台中市第四信用合作社 Fourth Credit Union/ 宫原眼科-醉月楼沙龙 Miyahara

Speaking of desserts in Taichung, Miyahara (宫原眼科) is undoubtedly the place which comes to most people's mind. Miyahara used to be an eye hospital, but it is now a famous ice cream joint.

While I was doing research on my Taichung trip, I've seen many reviews claiming that Miyahara's queue is really crazy, hence I've decided since then that the best time to visit would be 10am when they open. However, I couldn't fit Miyahara in my schedule during the first two days and had to wait until the very last day to go before I left for Taipei.

The bus to Taipei was scheduled to leave at 11am whereas Miyahara opens at 10am. I wonder if I was being too optimistic back then, thinking that no one would eat ice cream so early and I would definitely have plenty of time left since I stayed right opposite of Miyahara. I was so wrong wtf.

I reached Miyahara at 9.55am and to my horror, there were already many people waiting at the main entrance. Some tourists were even there with their luggage and all wtf wtf.
   

When the staff finally opened the door at 10am, everyone was rushing in as if Miyahara was giving out free ice cream wtf. I'm not even kidding. It doesn't help that Miyahara feels like a maze to me which I can't figure out. I didn't know that I was supposed to get ice cream outside Miyahara at the side instead of going through the main entrance, therefore I stupidly wasted a good 10 minutes or so at the wrong place wtf.

I shall comfort myself that at least I've stepped into Miyahara, which feels a bit Harry Potter-ish. *facepalm*

Needless to say, by the time I got to the right place, there was a freaking long queue in front of me. I was so close to giving up when I suddenly remembered that its another branch, the Fourth Credit Union (台中市第四信用合作社) sells the exact same thing as Miyahara and it is just 200m away.

Thankfully luck was on my side; I only had to wait for a few people. Such a drastic difference compared to Miyahara! I still can't comprehend why would people waste so much time and energy to queue up at Miyahara when the Fourth Credit Union which is located nearby sells the exact same thing and is even more spacious. I guess it was all for the Harry Potter vibe wtf hahaha. As for the Fourth Credit Union, it used to be a bank.

I was spoilt for choices because there were more than 50 different flavors to choose from for the ice cream. Isn't this literally heaven for ice cream lovers?

The price for 1 scoop of ice cream was TWD90, whereas 2 scoops and 3 scoops costed TWD160 and TWD225 respectively. The toppings were free with the purchase of ice cream and additionally, you can opt for waffle cup at the price of TWD20.

I decided to go for two scoops of ice cream even though I was alone because I wanted to try different flavors. How fattening. The flavors I tried were "Between Dreams and Life" (半夢半醒之間) and... chocolate. It's been awhile so I can't remember anymore :( anyway, please allow me to say that I really like the names of some of the ice cream, such as "Between Dreams and Life" (半夢半醒之間) and "Just Like Your Tenderness" (恰似你的溫柔). "Between Dreams and Life" was basically red tea, rose and mint.

As for the toppings, I chose cheese cake, pineapple cake and... that thing that you see in the middle of the photo above wtf hahaha. Don't worry about not knowing what to choose; there was a list of the 10 most popular toppings for you to refer to.

Overall, I find that the scoops of ice cream were larger than expected. The ice cream was great but not to the extent of being memorable. The price was also a lot steeper than other places.


台中市第四信用合作社 Fourth Credit Union
Google Map // 10am-10pm


宫原眼科-醉月楼沙龙 Miyahara
Google Map // 10am-10pm