Chodang Soontofu

Two remarkable things about this place: they make their own tofu, and you get a lot of bang for your buck.

I had the chicken Teriyaki and my friends each had a tofu bowl. They seemed to like it (ok, eyeballs on the shrimp were a bit much but maybe that's authentic?). The cold rice water/tea they give at the beginning is interesting...

Our food came with 5 appetizers (they seem to come with all the meals) including two whole deep-fried crusted fish, kim-chi, slices of fresh tofu, vinegary bean sprouts, and a pickled cabbage of sorts.

We ordered a side of the toasted (and deep-fried) dumplings.. they're huge, and the plate came with about 10 of them. Make sure you order this to share. The dumplings were 8$.

My chicken teriyaki was amazing.. good sauce and the chicken was crispy! It came with an oriental salad, white rice, yam/veggie sushi, and a few small pieces of deep-fried tofu. This was only 7.08$ and included the appetizers. The meal sounds heavier (deep fried everything) than it was...

A few things weren't so great. The waitress/owner had a hard time communicating in English (she didn't make any mistakes, asking about the menu options wasn't easy). The place is small, most meals were quite hot, and it gets busy so it can get quite stuffy in there after an hour or so.

Found out about this place via another message board. It's a ma 'n pa place which specialises in serving fresh tofu, in particular tofu bowls.

There are different kinds available, eg. beef, pork, seafood, kimchee, mushroom, etc. Bowls arrive bubbling on a cart, you break a fresh egg into the broth, stir, & eat!

You can also select the spice level. Remember to do this or you may end up with something spicier than you expect!

Along with this tofu bowl comes an array of Korean side dishes, a bowl of steamed purple rice (multi-grain), & the residue of that rice from an iron bowl that is watered down.

(I'm not a big fan of the watered down rice residue, but it's supposed to be 'healthy'. Honestly, there's just too much food for me to eat that tea-soaked rice!)

I would recommend that you order your main first, eat the majority of it, & then see if you have space for more food.

Great deal for the amount that you pay!