
"This casual Taiwanese iner in Koreatown has the kind of daytime scene where off-duty chefs sip hot milk tea with friends and dates lock eyes over warm buns. The people-watching is a major draw here, but it’s the inventive pastries and homey rice bowls that make it a standout. We recommend stockpiling the matcha pineapple buns and black sesame coconut cakes then throwing in a few gussied up classics like spicy wontons and Hong Kong-style French toast filled with oozy “lava custard.” They don’t open until 10:30am, but get there by noon on weekends before things start to sell out." - brant cox, sylvio martins, cathy park
"This daytime diner from the team behind the now-closed Tokki (and Danbi) has first-rate Taiwanese comfort dishes and incredible people-watching, but it's the creative pastries that make it a triple threat. Liu's is only open from late breakfast to late lunch, which makes it well-suited for a leisurely midday deal, or if you don't mind battling the sidewalk crowds, weekend brunch. Start with the cold sesame noodles, caramelized pork belly over rice, and Hong Kong-style french toast filled with salted egg yolk custard. The adorable space is lined with vintage movie posters makes provides a nice backdrop for your next daytime date, too. Just warn them about the brutal street parking situation first." - sylvio martins, brant cox, garrett snyder, cathy park
"The adjacent cafe will not be affected by the ice cream outpost's closure; pastry chef Isabell Manibusan oversees desserts here in addition to having developed the ice cream menu and supervising desserts at the modern Korean restaurant Danbi." - Rebecca Roland