Yilan's Relaxing Café: Stunning Fries with Black Truffle Sauce

Text and photos bySOLO’s Play Guide

If you're looking to unwind and enjoy an afternoon tea in Yilan, SOLO’s top recommendation is definitely First Joy Café.

Every corner of this place, inside and out, is so beautiful—it’s clear the owners put a lot of effort into the decor. Since this is the food section about the café’s scenic charm, I’ll save the travel-related details for the travel section.

#Yilan #Share Highly Recommended One-Day Trip to a Hidden Gem: Houkengkeng Waterfall

Let’s get back to the main topic

Afternoon Tea Set for Two: NT$680 + 10%

This set allows you to choose one flavor of pancake (matcha/strawberry/chocolate) along with two drinks, plus a double-layer dessert plate—overall, it looks super generous.

Matcha Pancake (Single Order): NT$240 + 10% Service Charge
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (out of five stars – rated three stars)

The pancake is overly adorned with various decorations; the fresh green matcha cream and bright red strawberries complement each other in color.

There’s also a layer of crispy cookies sandwiched between the pancakes. They tried to create a special texture, but I didn’t like it much because it made it hard to cut, and the soft pancake paired with the crunchy cookies didn’t harmonize well. The matcha cream looked thick, but it only had a faint matcha aroma in taste.

Double-Layer Dessert Combo

The dessert combo looks super rich, but the flavors vary in quality.

The cakes are as follows:
Strawberry Cake
Rating: ★★★★☆ (out of five stars – rated four stars)
Rich strawberry aroma, not too sour, and quite delicious.

Chocolate Brownie
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (out of five stars – rated three stars)
Just like a regular brownie—tasty but nothing special.

Cheesecake
Rating: ★★★★☆ (out of five stars – rated four stars)
The moment you take a bite, you can taste the rich flavor of cheese, and the texture is very smooth.

Macaron
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (out of five stars – rated two stars)
The green one is sour; the red one is sweet—the sour one is extremely sour, and the sweet one is extremely sweet. The flavors are so extreme that they can’t really be considered good.

The lower layer of desserts is pretty bad—most are cookies, which are just average. The bowl on the left that looks rich is actually just some chopped apples, and the apples are quite sour. As for the worst part, the yellow-and-white thing on the right—I honestly can’t tell what it is. It’s sour, spicy, salty, and sweet all mixed together, and it’s truly unbearable.

Matcha Float (served on ice) - Individual order: NT$170 + 10% service charge
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (out of five stars — rated two stars)

What he called "floating" was just whipped cream. The taste of matcha itself wasn’t very noticeable—it more felt like drinking a sweet milk drink.

Hot Matcha Float - Individual order: NT$170 + 10% service charge
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (out of five stars — rated two stars)

The hot version had a slightly more pronounced matcha flavor—maybe the iced one got diluted by the ice cubes. As for putting a float on a hot drink, I really think it’s unnecessary. They served it in a separate dish with the whipped cream on the side.

Banana Strawberry Milk Slush - NT$180 + 10% service charge
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (out of five stars — rated three stars)

This drink was quite good—the aroma of banana paired perfectly with the richness of the milk, but it also completely overpowered the strawberry flavor. All in all, it was just a pink banana milk.

Mediterranean Fried Squid Rings - NT$180 + 10% service charge
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (out of five stars — rated two stars)

The squid rings were quite chewy and lacked seasoning. You needed to dip them in sauce to get any flavor.

Crispy French Fries with Black Truffle Sauce - NT$150 + 10% service charge
Rating: ★★★☆☆ (out of five stars — rated three stars)

The fries were crispy, and they went quite well with the black truffle sauce. This time, I didn’t even find the truffle sauce smelly—in fact, I thought it tasted pretty good, probably because the truffle flavor wasn’t too strong. I’d say it’s mild enough that even people who dislike truffles could enjoy it.

There were also some cakes and desserts not listed on the menu displayed in the counter display case, but when we went, there weren’t many left, so we didn’t consider them.

What gave us some peace of mind about the food here was that the restaurant clearly listed the source and origin of every ingredient on the menu—a very thoughtful touch.

Chu Le Café de Samuel – A dining and leisure restaurant
Address: No. 17, Maopu Road, Jiaoxi Township, Yilan County
Business Hours: 11:30 AM – 8:30 PM