Miyahara Ice Cream 宮原眼科: aesthetic confectionery in Taichung

Of all the cities, I’m of the opinion that Taichung has some of the best eats that Taiwan can offer.

Other than night markets and street food, one of the most famous places you’ll have to visit in Taichung is none other than the famed Miyahara Ice Cream.

History behind Miyahara’s famed architecture

Situated near Taichung Train Station, Miyahara is best known for its red-brick architecture.

This building was built by Miyahara Takeo, a Japanese ophthalmology doctor, back in 1927. It was the largest ophthalmology clinic in Taichung during the Japanese colonial period. Later on, the building became the Taichung Health Bureau after the Japanese surrendered in 1945.

In a strange twist, the Miyahara building was eventually abandoned by the suspended Health Bureau. Dawn Cake (日出乳酪蛋糕), a local pastry company renowned for pineapple cakes, acquired this abandoned building. The company then transformed it into what we know today is Miyahara Ice Cream!

The striking architecture is hard to miss from afar:

As you can see, they’ve kept most of the original red-brick walls that Miyahara was well-known for. What’s pretty impressive is that they’ve even gone one step further with the vintage-looking posters promoting their bubble teas.

Once you step into the Miyahara building, you may find the architecture oddly familiar.

That’s because the interior decor has been redesigned to resemble Hogwarts. Yes you read that right: that Hogwarts from Harry Potter!

They’ve tried to toe that line between Hogwarts and vintage shop by cleverly mixing merchandise with books and old vinyl albums.

And of course, complete with chandeliers and medicine cabinets.

The effect is not lost on the visitors, who readily snap photos of every nook and cranny. I did find it quite charming. You can clearly tell that on a whole, they’re gunning for the majestic Hogwarts look. But on a smaller scale, they’ve tried to furnish the place like the old traditional clinic it used to be.

It’s very eclectic, and certainly very unique!

More traces of the building’s vintage past

What to buy and eat at Miyahara

At this point you may be wondering: ok, but why is a pineapple cake company selling tea, in an ice cream shop?!

It’s a bit confusing, but I’ll get around to it!

Dawn Cake primarily sells their signature pastries (including pineapple tarts) wrapped in nostalgic packings within the building. You can find these neatly on the shelves.

Some of these treats are even cleverly packaged and disguised as CD albums!

Other than buying their pastries (which I highly recommend as souvenirs!), most visitors come here for none other than their ice cream and bubble tea.

They have the usual beverage offerings, but their signature is definitely those with the fancy-er names. These include A Toast to the Past Bubble Tea, Between Dreams and Lifes (very poetic). And of course, their bestseller is none other than the Native Pineapple Cake (!) Memorial Blend Tea.

If you’re a bit wary of these, you can of course opt for some safe nostalgic flavours. You can also opt for ice cream floats, which gives you the best of both worlds.

The ice cream parlour is actually outside of the main store. You won’t miss it, because there’s always such a long queue!

I didn’t manage to take a photo of the ice cream offerings, but you can easily find a photo of the menu online. I’m a huge fan of tea-infused ice cream flavours, so this really ticked all the right boxes for me.

If you love chocolate, you’d definitely be overwhelmed by the wide variety of chocolate options available. And also because you’re in Taiwan, home to some of the freshest fruit options, I strongly encourage trying some of their fruit flavours as well!

I can’t remember which flavours we got (it’s been quite a few years!). Based on our preferences it was a double scoop with probably a mix of tea and chocolate.

We also added their baked sun cake (pineapple cake) and cheesecake toppings, all of which came in a waffle cup.

This was a very refreshing treat to have in the hot weather! I liked that the ice cream didn’t melt too easily as well.

My friend also got the Traditional Taiwan Milk Tea. It was likely the Almond flavour haha.

Is Miyahara Ice Cream worth visiting?

We really enjoyed coming to Miyahara Ice Cream. I can definitely understand why this shop is such a hit with tourists.

Beyond the aesthetic architecture and vintage goods though, the shop does serve lots of sweet treats, in typical Taiwanese fashion. Whether you prefer ice cream or bubble tea, or just want to bring some souvenirs home, there’s definitely something here that you’ll enjoy.

However, I do find that the desserts here are quite pricey. This is in comparison to the average food prices in Taiwan. And it’s not just the ice cream and bubble tea – even the pineapple cakes are expensive!

Personally, I find that the sightseeing experience and food quality at Miyahara are still quite worth the price paid. But of course, you can just come here to check out the architecture and snap some photos, no obligation to buy anything!

DIRECTIONS

Address: No.20, Zhongshan Rd., Central Dist., Taichung City Taiwan

Related Posts:

PIN THIS!