Zhānghuà retro blueprint-style café — old-school wheat noodles with pork slices, chewy handmade noodles

Text/Photos byNight Market Travel Adventures

Convenience stores are everywhere these days, but traditional candy shops are almost extinct. We love nostalgic shops, so we finally got to visit one of our bucket list spots: Zhānghuà Héměi Grandma’s Temple Mouth Wheat Noodle Porridge. We sat on the school desks outside the shop and instantly felt like we’d gone back to our carefree school days, when life was simple — worrying only about homework, exams, and where to go after class. It’s such a fond memory.

They even brought a movie theater inside the shop. The ticket booth and showtimes have a charming vintage vibe. Those ticket prices in jiao (like 60, 30, 20...) are things we’ll never see again.

Kids these days probably have no idea what a “brick phone” (early mobile phone) is. Watching our dads use them used to seem hilarious, but they were all the rage back then.

The green door frame is super retro, and the odd/even seat numbers match the theater theme perfectly.

Seeing the Tatung baby and old square TV reminded me of my childhood — when TVs had black-and-white screens, fuzzy signals, and lots of static lines. Now everything’s digital LCD, and those things have disappeared from our homes.

I loved playing the claw game at old candy shops. The shelves were full of toys, and tearing open the paper to see what prize you got was always exciting.

Turns out the candy shop even has an “Open Happiness Grandma” figurine. Who knew she had such a cute plush version? There’s also a rotary dial phone nearby — my family used to have a black one that could only receive calls, then it got phased out. Now I think, if we’d kept it, it’d be an antique by now.

“Grandma’s not home today, so I’m watching the shop. I might sneak a bunch of snacks — I’m basically a big mouse, haha.” The signs up top feature characters like “Mr. Loser,” “Party Pooper,” and “Princess Syndrome” — all with special honors. Pretty funny stuff. Where did they even find these?

The chalkboard teaches today’s weather, including wind speed, direction, and air pressure. Everyone, listen up and pay attention in class. But wait — those 50 and 100 dollar bills flying by look super familiar. They’re totally distracting us, haha.

There’s blueprint art here too!! Most blueprint art I’ve seen uses flat designs to create a 3D illusion, but this one’s different — it uses real objects made to look fake.

Not just indoors — even the outdoor walls, tiles, flower pots, and shovels are designed with blueprint aesthetics. Perfect for Instagram-worthy photos.

On the corner table, there’s even a Tatung rice cooker. How cool is that? Who knew such a small space could be so creatively styled. The blue background with white edges makes everything look abstract, like my food is pulled straight from a painting — real yet surreal, hard to tell what’s what.

The bicycle and scooter leaning against the wall look pretty old-school too. Only the Minions and No-Face are from more recent times; the rest are definitely from grandma and grandpa’s era.

The slogan “Produce for the Nation, Everyone’s Responsibility” on the red brick wall still feels relevant today. These days, people are busy and often choose to have kids late or not at all — some can barely support themselves. Hopefully the government can offer more incentives to encourage childbirth.

The blue Vespa at the alley entrance looks super stylish. Riding it must be awesome, but sadly, it’s just for photos.

The shop’s wheat noodle porridge, pork fried rice, knife-cut noodles, and milk tea all look delicious, and the prices are quite reasonable.

After checking out the scenery, our orders arrived: handmade milk tea, braised tofu, braised eggs, pork fried rice, and plum juice.

The pork slice wheat noodle porridge uses handmade noodles, and the pork slices have a slight chewiness. The whole bowl is smooth and full of old-school flavor.

One bowl of pork fried rice wasn’t enough — I went back and asked the boss for more. He added extra sauce, and it smelled amazing.

I have to praise this steaming hot milk tea — it’s seriously delicious. The shop makes it by roasting the ingredients by hand. You can also buy the powder to make it at home. It comes in both meat and vegetarian versions. Highly recommended.

I thought the plum juice would be light and mild, but it’s actually super flavorful. If you like sweet-and-sour drinks, give this one a try.

Funny thing — there’s a student cap on our table. My school cap was yellow too, which felt really familiar.

Grandma’s Temple Mouth Wheat Noodle Porridge — a small shop with a surprising hidden blueprint artwork in the back alley. Everything here is authentic but feels like it’s been painted. The nostalgic decor and setting take you back to childhood. The wheat noodle porridge, pork fried rice, knife-cut noodles, and handmade milk tea are all delicious, each with its own unique flavor.

Grandma’s Temple Mouth Wheat Noodle Porridge

Address: No. 11, Section 3, Zhangcao Road, Hemei Township, Changhua County
Phone: 0931646899
Business hours: 6:30 AM ~ 5:00 PM

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