Taichung’s popular hot pot spot “Gray Dove” opens second branch — enjoy live Boston lobsters here

Text & photos byFeitianxuan

The “Gray Dove” on Xitun Road in the Zhongke business district has recently opened its second branch in Nantun District, yay!! (Just how much money is the boss making?!) I still remember last May, when a few friends and I braved the scorching heat to have lunch at the “Gray Dove” on Xitun Road. We ate so much seafood we almost got heatstroke and a stroke… And now, in less than a year, “Gray Dove” has opened a second branch!! But hey, it’s not my shop, so no need for confetti!!

After writing about “Gray Dove” that time, Kevin and some friends also said they wanted to try it, so I went back not long after… Maybe our little Cherry is just too eye-catching, because the sharp-eyed boss recognized her, and that’s how I got to know the owner… Whenever friends from out of town visit me in Taichung, I always bring them to eat at “Gray Dove.” So after visit after visit after visit… Nth visit, I’m pretty sure I’ve contributed to wearing out that pole by the entrance, right!? But hey!! The reason I started going to “Gray Dove” was also because UMA was hard to book!! (← almost getting smacked by the boss!)

The “Gray Dove Second Branch” is located on Yongchun East 7th Road in Nantun District, with a family-friendly restaurant and a badminton gym nearby, right across from the Liming Dawn Market… To be more precise, the “Gray Dove Second Branch” is just on the road directly in front of the old location of “Salt & Pepper,” very easy to find… (BTW, my beloved Salt & Pepper has moved — it’ll probably open soon!)

I’m probably that kind of customer who complains while eating!! Although I often go to “Gray Dove” for hot pot, there are still many things I think could be better, and I always end up grumbling after every meal, such as:

．The space inside is too small, so it’s often hard to get a seat when you want to eat there last minute… (But I added the store manager on FB yesterday, so now I can use the back door!!)
．The ventilation isn’t great, and you can often smell seafood as soon as you walk in… (I have a very sensitive sense of smell — only slightly worse than a dog’s!!)
．There are too few toilets — only one, and it’s on the second floor, so you often have to wait and wait… (Well, when you’re older, you just pee and poop more!)
．No parking lot, so you have to find your own parking space… (Really inconvenient for people bringing their moms and kids!)
．No Häagen-Dazs, so you don’t feel fully satisfied after eating… (I just love junk food!!)
．The drinks are so-so, not recommended… (Learn from Karuizawa, okay?)
．The broth is too light… (But… that’s how real Japanese hot pot is supposed to be!)

Anyway… After complaining about all that, before the soft opening of the “Gray Dove Second Branch,” the boss said they’d fixed a lot of the first branch’s issues in the second one, and asked if I’d come try the food and give them some feedback… So I agreed — for the sake of free lobsters in the future!! So this is a sponsored post!!

There’s a parking lot right behind the “Gray Dove Second Branch”

The boss said: “You’re here to help us taste the food, just give us some feedback afterward, no need to write anything!” But the moment I walked in that day, the boss said: “We’ve set up a waiting area on the first floor, want to take a picture?” (Hey!! Boss!! Weren’t we not writing anything?! You’re really laying it on thick!!) Anyway, the waiting area is quite spacious — that’s really considerate. Otherwise, making customers wait outside in the heat, rain, or cold is just inhumane!!

The decor is mainly dark tones plus light-colored wooden tables and chairs, giving off an elegant, low-key, MUJI-like vibe, but the lighting is still pretty dim… Why does eating at “Gray Dove” always feel like dining in a hotel?? Taking photos requires using my phone flashlight, which is exhausting.

There’s also a small private room area with about 12 seats — perfect for family gatherings, small friend groups, or corporate meals… The first floor has a total of 36 seating areas.

Sauce bar… The counter is super clean!! (Well duh!! We were the first customers of the day!!) But they keep the sauces cool with ice underneath!! I didn’t even notice until now… I rarely use sauces when eating hot pot — don’t want kidney problems when I’m old!!

There are even more seats on the second floor!!

Walk to the end and turn around — surprise!! There’s another private room area for larger groups!! Wow… That really shocked me!! The second floor has 56 seats, so the whole place has a total of 90 seats…

Two male and two female restrooms, with both Western and Japanese-style toilets — amazing!!

There’s also a baby changing station — nice!!

The sinks have dental floss, cotton pads, mouthwash, and little bear-shaped air fresheners… so thoughtful!! Just add a Dyson hair dryer and it’d be perfect!!

Menu…

Single set meal +128 TWD comes with Snowflake pork and PR American sirloin…

There are also Premium Sets, Jade Sets, Supreme Sets, and Select Couple Sets… There’s even sukiyaki!! (Aww~ I didn’t have that last time I came!!)

There are also à la carte options… But hey… don’t say I didn’t warn you!! I think the couple sets give way better value than the single ones!!

Drinks… There’s peach Calpis, Gray Dove refreshing iced tea, plum vinegar drink, and black tea… The black tea uses Taiwan No. 18 tea from Sun Moon Lake… That day, the four of us each ordered one of each flavor… Personally, I still think the drinks are………… just as average!! (Please don’t unfriend me, boss!!)

The moment the ingredients were served on the table... wowzaaah!! It was seriously over-the-top, like they were feeding us like pigs!! I said, “If we finish all this, I’ll definitely be overweight when I take the high-speed rail back to my mom’s later, and I’ll have to buy an extra ticket!”

The broth options include spicy miso, milk, and kelp... I usually go for the plain flavor when eating hot pot, so I always order the kelp broth when I come here... But this time, just to get photos of all three broths, and since no one else would compromise on a different choice, I tried the milk broth for the first time... Kelp—just give me kelp, okay?!

Spicy miso—I found it pretty spicy for my taste, actually!! Spicy miso isn’t really like authentic miso at all!! The miso flavor is very mild, it’s just there for a little enhancement... Milk—pretty good, and it gets richer the longer it cooks!! Seems like I made the right choice, thank goodness!!

For the main meal, you can choose between small-farm-contracted white rice or Sanuki udon. If you get the white rice, you can keep it to make ochazuke later—two meals in one pot!!

Seasonal Farm Vegetable Platter – a total of 13 kinds of vegetables... I thought the presentation was just okay. If they added two more veggies to cover up the cabbage a bit more, it’d probably look more eye-catching... But I like that the toppings are all natural veggies with none of those unnecessary processed stuff, so kids can eat them without worry too!! Other than the corn—which wasn’t tasty—the rest were fresh and delicious!!

Premium Sea & Land Combo for Two (Pork & Chicken) – $1280 NTDIncludes king prawns, Sri Lankan crabs, abalone, angel shrimp, longline squid, Japanese scallops, frozen prawns, sweet oysters, king salmon, Taiwanese clams, and sashimi-grade Taiwanese tilapia... that’s a total of 11 seafood items!! Then the meats are snowflake pork, premium pork belly, premium pork loin, and tender Taiwanese chicken thighs...

I don’t like any of the seafood listed above... (no choice... I’m just picky like that!!) So I barely touched this plate, especially those oysters—they were disgustingly fatty!! But my friends all said they were super fresh and tasty. This sea & land combo is only about $600+ NTD per person, the value is through the roof, right?! As for the pork and chicken, I didn’t love those either, so I only had a few bites of the snowflake pork... Why am I such a picky eater even as a food blogger? And how can I be so picky and still be this chubby?? For answers, DM Flying Swirl’s fan page...

Jade Sea & Land Combo for Two (Beef) – $1880 NTDIncludes live-frozen king crab legs, longline squid, American scallops, sweet oysters, wild king prawns, Taiwanese clams, and Penghu hand-caught fresh fish... that’s 7 seafood items!! This plate even had a whole fish—it was pretty badass!! But I still don’t like fish, okay?! (I know I’m annoying, I admit it...) The meats are American beef, including PR-grade boneless short ribs, PR-grade American flat iron, PR-grade American sirloin cap, and CAB Angus black angus ribeye cap.

The king crab legs are live-frozen!! Totally different from the cooked-frozen kind... anyone who loves seafood knows the cost difference between live-frozen and cooked-frozen is huge... Once you’ve had live-frozen, going back to cooked-frozen feels like a downgrade... it’s like if you’ve dated Takeshi Kaneshiro, you could never fall for some average Joe again!!

The marbling on the beef is gorgeous!! And the plating looks a bit different from before too, wow~ not bad!! (in Jay Chou’s tone~)

The meat is tender and delicious after just a quick dip... I usually love short ribs—they’re soft, juicy, full of marbling and meaty flavor... Though I felt the short ribs here at “Grey Dove” were a bit too fatty, tasty in the mouth but kinda scary in the heart...

Live Boston Lobster – $650 NTDAfter you order, the staff will bring the live lobster right to your table first... this is to confirm that the lobster you see matches the one they serve, so no shady business where they show you a live one then serve a dead one...

You’ll see the lobster struggling for its life right in front of you, then the staff takes it back to the kitchen to, uh, end it. Oh, and... the uniform at Grey Dove is pretty high quality, huh? Can you get me one too? But not the Grey Dove logo—give me one with wings flying!!

The just-killed lobster really is something else—the meat is firm and bouncy, and once you eat it, you’ll feel that same “can’t-go-back” feeling...

Snow Crab – $price varies by seasonIt’s a seasonal special and requires a 3-day advance reservation...

Seriously!! Don’t order this one!!!!!!! Because once you’ve had this snow crab, nothing else will ever satisfy you again!!

Seasonal Dessert – Purple Rice Red Bean SoupThe first time I had it, the purple rice wasn’t fully cooked, and after that I stopped having dessert at “Grey Dove”... The owner assured me their desserts have improved since then. Half-skeptical and mostly resigned to disappointment, I gave it two bites... Add a bit of fresh cream ball before eating—it makes it more fragrant and tastier!! And... after that, I went back for another half bowl!! (So weak-willed...)

Earlier I mentioned you can keep the white rice to make ochazuke for an extra $30 NTD—they’ll add eggs and green onions, and someone will cook it for you too... It was yummy... though because we cooked way too much crab, the soup ended up super salty. Wrong broth choice, my bad!!

Here’s a photo of something we didn’t get to try that daySukiyaki Combo for Two – $1580 NTD

Includes six types of Australian wagyu (snowflake wagyu, marbled wagyu, rose wagyu, sirloin cap, flank, flat iron), or three types of wagyu plus three types of pork (snowflake wagyu, marbled wagyu, rose wagyu, Matsusaka pork, Iberico pork thick cut, Iberico pork thin cut). The photo wasn’t taken by me—if I had skills like that, I wouldn’t be stuck here writing at my computer!!

“Grey Dove Second Branch” began its trial opening on April 5th (Wednesday). First promotion during opening: order one combo for two and get a free market-price $499 king prawn, limited to 200 prawns!!

Overall: The environment at “Grey Dove Second Branch” is way better than the first branch, the toilets are cleaner, and there are diaper changing stations and private rooms—it really shows they put in effort... So yeah, for the same price, dining at the second branch is way more comfortable. Fellow pigeon fans, go check out the second branch!!

Grey Dove Nantun Branch
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Address: No. 968-3, Yongchun East 7th Road, Nantun District, Taichung City
Phone: (04)2258-7111
Business Hours: 11:00-14:30; 17:00-23:00

Feitianxuan
I record my daily life — food, fun, joy, and sorrows — in a light-hearted tone"锛br /> Blog、FB