Miyahara Taichung: Try the Best Ice Cream Flavours at the Old Ophthalmology Clinic

Miyahara (宮原眼科) was once an ophthalmology clinic back in the day, but it is a popular tourist attraction today. Located in the Central District of Taichung, Taiwan, Miyahara is a restaurant and a retail store that sells chocolate, cookies, and traditional Taiwanese pastries, including pineapple cake and sun cakes. And not to mention, the Miyahara ice-cream parlour is the best in town!

So if you are visiting Taichung and want to see one of the best attractions in the city, then you must visit Miyahara Taichung. Bring a camera to take snapshots of the beautiful Harry Potter-esque interiors, and an appetite for the most delicious ice cream you can’t find anywhere else!

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Before you visit Miyahara Taichung

Before you try the ice cream at Miyahara, take a look at my post on all my best tips for travelling to Taiwan. I included a lot of information, including getting a Taiwan tourist SIM card, transportation around the country and more.

And check out more tips on my solo travel guide to Taichung and learn about other attractions in Taichung.

Here are a few additional tips for visiting Miyahara in Taichung:

• Miyahara can get pretty busy, especially buying ice cream. There are long queues during the day for the delicious treat. If you don’t want to wait too long, go early! I had Miyahara ice cream for breakfast! Ha!
• If you want to buy big quantities of souvenirs, Miyahara can ship everything to you.
• Purchase a rechargeable smartcard called EasyCard or iPass. Either card is good for taking public transportation in Taichung and Miyahara is very central so it is very accessible.

Miyahara Taichung

Address: No. 20, Zhongshan Road, Central District, Taichung City, Taiwan 400

Hours of Operation: Monday to Sunday from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm

Website: Miyahara

How to get to Miyahara in Taichung Taiwan

Address: No. 20 Zhongshan Road, Central District, Taichung City, Taiwan 400

House of Operation: 10:00 am to 10:00 pm

Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA)

• Take a train to Taichung Station
  • From Taichung Station, walk northwest and find Zhongshan Road
  • Time: 5 minutes

Taichung City Bus

• Take one of these city buses to
  • First Square Bus Stop
    • Bus #27, 48, 142, 163, 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307, 308, 309310, 323, 325, 326
  • Taichung Railway Station Bus Stop
    • most buses will stop at the Taichung Railway Station
  • Cost: free (use EasyCard or iPass)

What is Miyahara in Taichung

Taichung city core was planned in the early 1900s where the Japanese government used Kyoto as a template for planning. Hence, the city core earned its name as “Little Kyoto.”

Miyahara Takekuma, a Japanese ophthalmologist, founded the Miyahara eye hospital. The space included various businesses, including a thriving ophthalmology clinic in the center of the city.

However, the original building suffered severe damages from natural causes, including the earthquake in 1999 and a devastating typhoon in 2008.

Dawn Cake, a company that makes Taiwan’s most famous pastry, pineapple cakes, purchased the building and hired a specialized team to restore the old structure.

Today, Miyahara is a conserved building where it is a retail store for typical Taiwanese pastries and goods, a restaurant, and an ice-cream parlour.

The ground floor is the retail floor, where all kinds of goodies are displayed from chocolate, cookies, and to the most traditional Taiwanese pastries, pineapple cake and sun cake.

You can see many of the existing interior features and materials used in Miyahara. The elmwood from the old building was reused to construct the book display towers, some of the cubbies and many railings.

Each shelf and drawer is made with utmost care. I wonder if there are goodies inside every one of those drawers! Ha!

The interior of Miyahara is very Harry Potter-like! The high ceiling, checkered marble floor and the delicate woodwork in the cabinetry, staircase, and railings. It reminds me of the Livraria Lello in Porto, Portugal, which is precisely inspired by the staircases at Hogwarts from the Harry Potter movies.

While the ground floor is a retail space, the second floor is the restaurant, Moon Pavillion. The restaurant is furnished with retro furniture and finishings and serves Taiwanese food.

Continue walking up the staircase, and you will reach the third floor where you can get a closer look at the roof and other structural materials that are added during the restoration.

What will you find at Miyahara

Miyahara might be the best place in Taichung to get all your food souvenirs. Choose from chocolate, cookies, and to the most traditional Taiwanese pastries, pineapple cake and sun cake.

And on the outside of the main retail store, you can buy beverages like milk, tea and coffee.

As I mentioned already, each food item is packaged in a unique way and some retro nostalgic packaging. They all look really lovely. It is rather difficult to choose, which is why they make really great souvenirs.

And honestly, you can’t go wrong with buying chocolate and cookies from Miyahara. And everything is packaged so nicely that you may not want to open them.

And if you want to buy a lot of souvenirs, you can send them directly from Miyahara to your home. You don’t have to buy another luggage – Miyahara will take care of the shipping.

Miyahara ice cream: most popular item at Miyahara

ICE-CREAM!!! I scream you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

Yes, I had to use all caps because that’s how good the ice cream is!

And Miyahara ice cream comes in so many different flavours that it is almost dizzying!

The ice cream parlour is on the outside of the main store. You won’t miss it because there is always a queue where many people wait to buy their signature ice cream. Even early in the morning!

There are many signature ice-cream flavours you can only find at Miyahara. And you can sample some flavours before you commit to a full scoop.

I tried several flavours, including Assam black tea with rosemary and lavender, honey cheese, lugu green tea and earl grey tea. Yes, I went to Miyahara several times. Ha!

Miyahara ice cream menu in English and Chinese

There are more than 50 flavours of ice cream at Miyahara. So how do you choose?

For starters, the staff at Miyahara will hand you this menu (pictured above) while you wait in a queue. It definitely helps to minimize the wait time while everyone drools over all the ice cream counter.

Miyahara has its own unique flavours where you cannot find anywhere else. Some of the best Miyahara ice cream flavours include tea-infused flavour and a wide array of chocolate flavours. And not to mention all the fruit flavours too!

When you buy 1 scoop (NT$90), you also get a free topping. A topping is a choice between a small piece of pineapple cake, cheesecake and other crunchy topics that goes well with ice cream.

If you order two scoops (NT$160), you get two toppings.

And you can even order three scoops (NT$225) with three topics in a waffle cone (add NT$20)! And this is what you get…

Are you including Miyahara to your Taichung itinerary?

In one place, you get to see the most amazing restored interior and architecture, and you get to eat Miyahara ice cream in flavours that you cannot find anywhere else. Who can say no to that? It is one of the most visited and popular attractions in Taichung, so you don’t want to miss it!

There are so many more things to do in Taichung! Take a look at these posts on other Taichung attractions:

• Taichung Second Market – excellent food market for breakfast
• Zhongshe Flower Market – see blooming flowers all year-round
• Gaomei Wetlands – day trip to the famous wetlands
• Carton King Creativity Park – a whimsical park with cardboard figurines
• Xinshe Sea of Flowers – seasonal flower market in Xinshe
• Xinshe Castle – a European-styled castle in Xinshe

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