Yi Jia Cun Healthy Restaurant is located within Jhong Shan Agriculture Leisure Area in Yilan County, which is in close proximity to pomelo and tea plantations, famous Meihua Lake and Wanshan Historical Site. The leisure area is also home to a complete ecosystem and enjoys pristine water from the source of Dongshan River. Despite its rural location, direction is clear with navigation system and signage along the way. The land where the restaurant now stands was previously a pomelo plantation. After it became a restaurant, many medicinal plants were grown. The restaurant serves healthy plant-based dishes from farm to table, freshly picked and with less carbon footprint.
Introduction
Japanese prickly ash, Chinese yam, fish mint, jaboticaba, jute mellow, Chinese violet, Taiwan fig-tree and arrowroot – these are plants we may have heard of but are clueless what they look like.
But if you make a visit to Yi Jia Cun Healthy Restaurant, not only will you learn what these plants look like, you will also learn how to eat them. In fact, once the farm tour ends and entering the restaurant, you will find these plants turned into delicious dishes on your table. The must-try dish at this restaurant is its “Healthy Sticky Rice Balls in Sweet Fermented Rice Wine”. Pigmented with natural colorings, the red rice balls in this colorful dessert are colored by red yeast, green rice balls are colored by seasonal green plant, yellow rice balls are colored by gardenia, black rice balls are colored by Eucommia bark, and white rice balls are colored by either poria or the original color of glutinous rice itself. When immersed in sweet-sour fermented rice wine and wispy beaten egg, it makes a beautiful dessert that is also healthy.
Run by second-generation brothers, Yi Jia Cun Healthy Restaurant used to be a pomelo farm. According to younger brother Lan Chen-chung, his parents thought that since pomelos do not yield a high economic value and harvest is often disrupted by typhoons, they could try turning the farm into a restaurant instead. As his elder brother had always worked in the food and beverage industry and has a class-C cook certification, he became the restaurant’s chef and has since achieved class-B certification. Even their mother obtained a class-C cook certification. Furthermore, having had contact with the medicinal plant association, they felt that they had the environment for the cultivation of medicinal plants and could feature these plants at their restaurant. Although they are legally restricted from emphasizing “medicinal” or “healing effect”, these commonly seen edible plants are in fact beneficial to health when used in cooking, meeting the needs of the modern diet.
Features of Agricultural Tourism
Vegetable
As for Lan Chen-chung himself, he has also given up his long-time job of working on ships overseas to come back home to help run the business. He juggles between welcoming visitors and conducting educational tours, and planting vegetables and removing weeds.
Starting with an idea for change, the restaurant has come a long way from being a fruit farm to a family-run restaurant. The family hopes that every visitor to the farm gets to enjoy a satisfactory meal while improving their health and gaining their knowledge through the educational tour.
