📸 Clear some space on your phone: four treasures Threads users rave about (essential for a trip with friends)
Is your group chat like mine – scrolling Threads late at night and being flooded with Tainan desserts and atmospheric bars? After a while you want to buy a high-speed rail ticket and go and eat your way through the city immediately.
On a trip with friends, our guiding principle is this:the place has to look wonderful and photograph well, the dessert has to taste good without being sugary, and above all the price has to be kind to the wallet. And of course we need somewhere comfortable to do our make-up and collapse in when we have walked enough.
As the people who understand this best,3 DoorHotelwent out and did the legwork, gathering four distinctive places that are all over Threads and that locals quietly return to. From waking up nicely at 3 Door Hotel to afternoon tea, a cafe cat and a late-night drink, forward this itinerary to your group chat and simply follow it.
🌸 1. Korea in a second: a romantic flower pool at 77.coffee
Have a lie-in on 3 Door Hotel’s very comfortable pocket-sprung mattress, do your make-up properly in a room full of natural light, and make your first stop the dreamy 77.coffee.
If you love Korean minimalism, you will make a noise the moment you open the door. The striking thing inside is the beautiful fresh flower pool, which the owners change thoughtfully for different occasions. You can lose half your phone battery standing beside it.
(Image source: the shop’s Instagram)
On the menu, the new item filling everyone’s feeds –the puppy cake– is essential. An adorable dog shape sits on an Earl Grey chiffon cake; the sponge is wonderfully light and soft with a faint bergamot scent, and with fresh, juicy green grapes it eats beautifully and never feels heavy. It is almost too sweet-looking to cut. Add one of their smooth lattes or a sparkling drink and afternoon tea feels like an occasion.
(Quietly: they also do a very well-made fresh flower cake gift box for Mother’s Day. Bring your mother to Tainan, carry the box back to your room at 3 Door Hotel and surprise her – she will be thrilled.)
- 📍 What to order:the puppy cake (Earl Grey chiffon with green grapes) and a latte
- ⏰ Hours:12:00-18:00
- 📱 Instagram:@77.coffee_
- 🏠 Address:No. 2, Ln 228, Sec. 2, Ximen Rd, West Central District, Tainan
🐈⬛ 2. Cool and cute at once, with a black cat manager: Dark Mode Cafe
After something sweet, how about something with an edge? As the name suggests, Dark Mode is unapologetically dark industrial, with everything from the fit-out to the desserts in deep, considered tones.
But the fatal attraction here isa black cat manager called Ou-lulu. Watching a black cat move aloofly through a cool dark space, then occasionally coming over for a rub, is enough to melt anyone on the spot.
(Image source: the shop’s Instagram)
From the menu, we would go first forthe Tieguanyin cream roll. This is what the regulars order: an outer sponge carrying the roasted fragrance of Tieguanyin tea and a generous layer of fresh cream inside. One bite and the tea aroma bursts through, with the sweetness judged exactly right and nothing cloying. Add their black sesame drink or a pour-over coffee, sit there and take in Tainan’s slower pace, and it is a genuinely lovely hour.
- 📍 What to order:The Tieguanyin cream roll
- ⏰ Hours:13:00-22:00
- 📱 Instagram:@darkmode_cofe
- 🏠 Address:No. 32, Ln 309, Sec. 1, Jiankang Rd, West Central District, Tainan
🍓 3. The urban legend you fight for from a hotel bed: Xiaoman
This is surely the ceiling of scarcity marketing in Tainan’s dessert scene. Xiaoman is a hidden, reservation-only dessert shop. Want to eat there?Set an alarm from your bed at 3 Door Hotel, pick up your phone at 00:01 sharp and go for a slot. And it is not only the table: the desserts you eat in are booked in advance too, so without a reservation there is nothing for you on the day.
(Image source: the shop’s Instagram)
Is something this hard to book really that good? Everyone who has had thestrawberry mille-feuillesays yes. The pastry is baked to an extraordinary crispness and audibly crackles under the knife; inside is a rich custard thick with vanilla seeds, and sweet-sour fresh strawberries. One bite and crispness, silkiness and fruit come together perfectly. Booking it successfully and posting about it will bring you a great many envious looks.
- 📍 What to order:Strawberry mille-feuille (book in advance without fail)
- ⏰ Hours / address:see the shop’s Instagram announcements
- 📱 Instagram:@chaoticbox_may21
🍸 4. Essentially a dessert shop distracted by cocktails: Zhumu Bar
After a full day of eating, a Tainan evening is only just beginning – and what is a trip with friends without a drink? Hidden in Anping, Zhumu Bar is best known on Threads by the descriptiona dessert shop distracted by cocktails.
You read that correctly: the things to order at this bar are itsmille-feuille, rich cocoa and a gloriously indulgent sundae. The mille-feuille pastry is thin, soft and clearly layered; if you are not drinking, order the hot chocolate, which is thick, rich and wonderfully fragrant; and the slightly grown-up sundae is the perfect late-night redemption.
(Image source: the shop’s Instagram)
The cocktails are, of course, the main event. The bartender is excellent and the list is beautifully composed. A mouthful of fine mille-feuille and a mouthful of a cocktail made to your taste, in lovely light and atmosphere, with none of the noise of a club – what woman could resist a romantic evening of proper conversation?
- 📍 What to order:Mille-feuille, cocoa, distinctive sundaes, bespoke cocktails
- ⏰ Hours:Tue-Thu 20:00-00:00 / Fri-Sat 20:00-02:00
- 📱 Instagram:@tranity_2024
- 🏠 Address:No. 66, Anping Gubao St, Tainan
🛏️ Goodnight Tainan: take the romance of a drink back to 3 Door Hotel, which understands you best
After a pleasant drink and a proper conversation at a bar, the last thing you want is a long, windy journey back to the hotel.
That is when you realise how much staying in the right place matters. All the places above are in or around the city centre, and none of them far from our3 Door Hotel.
Open our door and you are met by design-led architecture and warm light. We know women travel with a lot and buy more gifts still, and the generous timber-toned space in the rooms is more than enough to spread out your finds and sort them at leisure.
Take a hot shower to wash the day off, then fall onto a genuinely comfortable mattress together, put on a face mask and scroll through the hundreds of photographs you took today. That is the perfect end to a trip with friends.
Next time you plan a Tainan food trip, send this list to the group chat and leave the most important part – where you stay – to 3 Door Hotel. Bring your camera and your second stomach for dessert. See you in Tainan ✨
📱 Telephone: 06-2223088
🏠 Address:No. 77 Chenggong Rd, West Central District, Tainan
💌 A Tainan trip with friends: five quick questions before you go (Q&A)
Q1
Are these photogenic dessert shops far from 3 Door Hotel? What is the best way to get around?
A:
Central Tainan is not large. These places are mostly in West Central District and Anping. From 3 Door Hotel they are roughly 5-15 minutes by scooter. We strongly recommend hiring a scooter to slip through the lanes, which is the best way to feel the city’s romance; if you would rather not ride, taxis are cheap and getting back to the hotel takes no time at all.
Q2
How hard is Xiaoman, the one you have to book at midnight, really? Any tips?
A:
It is legendarily difficult. Here is the method: on the night you check in at 3 Door Hotel, shower, get comfortable in bed, have your phone ready and open the booking link on the shop’s Instagram profile. Crucially, decide what you want to eat in advance, then at 00:01 go straight through to payment. Do not hesitate – one second of hesitation and the strawberry mille-feuille is gone.
Q3
If it is just the two of us going to Zhumu Bar for a drink, is the atmosphere straightforward? Is it noisy?
A:
No need to worry at all. Zhumu Bar is comfortable and relaxed and distinctly refined, with none of the rowdiness of a club. Most of the customers are people who enjoy well-made desserts and distinctive cocktails, so it suits a weekend evening of conversation and photographs perfectly.
Q4
We travel with a lot of luggage. Are the rooms at 3 Door Hotel big enough to open a case and do our make-up?
A:
You can be entirely confident about this. The rooms are well planned, the flooring is good, and there is easily enough space for each of you to claim a corner and open a 29-inch case flat. The rooms are also very well lit with a large mirror, so getting ready together in the morning with music on involves no elbowing at all.
Q5
If these places are full or closed, are there other recommendations in Tainan?
A:
Tainan is a city of desserts and food. If you are unlucky and find somewhere full, remember that the front desk team at 3 Door Hotel – our butlers – are walking encyclopaedias of local food. If you don’t know where to go, ask a butler downstairs; they will produce a private list of places down the lanes and make sure you eat well.
