臭豆腐 (NT$70)!
Deep-fried stinky tofu at a Taiwan night market: crispy fermented tofu in a sweet-savoury sauce with coriander. NT$70.
No Taiwan night market trip is complete without it: 臭豆腐 (stinky tofu), NT$70 (around SGD$3.20). 😋
What I had:
- Deep-fried stinky tofu cubes, doused in a sweet-savoury sauce and topped with coriander
You smell this one long before you see it, and that is exactly the point. Stinky tofu is tofu that has been fermented in a pungent brine for ages, which gives it that famously powerful aroma. But here is the secret the converts know: it tastes far milder and more delicious than it smells.
These cubes were deep-fried until golden and crackly on the outside while staying soft and custardy within, then drizzled with a dark, sweet-savoury sauce and finished with fresh coriander. The crisp shell, the soft middle, the sweet-salty sauce, and that funky, savoury fermented depth all come together into something genuinely moreish. A few stabs with the toothpick and it disappears.
It is a love-it-or-hate-it dish, and I am firmly in the love-it camp. Eating it amid the noise and lights of the night market, smell and all, is part of the whole experience. A classic Taiwan must-eat.
Overall: 4.7 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Crispy outside, soft inside, with a sweet-savoury sauce, stinky tofu done right. Would re-order.
