Miyahara Formosa (宮原眼科)
No. 20
Zhongshan Road
Central District
Taichung 400
Taiwan
http://www.miyahara.com.tw/
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| Pastries In Artistic Packaging |
Iconic Modern Taiwanese Desserts With Traditional Flavours
(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 9
Ambience & Setting: 10
Food & Beverage: 9
Service: 8
Value for Money: 10
Spent about NTD $160 / SGD $7 per person.
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The Miyahara Formosa (宮原眼科) building in downtown Taichung, Taiwan, has a long history. This iconic site was originally built as an eye clinic by a Japanese optometrist during WWII, later repurposed as a health center, then fell into disuse. Eventually, it was reconstructed and restored as the headquarters for Dawn Cake (日出蛋糕), opening in December 2011. Today, this popular food retail outlet draws crowds throughout all hours of the day, all queuing for the local confectioneries, pastries, and desserts sold here.
Ambience at Miyahara Formosa invokes a sense of awe. You'll hear most people say the place reminds them of Harry Potter, slightly gothic, slightly modern, with its high ceiling, grand rosewood staircase, and bright natural lighting reflecting off the sheer glass mirrors. Feels luxurious. As you wander between the sturdy rosewood displays, stocked full of wonderous confectioneries and attractive display packagings, you start to get the feeling that there's so much to see and do here, even despite the bustling crowd around.
Service at Miyahara Formosa is akin to a fine dining establishment, a high achievement for a retail store. Staff are energetic, polite, friendly, and fulfill requests efficiently. They're observant and attentive despite the swelling crowd, according the person they're speaking with personalised attention, and displaying good product knowledge. Besides Chinese Mandarin, they also have staff who can converse in English and Japanese, and offer printed menus and brochures in these same languages.
Food at Miyahara Formosa consists of confectioneries, pastries, and desserts, made with Japanese techniques, but infused with traditional Taiwanese flavours and ingredients. You'll find cakes, chocolates, tea, ice cream, beverages, tarts, biscuits, cookies, and more here. Quality is consistently good, and the majority of items I tried were tasty. Portions are sized for individuals, but are usually larger than normal. Prices are affordable even for local students. Budget about NTD $160 / SGD $7 per person here.
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| Miyahara Formosa Exterior |
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| Miyahara Formosa Interior |
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| Grand Staircase |
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| Retail Displays |
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| Miyahara Formosa Bags |
Love how the confectioneries, pastries, and desserts are packaged to look like books, with vibrant artwork adorning the covers. Intentionally done, to give customers the feeling that they are in a library.
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| Pastries In Artistic Packaging |
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| Pastries In Artistic Packaging |
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| Pastries In Artistic Packaging |
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| Pastries In Artistic Packaging |
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| Chocolate Display |
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| Chocolate Display |
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| Butter Bear Biscuit Holding Almond |
On the 2nd floor is a sit-down, Chinese restaurant which only opens for dinner. The 1st floor has 2 stalls, the first sells bubble milk tea, while the second is the Miyahara Ice Cream Parlour. The longest queues form at the Miyahara Ice Cream Parlour for their ice cream made with Japanese techniques, but infused with local Taiwanese ingredients and flavours.
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| Miyahara Ice Cream Parlour |
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| Miyahara Ice Cream Parlour |
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| Miyahara Ice Cream Parlour Menu - English |
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| Miyahara Ice Cream Parlour Menu - Chinese Mandarin |
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| Ice Cream Display |
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| Ice Cream Display |
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| Ice Cream Display |
The Luxury Ice Cream - Honey Lime, Almond Florentine Wafer (NTD $90 / SGD $4) has a scoop of ice cream infused with local honey and lime, giving it a floral sweet sour zesty flavour, and a texture similar to a fruit sorbet. The almond florentine wafer is crunchy with a light nutty aroma, but feels lacking in taste.
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| Luxury Ice Cream - Honey Lime, Almond Florentine Wafer (NTD $90 / SGD $4) |
The Luxury Ice Cream - Irwin Mango, Cheesecake, Yoghurt, Fruit Skewer, Butterfly Cookie, Chocolate Wafer Cup (NTD $190 / SGD $8.50) has a scoop of ice cream infused with local irwin mango, giving it a bold floral sweet flavour, with a creamy texture. The cheesecake is more like a cheese souffle, soft and crumbly and cheesy sweet, while the yoghurt scoop is bright and refreshingly sour. The fruit skewer features fresh slices of pineapple, cherry tomato, papaya, and honeydew melon, while the butterfly cookie is crunchy but forgettable. The chocolate wafer cup has a bold chocolatey sweet flavour with a satisfiying firm crunch.
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| Luxury Ice Cream - Irwin Mango, Cheesecake, Yoghurt, Fruit Skewer, Butterfly Cookie, Chocolate Wafer Cup (NTD $190 / SGD $8.50) |
The Luxury Ice Cream - Kyoho Grape, Chocolate Chip Cookie Crumbs, Yoghurt, Fruit Skewer, Butterfly Cookie, Chocolate Wafer Cup (NTD $190 / SGD $8.50) has a scoop of ice cream infused with Kyoho red grapes, giving it a bold fruity sweet flavour, with a creamy texture. The chocolate chip cookie crumbs could be more crunchy and chocolatey sweet though. The other ingredients are like before.
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| Luxury Ice Cream - Kyoho Grape, Chocolate Chip Cookie Crumbs, Yoghurt, Fruit Skewer, Butterfly Cookie, Chocolate Wafer Cup (NTD $190 / SGD $8.50) |
The Luxury Ice Cream - No.9 Erlin Peanut, No.17 Pineapple Cake (NTD $90 / SGD $4) is full of local flavours. With a scoop of ice cream infused with erlin peanuts, giving it a nutty sweet flavour with a hint of savoury, and a somewhat grainy astringent texture. The pineapple cake is a popular confectionery made in-house, with a tender, buttery pastry tart shell, and chewy fruity sweet pineapple jam within.
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| Luxury Ice Cream - No.9 Erlin Peanut, No.17 Pineapple Cake (NTD $90 / SGD $4) |
The Luxury Ice Cream - Venezuela Chocolate 72 Percent, Butter Bear Biscuit Holding Almond (NTD $90 / SGD $4) has a scoop of ice cream infused with Venezuelan chocolate, giving it a deep chocolatey sweet flavour, with a rich creamy smooth texture. The butter bear biscuit holding almond is nicely buttery sweet with a crisp, crumbly texture, contrasted by the firm nutty crunch of the almond.
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| Luxury Ice Cream - Venezuela Chocolate 72 Percent, Butter Bear Biscuit Holding Almond (NTD $90 / SGD $4) |
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CONVERSATION