Tony Johor Kaki Travels for Food · Heritage · Culture · History

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Hidden Ultimate Stinky Tofu in Keelung Taiwan 基隆山中胡記臭豆腐



Restaurant name胡記臭豆腐
Address: No. 53之13號, Lane 12, Peide Road, Xinyi District, Keelung City, Taiwan 201 | 基隆市信義區培德路12巷52號-13
GPS25°07'38.4"N 121°46'23.0"E 25.127328, 121.773044
Transport: Accessible only by car
Tel: +886 933 767 372
Hours: 9:00am - 9:00pm

Not far from Keelung City 基隆, there is a famous stinky tofu shop known as 胡記臭豆腐.



Locals say that if 胡記臭豆腐 is stinky tofu, all others should be called fragrant tofu 香豆腐 😂 Legend has it that the shop was once chased out of Keelung City because their stinky tofu was too smelly 😱

Are you game to try it? 😄

The boss Ah Hing 阿興 has been making and selling his famous stinky tofu 臭豆腐 for over 20 years.

胡記臭豆腐 used to be in Keelung City but according to legend, it was so stinky that it received many complaints from residents, forcing the stall to move to the city's hilly outskirts (roughly mid way between Keelung City and Ruifang in the east).

Ah Hing's secret weapon is his 20+ year old marination stock. 

The bricks and cubes of fresh tofu are dropped into the black, decades old stock containing many herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables, and allowed to ferment.

Fermentation is up to 36 hours - the longer, the stinkier 😖

The fermented bricks of tofu are fried in hot oil for 2-3 minutes to crisp the skin outside.

Even before you sink your teeth in for your first bite, you will be struck by the pungent aroma or smell 😓 It is unpleasant for many who are uninitiated to this Taiwan speciality. Many locals proclaimed that 基隆胡記臭豆腐 is the stinkiest stinky tofu that they have ever eaten - so you have been warned 🚨

To eat, press a hole in the cube of tofu, breaking the crispy skin to expose the white "flesh" inside. Spoon in a bit of house made numbing chili sauce, some sourish sauce and a pinch crunchy sourish pickled cabbage. Eat it all in one mouthful (be careful as it is tongue scathing hot).

When you bite into it pass the crispy skin, the inside is soft and wet like warm bean curd. The white curd inside tastes like century egg yolk (another stinky fermented Chinese food 😂 ). The spicy chili, sourish sauce, and sourish sweet pickled cabbage balanced the flavours. The pickled cabbage adds a bit of crunch to the soft and crisp tofu.

胡記's fried stinky tofu is not greasy.

Check out 基隆胡記臭豆腐 during your day trip to Ruifang, Jiufeng Old Street etc 😄 Call 阿興 at +886 933 767 372 before you set off.

🚨 Warning: Needless to say, stinky tofu is an acquired taste so you may find it repulsive 😱 Personally, I love it 😋

More Johor Kaki posts on Taipei 👈 click

More Johor Kaki posts on Taiwan 👈 click

2 comments:

  1. why are you creating reviews based on youtube videos taken by someone else?

    Did you actually eat all these food in TW?

    Creating records of reviews based on TW food also can do like this?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. After my trips to Taiwan last year, I fell in love with it, including the food there. I am planning more trips to Taiwan.

      While making my plans, I realised that there are a lot of good recommendations by local TV but they are all in Chinese.

      So I compiled the videos of the places which I wish to visit during my coming trips there, with additional detailed info on how to get to them (which I have to do research on). They are labelled "Note to Self" for my own easy reference online at anytime even when I am in Taiwan. I also thought others may find the details useful too.

      After I have visited the place, I will add in my own personal observations into the same post, thus completing it. (So these posts at the "Note to Self" stage are work in progress.)

      As the vids are embedded directly from source they are fully IP compliant.

      This is a work flow that I have just started to try out. Reader feedback is valued.

      Thank you.

      Delete

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