The Green Breeze Chateau.

Ok, my new month's resolution is to try to post more in this little blog of mine. It's quickly becoming a pain in the arse to recap three to four day's worth of material into each entry, so posting more often = shorter, more precise blogging!

It was a tough night of studying and studying last night and this morning because I had two small quizzes and one chapter test to study for. It was tough but I think I actually did quite well in all three. Go me!

After class today Jenn and I decided to go up to Yang Ming Shan to eat at this restaurant she's been raving about since she got here. It's called the Green Breeze Chateau and she found it on someone's Taiwan travel blog. The pictures of the place looked out of this world so I thought that we definitely had to go check it out.

The day was turning dark really quickly so we rushed out. Yang Ming Shan is the same mountain I went for Man Day, where me and the guys found a random temple and met that mystical old guy. Take the Red Line up to Bei Tou, and then another line up to Xinbeitou. You can take either the Xiao 9 or the 219 bus up to the Green Breeze Chateau but both were at least 30 minutes away from the MRT station when we got there, so we decided to take a taxi instead.

It was already dark when we got to Green Breeze but if we thought the daytime pics we saw of the place looked nice, it's even more amazing in the night time.

Entrance to the Green Breeze park/chateau/restaurant.

Stairs leading up to the restaurant.

Awesome view from the restaurant! You can see the 101 on the left.

Stairs leading back down.

Very cool long bench with candles already lit. Reclined so you can sit and look up at the stars.

The interior of this place is nice. The chateau looks like a house perched on top of a hill; very homey. And the furnishings are in general nice, and some chairs, like the ones me and Jenn were sitting in, are more like lazy couches. There's teddy bears littered everywhere on random chairs. Very homey, cuddly and cozy. The food is very good too. I had a lobster and crab pasta which is making me hungry just thinking about it. Jenn's caramel apple and pork dish was also awesome though a little tough. It's all not very expensive at all; you'd think a place with such good food and an awesome surrounding park would be expensive; it sure as hell would be in Los Angeles. But it cost each of us about 15 bucks for a full meal, with soup, salad and drink. The food, and the service, was great.

The inside of the chateau. We were on the second floor next to this chandelier looking down. A very cozy and nice environment!

Jenn with the random teddy bear from the table (across from us, heh)

More random teddy bears!!!

(Side note: Service in Taiwan I've found is way, way better than service in America. No matter which restaurant you go to, the waiters in Taiwanese restaurants are always more willing to help and quick with any demands. Never have I had to ask a waiter more than once for water. Never have I had to remind a waiter for anything. Waiters don't work for tip here either. It's weird that waiters not working for extra money or tip would work way with way more efficiency and politeness than those who ARE working for tip but, oh well.)

No taxis come up to the Green Breeze so you have to wait on a bus to get back. Buses run a bit slow up in Yang Ming Shan so it was about half an hour until a bus passed by (10 minutes before the buses were supposed to stop running!) and took us back to the MRT station. Should you go to the Green Breeze for lunch, you'll probably have no problem getting back. If you go for dinner, make sure you wrap it up before 9:20; the buses stop running at 10, and there's no telling when they'll pass by.

So verdict on the Green Breeze Chateau: awesome view, awesome food. Definitely a must-see in Taiwan!

Until next time, zai jian!

-Justin