Eva Air Lounge

Ever since I lost my Krisflyer Gold membership, I have not been visiting member lounges in airports except for the trip to Korea when I redeemed business class tickets

Since I was travelling with my PPS friend, I had the chance to visit the Eva Lounge at Taoyuan Airport which I had not been to before. Located in a quiet corner away from the other lounges, Eva Air lounge is one of the biggest in Taoyuan Airport

The lounge has a spacious and huge reception lobby where the staff will check on your tickets or member status before directing you to the lounge on the left side of the lobby. The staff is friendly and amicable which always makes the visit pleasant

Right after the lobby, you will pass the toilet and shower facilities and some private resting rooms. The toilet is spacious and equipped with amenities. The design is basic and simple but well-maintained and clean

The entire lounge is huge and there are different areas where you can choose to settle down for your rest before the flight. The first area nearer to the buffet line was the armchair area with a few TVs for entertainment. There is also a quieter side with the same setup. We proceeded further to where are there proper tables and seating for a meal. The fact that the lounge was pretty empty, we were able to get a space which was away from most of the crowd

The buffet line was well catered for many customers as they kept the hot dishes at the centre counter whereas other side counters served drinks and alcohol as well as salads, buns, cold cuts and pastries. I like the fact that they provided local drinks like bubble milk tea and cold brew Chinese tea. Hot dishes also included signature Taiwanese food like braised pork rice, meat starchy stew, pan-fried carrot cake and pearl meatballs. For desserts, other than cakes, they provided Movenpick ice cream

I took almost all of their local dishes to give them a try. As I visited the Silverkris Lounge before, I have to say that the food at Eva Air Lounge tastes much better and has a larger variety. While you cannot compare to the ones outside the airport, the braised pork rice was decently flavoured giving you the last chance to enjoy this dish before the flight. Some other items I tried included the meat starchy stew which was rather bland and only tasted better with the garlic and chilli oil. The vegetarian soup was homely but rather basic. The other items like the pearl meatball, fried dim sum, and pan-fried potatoes were pretty general but not bad tasting. The one dish which stood out from the large variety of hot dishes was the pan-fried carrot cake and noodles. The bubble tea was too sweet for me while the cold brew Chinese tea was great washing down the grease of the food

Overall, I enjoyed my food at Eva Air Lounge and the service staff were polite and prompt in clearing the empty dishes. The atmosphere was also quiet and comfortable enough to rest before the flight