7 Places for Refreshing Matcha Desserts in Kaohsiung

Nowadays, pretty-looking desserts often sacrifice flavour for aesthetics, and honestly, there aren’t many desserts worth your calories. However, I love matcha desserts because they are able to meet both criteria of looking good and tasting good. Matcha, in other words, powdered green tea, features a beautiful emerald hue which makes the desserts very attractive. As I’m a huge green tea fan, I decided to utilize my free time in Kaohsiung hunting down 7 cafes/stalls which serve delicious matcha desserts.

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#1 – 先生 Sensei

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Tucked in a small alley, the 先生 Sensei café is popular for layered crepe cakes, and the Matcha Strawberry Crepe Cake is their signature. Unfortunately, this item is not available everyday, and I only managed to try the Matcha Cheese Crepe Cake. The layers of soft crepe topped with cheese sauce were so addictive. On top of serving lovely crepe cakes, the café has an Instagram-worthy photo corner where a portion of the wall from floor to ceiling is filled with flowers. I’m quite sure you’ll enjoy shooting your #ootd shots here!

先生 Sensei
Address: No. 180, Minquan 2nd Road, Qianzhen District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 806
Opening Hours: 12.30pm to 6.30pm daily
Contact: +886 7 334 4527
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/icehouse.matcha

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#2 – 虹屋手工烘焙 (Permanently Closed)

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If you have not heard of “dirty bread”, it is basically buns dusted with toppings ranging from matcha to chocolate that leave a mess on the eater’s face after biting into the bun. This trend is said to have originated in Taiwan and China, so it was a must for me to try since I was visiting Kaohsiung. Thankfully, I carried wet tissues around with me because the matcha dirty bread made such a huge mess. The vanilla cream enveloped within the bread was light and I liked it despite not being a fan of cream.

虹屋手工烘焙
Address: No. 51, Zhenghe Road, Qianzhen District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 806
Opening Hours: Sun-Fri 1pm to 9pm. Closed on Saturdays.
Contact: +886 7 331 1686
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hongwulec.s/

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#3 – 橋南水磨豆花

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Stepping into this café is like entering a garden. The whitewashed interiors are decorated with potted and hanging plants, and the pop of greenery gives the café a relaxing vibe. Besides being famous for tau huey (soya beancurd), this café is also well-known for their matcha shaved ice topped with a generous portion of red beans, accompanied with a super smooth pudding and chewy Japanese dango. What a great combination!

橋南水磨豆花
Address: No. 225, South Qiao Road, Qiaotou District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 825
Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 1pm to 9pm. Sat 11.30am to 9pm. Sun 11.30am to 8pm.
Contact: +886 7 611 2278
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bstofu/

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#4 – 三星園抹茶

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Recommended by the hotel’s receptionist, this café made me feel as though I’m being transported to Japan. Please sit indoors as there are many mosquitoes outdoor. I had the matcha ice cream with uji matcha cream cake roll set. The ice cream is a perfect remedy for the scorching hot summer weather in Kaohsiung. As for the cream cake roll, it was very well done – the cream was light and the sponge cake was fluffy – so enjoyable.

三星園抹茶
Address: No. 584, Section 2 Qingnian Road, Fengshan District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 830
Opening Hours: 10.30am to 10.30pm daily
Contact: +886 7 777 6987
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mitsuboshien

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#5 – 草 DORO

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If you are not familiar with the area, it can be hard to find this café. Just look for the house with the most number of plants at the entrance and ring the doorbell. The owner and a few of his cats will be out to welcome you in. I ordered a set consisting a matcha almond pastry, matcha pudding topped with caramelized apple cubes, matcha ice cream served with citrusy grapefruit and a matcha drink. It’s better to share this set because I got a little sick of matcha after awhile – too overwhelming.

草 DORO
Address: No. 209, Longshui Road, Gushan District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 804
Opening Hours: Fri-Wed 2pm to 6pm. Closed on Thursdays.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kusa.doro/

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#6 – 東門茶樓

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Situated beside the touristic Ruifeng Night Market, this café is a great escape from the crazy night market crowd. Furthermore, it’s air-conditioned so you can rest your tired feet while cooling yourself down with an iced dessert. The Abundant Matcha Snow Ice came with red beans, tang yuan, matcha balls and matcha pudding. The contrasting textures and flavours made this a wonderful dessert.

東門茶樓
Address: No. 445, Dongmen Road, Gushan District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 804
Opening Hours: 2pm to 10pm daily
Contact: +886 7 555 3637
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purify51/

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#7 – Ruifeng Night Market (Toast Stall)

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There’s only one toast stall at Ruifeng Night Market which sells bubble tea toast, matcha azuki toast, and a variety of many other interesting toasts. Sounds kind of weird right? But, don’t worry, the taste wasn’t that bad. The toast was nicely slathered with a matcha spread before being stuffed with chewy muah chee and red beans. I like its crisp exterior.

It’s the first time I’ve eaten so much matcha desserts in the short span of two days. Kaohsiung, as compared to Taipei, is more laid-back. It was a much needed break for me to totally switch off my mind and enjoy the yummy matcha desserts at the cafes. Hope you’ll enjoy the matcha desserts as much as I did.