Silks Place is THE place to stay when visiting Taroko Gorge in eastern Taiwan. Our Gorge view room was large and thin with a superb vista and so we’d have positioned the long sofa facing the gorge rather than into the room. It had everything we needed: reading lights, a fridge with water and accessible plug points near the desk. The bathroom was well equipped with separate toilet and bath and shower.
Our booking was for B&B only so we were pleasantly surprised to be given meal vouchers for dinner – there are no restaurants nearby as the hotel is fairly isolated.
The Chinese restaurant had two sittings at 5.30pm and 7.30pm and we opted for the latter. Our set meal was a feast and started with peanuts, cucumber thins and tofu. This was followed by: steamed rice with mullet roe, king oyster mushrooms with egg yolk (the star attraction), prawns and green bean noodle with soy sauce, steamed pork in cucumber with oyster sauce, stir fried birds nest fern (which turned out to be greens with garlic and chilli and a tiny bean), deep fried fish dumpling (like an open fish finger sandwich) and ‘medicated diet soup’ – a light beefy broth with a huge piece of meat on the bone in it (rather like a stock). The service was slightly erratic with inconsistent waits between courses.
On our second night we tried the western buffet which also included a choice of four main options served to table. The food was equally good.
Breakfast had a huge array of both hot and cold dishes with food from various countries.
One downside for us was a lack of a proper bar. Late afternoon, the only place open was the rooftop which had a beautiful infinity pool and hot tubs. Although there was an indoor bar, the Retreat, it was reserved for special guests until 9pm (we’re not sure what defined ‘special’). So we sat al fresco with our wine in a large square seating area enjoying a glass of wine in splendid isolation whilst watching the clouds move over the mountains. At 5.45pm a huge central fire was lit in readiness for the open-air singing at 8.30pm and film at 10pm – blankets are provided as the evening gets chilly.
There was also a small coffee shop with outdoor seating, bikes for hire and a huge range of indoor activities, particularly for children.
Although the roof top hot tubs were excellent, the pool was too cold for us and we retreated to the large, square, heated indoor pool where in the kiddies area floated over 200 bright yellow ducks.
“Silks Place website”:http://www.silksplace-taroko.com.tw/en
