8utter Cafe

Situated on the Solas Hotel at Liyu Road Puli Township, Nantou County is beautiful reflection on the lake water teaming with life - fish, turtles, ducks, etc.

We would like to eat someplace nice and perhaps get good food  and have a good dinner before going home. It is the coffee restaurant offers a mix culinary food has been tailored for a Western palate. We went through 8utter coffee, the restaurant has a very rustic and country feel, yet it’s still contemporary and somewhat you may feel romantic I guess.

Here’s what we found out. There were set menu include soup, salad, main course, drinks and no desserts. On the table: We started off with this mushroon soup a slightly creamy exposition of mushroom flavor, it was good thou!

Next came the salads and anti-pasto: Mix vegetables drizzled in creamy blueberry dressing.

Caesar salad with smoked chicken

Grilled abalone mushroom.

For the main course: I ordered the roasted barbecue pork ribs serve with boiled vegetables and rice, flavor in Taiwan aboriginal rice dumplings or tongzhi. I was greatly disappointed, the ribs did not taste tender. 

Provencal roasted lamb chops with rosemary sauce for my daughter. It was very hard and chewy as it seemed it had been  in the fridge for many years.

Spaghetti carbonara

Linguine pesto with toasted pine nuts. 

Last but not least we have a variety of drinks and I always go for hot fruit tea it was delicious but a little bit too sweet for me. Overall, nothing remarkable about the food but the salad, mushroom soup and pasta was ok. The rest of the main course it was disaster if you know how to cook your own meat dishes.

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8utter Cafe-Solas Hotel

Tianquan Hot Springs Hall Liyu Road 37-1, Puli Township, Nantou County, Taiwan

天泉溫泉會館 南投縣埔里鎮鯉魚路37-1號

The Richforest Sun Moon Lake

Its been in a while since my last reviews. I know it's not the most appropriate to judge a place based solely a dine out. But I just can't get over how disappointing experience at RichForest Hotel just last Lunar Year.

The hotel looks nice in chalet or Westerners style building was lovely, being built of wood. The hotel has an outstanding location and situated in a beautiful location overlooking the lake.

When it comes to food we're very selected, they have many options to choose from. We though for the price of NT$3,200 set menu it was one of their best dishes serving for 4 people. At first we were serving the salad platter. The dish was very well presented, it had a ham and seafood with vegetables that served as the bottom layer.

Clay pot rice with Cantonese sausage is one of my favorite on that day.

Slow pork belly with steamed bun serve with preserved vegetable and peanut powder. These Asian style sliders are meant to be devoured.

Roll steamed fish serve with tofu and sweet bell pepper.

Stir-fry fresh mustard green with shredded scallop.

Pork spare ribs serve with broccoli.

Fried small shrimps in garlic and chili.

For the finale, we had a chicken soup with pork intestine and dates... I did not try this soup. I'm scared eating a black chicken, it looks so greasy and oily. Overall the food it wasn't delicious but the view from the restaurant it was breathtaking.

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The Richforest Sun Moon Lake
No.31 Shueisiou St.Yuchih Township, Sun-moon Lake, Nantou Country 555, Taiwan.
南投縣魚池鄉日月村水秀街31號
Contact NO. 886-49-2850000
Website:
http://www.smlclub.com.tw/index.asp

The Old England

They called this guest house and restaurant as The Old England. Well it wasn't old, is one of the newest house building and most visited place in Cing Jing Nantou, charms from the moment you set eyes on it, especially when the weather is clear.

Old England is full of character with its charming Tudor style exterior and traditional interior decor. The intimate and sophisticated public areas make the hotel ideal for relaxing out of the city.

The rustic, homely appearance of the building set amongst its own secluded garden area, fountain ,statues , and the clock tower can been seen.

They even manage to mimic the English Tudor style faux chimney with dark terracotta timber roof and beams. Just the perfect environment to attract customers.

Regretable there is no view from inside the restaurant, but the view from the parking lot is the best to see the mountain terrain. Behind the stable block are the entrances to the lavatories. Along the lavatory wall, beside a narrow path. If you can manage to walk on the terrace with decking and covered seating area it is absolutely dazzling.

The mansion has a separate guest house with full dining and living area. When I walked in, it was like being transported into England, however if you never been to Europe you really get this feeling, it's beautiful in here. You'd think you were really transported magically to England! When I was looking around, one thing it caught my eyes is the fireplace it stand on the middle of  restaurant. But then when I'm tried to warm up my hand, I found it just a decoration. Since it was built in the cold and snowy mountain region, we should attached the real thing and functionable. The fireplace is a very vital part and proving warmth and comfort during cold weather isn't it? The ambiance of the restaurant is intimate and cozy-elegant look.

The dining tables are scattered around and the tables are too closed from each other. And a buffet table with enough heating elements to keep the entire area, I'm kidding.

Since it's everyone has gone, I got opportunity to sneak around the other dining section. If you are planning to  dine here just book this table in advanced and not too noisy when its packed. This place is flocked with families during weekend.

The Old England featured one of the best weekend buffet style  in the region, offers a selection of European and some Chinese cuisine. I was disappointed, we come here for afternoon tea set meal but they provide a eat all you can for amount NT$450 or 475 per person with a small selection in the buffet table. The quality of food slipped and the sideshows became unbearable before the closing on the noon snack. We were seated beside the bar and people are walking around us. After 30 minutes the staff came in to inform we should finish our meal at 5 o'clock and they will start to prepare for dinner. They should let us to know before going inside specially it was 4 o'clock when we started. However we still had time to eat in rush. We got pears in red wine and seasonal salad were ok.

And I had on my plate for the next round was a mixed of creamy broiled fish, roasted herb chicken, spicy squid, and sauteed mushroom was delicious.

The croquembouche or puff pastry, a small pastries filled with cream was nice.

For my last plate I had a baguette with cheese and smoked chicken, puff pastry, chocolate tart, and frozen pumpkin mousse cake.

I then moved on to the hot blueberry tea.

Green tea and ricotta cheese chocolate tart.

The texture of chocolate cake it wasn't soft and its very cold and dry but still delicious.

A decadent pumpkin pie with creamy pumpkin mousse filling on top.

The chocolate tart was extremely smooth and creamy. It melt on your palate and slid down your throat gently. It was the best dessert amongst all the other sweets on offer. A few more that I could remember but didn’t take photos of pasta in green color, sauteed vegetables, steamed chicken, beef stew, bread and cheese, walnut rice, soup of the day, they serve a range of tea and coffee on the bar.

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Verdict; The service was good they always keep your table clean. As many will tell you, it has a fabulous restaurant. While the quality of the food is equally good and some just bland. The atmosphere it was noisy and chaotic and not elegant at all, at the very end you realized your dinning in a very ordinary buffet restaurant. The Old England it is more of an English themed guest house if not a bit tad. But priced higher than the Music Villa and Shangrila hanging resort. However it was a good place for photographer and this would be a great place to explore.

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The Old England-老英格蘭莊園
546南投縣仁愛鄉大同村壽亭巷20-2號
N0.20-2, 20-2 Shouting Ln, Da Tong Village, Ren-ai Township Nantou County 546. Taiwan
Contact No: 049-2802169
Website:
http://www.theoldengland.com/

Margaret's Garden Hazy Cafe

Margaret's Garden overlooks a spectacular valley vista and with the awe-inspiring view mountain peaks of Nantou. The entrance to the restaurant was decorated with  flowers, hanging chime, stone table and chairs. The restaurant is also basically painted with the color of purple, which made it fit much more naturally into the garden landscape.

An arrangement of blue, purple and pink flowers in a glass water vase.

The restaurant is extremely creating a romantic and lovely dining ambience, and has specialized in Yunnan and Thai cuisine in colorful presentation. Whether you are health conscious or you want a substantial meal on their menu.

The dining tables are filled with decorated daisy flowers.

On to the table, we ordered the shrimp tomato cucumber salad with sweet red chili glaze sauce. I can say they were fresh. The salad had this sweet yet spicy sauce and it was just great. Its beautiful colours isn't it?

Even a large bowl of soup or eggs and tomato always hit the spot.

Tender smoked duck breast comes in very thin slivers of what tasted like smoked ham to me.

We also had a stir fry cabbage its grown on this mountain region. It taste very fresh and organic.

To end off what was a very nice and filling lunch, we had coffee and tea. The iced Vienna espresso was presented with a mug of coffee, a glass filled with whipped cream to top of chocolate in a dish was all perfect blend.

The almond milk tea its good to shared for 2 people. The tea and almond was very creamy and fragrant.

I promptly ordered a hot coffee, I was very appreciative of this rich a cup of caramel machiatto coffee drink.  It warmed me up fast and it was perfect during winter season.

Yummy homemade popsicles or fruit pops as we call them. And you may find them beside the Starbucks in Cing Jing area. They were brightly sweet, colored, ice on a stick and it came in different fruit flavors.

Our favorite part and the reason why we always come to Cing Jing. Beacause of this wasabi deep fry mushrooms, it was crisp bites of spicy wasabi powder from Alishan was blow you mind its delicious. If you are a deep fry mushroom mania. I recommend to try this fried mushroom and you may see this store or stall in Wushe area.

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Overall we loved the Margaret's Garden and would definitely return. The service is pretty quick and what we appreciated most was that the flavors were simultaneously simple and complex, the ingredients was very fresh, and always very satisfying.

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Margaret's Garden Hazy Cafe

南投縣仁愛鄉大同村信義巷39-1號

No.39-1, Xinyi Ln., Datung Vil., Ren’ai Township, Nantou County

Contact No: 049-2802923

Website:

Margaret's Garden