MELBOURNE | In 2005, Taiwanese couple Eason Liu and Becky Zheng combined their love of desserts and taro and opened a taro-based dessert stall in Taiwan’s Yunlin Dounan Market. In 2015, after tweaking and perfecting their recipes (with the help of a grandmother vendor in a Jiufen market), Eason and Becky opened their first bricks and mortar store.
It was a hit, and in the decade since, Taro Yuan has expanded to over 200 locations in Taiwan. Last year, the first Australian location opened in the suburbs of Melbourne, and towards the end of last year, a CBD location opened. I went in for What’s On Melbourne to take a look.
Located in the upstairs space that was formerly home to Hot Pot restaurant, Musou Malaxiangguo, Taro Yuan is hard to miss if you don’t know it’s there. It’s a simple space, well located for people watching on the street below if you grab one of the seats near the large floor to ceiling windows.
On the menu, you’ll find an assortment of taro based desserts. All of the ingredients are imported from Taiwan, so you’re getting exactly the same desserts as you are over there, plus a few local additions. There’s iced and hot drinks, shaved ice bowls, and hot soups.
The most popular option is the Taro Joy. A bowl of snow-like taro shaved ice, topped with red beans, grass jelly, sago, boba, taro balls, and fresh taro. It’s a well balanced dessert, both in flavour and texture. If you want to choose your own toppings, the DIY Taro Joy lets you choose 4 from 16 toppings. The signature toppings along with things like aloe vera, coconut jelly, and ube balls.
Also popular is the taro ube shaved ice. I’m partial to the mango shaved ice, with its big chunks of fresh mango. Smoothies features thick, creamy taro milk, with a variety of flavours like ube, strawberry, and, matcha.
Taro Yuan
398 Elizabeth Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia
Telephone: n/a
E-mail: n/a
Website
Open
Mon – Sun: 3:00pm to 11:00pm