Stinky Tofu

    One of Taiwan's most famous "delicacies" is the aptly-named stinky tofu. Stinky tofu comes in many forms from stewed to deep fried, but in all its iterations, it is tofu that has undergone a lengthy fermentation process which gives it a deep, complex flavor and a BIG smell. One could even say, a stink.

This might be our first stinky tofu, from a night market near our apartment

    We have a bit of a history with stinky tofu. Karen found some in a supermarket in California, and we tried to cook it for our housemates. Matt was unable to even sit downwind of it, let alone eat any. Karen tried a bite and gracefully declined to eat more. We believe that maybe we didn't prepare it correctly- but our Taiwanese housemate actually really enjoyed it, or claimed to. So when we got to Taipei, we knew we wanted to give it another try, but we weren't sure we'd be able to do it when the time came.

This stinky tofu was served at a small sit-down restaurant we ducked into during a bathroom break in a walking tour

    Finding stinky tofu turned out to be the easy part. Not only is it a pretty common street food, but also... you KNOW when you're within 50 feet of someone selling it. The smell is overpowering. During our first outing to a night market, Matt almost had to flee the Stink Zone. But we went to a stall and ordered one anyway.

Not all stinky tofu was good- at one market we tried some that was bitter and a kind of burnt tasting

    First of all, when we cooked it at home, we stir-fried it. In our opinion, the best way to eat stinky tofu is deep fried. Second, it smells most strongly while it is frying. Once it is prepared, it DOES smell if you stick your nose right up to it, but it's easy not to do that while you eat it. The taste is really interesting, deep, and complex. It's served alongside cabbage, onion, and garlic sauce (why stop at one famously pungent ingredient?), which all combines really well. The sweet and savory garlic sauce complements the tofu, and the onion and cabbage provide a fresh snappy flavor that relieves the umami bomb of the garlic and tofu.

In the background behind Karen is a tiny kitchen on a corner in Hualien, where they serve up some of the best stinky tofu

Karen inside the tiny garage-like dining area of our favorite stinky tofu restaurant

    We liked it enough to keep trying it, and a funny thing happened. It started to smell good! Once we grew to like the taste, we would catch a whiff of frying stinky tofu and think, mmmmm! 

    So, where can you get the best stinky tofu in Taiwan? There is a "stinky tofu street" in an old town outside Taipei which is famous for especially pungent tofu, but we didn't visit it, so we can't speak to the quality. We did eat at a tiny stinky tofu restaurant in Hualien that served big blocks of fried tofu with a generous helping of cabbage and a mountain of chives. Each plate is fried to order. In our opinion, this place served the best stinky tofu in Taiwan!

Yum! This unassuming place in Hualien served excellent stinky tofu