The Lake House 勻淨湖

Last weekend after our lunch at Chateau in the air, we visited the lake house. We enjoyed a coffee and tea outside a restaurant beside the lake which was located on the edge of a Mingde Reservoir in the hidden valley. This is by far the most amazing restaurant with the view in Miaoli County.

The Lake House is a French restaurant and B&B guest house. The decor inside the house is contemporary. Behind the glass windows allows the customer to dine comfortably and yet be close to nature. The outdoor garden is definitely the place to sit for afternoon tea. We were given the menu and we was surprised to see that only one afternoon set meal for NT$450. So we almost have the same order. However the les desserts theme already include a small portion of snack. If you are coming here for lunch and  dinner there are some several  dishes to choose from.

 We were stuffed when an assortment of desserts arrived at our table was a mousse cake, pates de fruits, madeleine cake, fruit cake and chocolate. They were absolutely looks delicious!

The next plate arrives was a 3 hors d’oeuvres with chicken salad served in tiny glass.

Our drinks finally arrive, I'm opted for the hot cafe au lait lately, the robust flavors being brewed it's very fine and divine.

For my daughter was a refreshing fruits tea.

The other drinks it seems to enjoy my boys was a iced cafe au lait as it’s rich and creamy! Overall, we like this place it’s always nice to discover new places and as it has what we need to take a break and be close in nature. If you want charm, atmosphere, amazing service and above all is the food. I recommended this place in Miaoli and is best tackled by car. Definitely we will back again for lunch meal after I recover in something that I might not able to spent time eating outside for a months.

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 The Lake House 勻淨湖
No 112 Shipin Li, Joulan Town Miaoli County
苗栗縣卓蘭鎮西坪里112號
Tel No: 04-25899900
Website:
http://www.lakehouse.tw/

Chateau In The Air

Chateau in the Air is located in Liyutan Miaoli beside the Mingde Reservoir and as soon as you enter gate of this restaurant you find yourself in a completely different and rustic setting with garden, woods, trees and stones to display a dainty combination of designs. From Chateau in the air  is a premiere dining destination in Miaoli it was full when we get there.This restaurant had the most extensive menu that we found and had something for everyone.

We start with a trio platter which was soft brioche garlic bread, noodles in sweet and sour lime sauce and shrimp cracker with tuna mayo sauce. It was pretty tasty and a nice way to start the meal.

We had the cream corn soup which was ok and acceptable with hints of pepper, but it lacked salt. 

Then we were served a vegetables salad with Japanese dressing and as part of set menu. We didn’t enjoy this as much because the lettuce wasn't even that fresh!

For the main dish: Me and daughter we had a duck breast in apple sauce with some vegetables. The duck it wasn't roast or pan seared which was deep fried and is quite overcooked. Nonetheless, the meat was very tender and the sauce's flavors worked nicely with it crisp skin.

The grilled salmon fillet served over a creamy seafood risotto rice, the salmon was fresh a very rich dish.

The pan seared king prawn  served on top of cream sauce on a bed of seafood risotto were the same as in the salmon.

And for the desert was panna cotta with caramel and whipped cream on top it was so creamy and yet still fulfilling.

We both had a drinks for the last meal, we were served with milk tea, black tea and coffee, a nice way to end a meal. Final Impressions: We enjoy the openness of the restaurant. It has a bright, airy, cheerful vibe and would have been a very comfortable green and none polluted atmosphere. As for the food it was good but not as good as we expected. However we still love to come back again!

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Chateau In The Air 天空之城

364苗栗縣大湖鄉新開村十份33號

No.33, Shifen, Dahu Township, Miaoli County.

Tel no: +886-37951815

Website:

www.chateau-in-the-air.com.tw/

Grandmother Old Store 阿嬤ㄟ老店

The Grandmother Old Store Hakka restaurant is old style and serves a tempting array of classic Hakka dishes at reasonable prices. The restaurant itself is small but clean too, the furniture and wooden bench, tables are old, which is more than I can say for most Hakka Taiwanese restaurants. Every dish we had here has been absolutely spot on in terms of authenticity and honestly makes you feel at home.

On the table, we started out with delicious free range steamed chicken is a well-known Hakka cuisine. After being poached, steamed in salt and water, the chicken meat itself has an incredibly tender texture and succulently flavourful. I was mostly impressed with how yellow the skin was on the chicken was so scrumptious with every dip into a thick-brown sauce and tangerine dipping sauce is very satisfying meal.

Stir-fried pig’s intestines with julienne ginger. Among that, savory and one of the most popular dishes in Hakka Taiwanese cuisine.The sauce was delicious, I probably ate whole of this dish all by myself. It is because is one of my favorites for Hakka dishes and pleasantly sour from the use of pickled vegetables, shredded ginger and white vinegar.

The super delicious stir fry noodles loaded with vegetables was soo good too with a bit sauce or natural water from the veggies. This flat noodles was similar to Vietnamese noodles. The only thing missing was the meat or shrimp and bean sprouts. Otherwise this dish is quite flavorful.

We also ordered a stir fry wild-grown veggie and unique to Taiwan, a vegetables it was grown in the high mountain that had a look of plastic like leaf may strike you as a little strange. I never try this veg before I'm quite a bit curious. This stir fry vegetable is one of the best dish on our table. The dish was quite fresh-healthy it is rich, earthy especially sweet and crisp it cooks with red chili, a kind of beans, and tiny dried fish was super flavorful and very tasty. Highly recommended..

We also had on the specials menu is the roast pork belly was super freshly cooked roast pork reminds me the Filipino lechon kawali. But the Hakka Taiwanese roast pork belly are much better than Pinoy style lechon kawali. The top skin was super crunchy it blend with black pepper and saltiness flavourful taste infused with a touch of brown vinegar garlic sauce and beyond anything I have tried. It's fatty-earthy tasted good as you imagine and absolutely not a healthy food because all that pork fat goodness just melts in your mouth and you just want to reach for more bowl of rice. Much better than ones we have in Neiwan.

We also try their pan fried egg omelet with scallions and radish that was so good it didn't need soy sauce.

We tried the day lily soup with slightly fatty pork for the finale, are tender to bite and the daylilies with your soup for that added fiber. The soup still boiling when it came it was good and healthy with aromatic-natural smell from scallion and dried  flower.

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Overall the food was generally pretty good it was a decent meal but for someone who used to eating strong and salty food. Good place to come, but be prepared to wait. Prices are reasonable, though the service is okay in my experience.

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Grandmother Old Store 阿嬤ㄟ老店
苗栗縣三義鄉勝興村水美路247號
Sanyi Township, Miaoli County
Contact No: 037-877108

Ten Ren Cha For Tea

After our steak visit and not to mentioned that had no new menu to the Tasty. And re visited Cha For Tea last saturday, the menu was wide and varied and had flavor. Cha For Tea House is one of the finer establishments for tea lovers in Taiwan. We’ve eaten here a few times now, and have usually spent more than we intended because of their tea's and some of their best meals.

We arrived to an over crowded restaurant, and had a seat at one of the tables. But we used to choose the outdoor table everytime we come to this place for afternoon and its perfect for afternoon snack especially under rainy  conditions. It is not the elegant garden but they maintain the clean environment.

Green tea waffle with matcha icre cream and red beans. If you want to try their waffles you should have to make a reservation before you arrive . And you would not probably wanted to wait for hours during fully order.

 Strawberry  matcha waffle

Ham sandwich roll with fresh tea leaf tempura

Green tea shrimp shu mai, much less oily than other versions, just like I mentioned on my first introduction.

Sweet ssmanthus fish dumpling is pretty good too!

Black tea raspberry freeze cake

Hot black pearl milk tea

 Strawberry agar yogurt

Taro pearl milk tea, the heavy taro flavor is beautifully combined with milk tea

 Pearl milk tea

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Excellent and attentive staff, we're coming back in a few days. I recommend to try their milk tea or taro green milk tea plus the tea flavor dumplings and waffles.

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Cha For Tea
竹南鎮中華路422號
No.422, Zhonghua Rd.,Jhunan Township, Miaoli County
Contact no: (037)696-088
Website:
http://www.chafortea.com.tw
http://www.tenren.com.tw

油桐花坊 Tung Lodge

This fresh fragrance of the forest, away from the city hustle and bustle good to relax enjoy the day. "Tung Florist" tung blossom tree in the open-air cafe and restaurant is the most fascinating - romantic breezes blowing flowers, birds came to listen to the trees. See mountains, watching the morning fog, static and dynamic composition between the rich and moving beauty.

A brown line of the building stands in the woods it is "Tung Florist" B & B  and build in Barvaria-German style on my opinion.

Tung flower is used to symbolize Hakka mythology and mythic consciousness.

Here are providing meals, steak, afternoon tea, simple meals are priced around NT$680  with unlimited salad, drinks soup except cake but also 10% service charge.

Grilled salmon in bed of unfamiliar sauce

Grilled sirloin steak 

Grilled chicken with rosemary

Braised pork Hakka style

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The foods it was disappointed only the sirloin steak and braised pork are most noteworthy and do not be fool with a nice presentation, they even provide the dish with painted tung flowers. But the environment with none polluted air is the best part on this place.

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油桐花坊 Tung Lodge
苗栗縣公館鄉福德村福德路35-3號
Gonguan Miaoli County
Contact no: 037-220-788
Website:
http://www.yeze.com.tw/tung/html/page.htm

山中傳奇 Legend of the Mountains

Legend of the Mountains, a dining place that lets you enjoy the beauty of the mountains view of the Shenghsing Station, its unique architectural style station house, more tremendous and cultural significance, so that customers  may enjoy the mountains, food, while experience of railway interest.

To me the architectural design of this place is more likely a Japanese style. There are few common pleasures as enjoyable as happy hour to watch the people below the railway and the beauty of the white flowers sourrounded by the mountain during the season of tung blossom.

Tung hua (Tung blossom)

The most tiniest train I ever seen and as it seemed people they really had fun riding this little machinery.

As we enjoy our afternoon, we ordered some cakes and I had a raspberry cake.

Chocolate cake

Cheese cake

Chocolate train cake

Cappuccino

Coffee latte

Mamba coffee

Fragrant jasmine tea

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Legend of the Mountains
Sanyi Township, Miaoli County
苗栗縣 三義鄉 勝興村36-9號
http://www.m-legend.com.tw/