Is it just me or does everyone have a bigger appetite and stomach as the weather gets colder? Maybe it’s an innate human instinct to fatten up for the winter like our forest animal friends, so my excuse is Basic Survival 101. But whatever our excuses are, we all need warm, hearty food to fill ourselves up to help us bear the freezing winds a little better. Which is why this weekend, I went to Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu. Unless you read Korean, the only word you probably understood from the name of the restaurant is ‘tofu.’ Now before that word turns you off and you decide to skip this review, let me tell you exactly why you should give this quaint little place in Koreatown a try.
Koreatown may not have a reputation for being the cleanest or classiest area downtown, but no one is stopping by to Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu for their environment or interior design. You’ll realize this when you get there (and you will be there). It’s a run-down place with tacky orange walls and over stuffed with too many tables and chairs, which are mostly rickety. The washrooms are even worse and customers have to walk cautiously down a narrow staircase to a tiny two stall washroom with dim lighting. But it’s definitely not the only restaurant on the street that’s in bad repair. After all, people, especially students, still flock to Koreatown and Chinatown, despite expecting the shabby buildings, because of the cheap prices. Most dishes in Koreatown are less than $10. And that includes tea, rice, and refillable side dishes which are included with every meal, as is the tradition in Korea. Buk Chang Dong offers four side dishes – a spicy radish salad, stir fried bean sprouts, kimchi, and candied beans. My personal favourite is the spicy radish salad which is refreshing and with just the right amount of tanginess. I always ask for two or three more during my meal. But again, these are just the secondary factors of the meal. The main star is their specialty, the Soon Tofu. This is a traditional hot dish in Korea. It is a kind of stew with tofu as its main ingredient. But of course it includes a lot of other ingredients. One can choose between various types of Soon Tofu depending on their own tastes. There is the typical meat, seafood, or vegetable version of the Soon Tofu. Or if you want a little something different, there is the kimchi, dumpling or the fermented soybean version. I’ve tried most of the flavours there, which is proof that I am a regular customer there. But usually I stick with my favourite, the seafood soon tofu, which makes the broth a little lighter and more refreshing. There’s also the freedom to choose the level of spiciness, from white to very spicy. Fortunately, I love the extra heat so I can easily take the very spicy level given my experience with spicy food. You can also choose to crack in the raw egg they provide on the side. The moment they bring the pot to the table, you immediately crack in the egg which cooks in the still boiling soup. They serve this steaming pot of deliciousness in a traditional stone pot, allowing the soup to stay warm longer. One spoonful and I can imagine myself back at my grandmother’s cottage in the countryside and out on the dining porch sitting on individual mats around the low wooden table.
Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu doesn’t just have the tofu soup on their menu. They also offer the well known Korean BBQ in either the broiled version or the soup version. Both are delicious and sweet and juicy. All these dishes go wonderfully with a bowl of rice. But unlike most other Korean restaurants, Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu doesn’t just provide a simple bowl of white rice, but rather black and purple rice served in a huge charcoal bowl. After the servers scoop out the rice for me, in a separate bowl, they pour water into the charcoal bowl that still has crusty rice left on the bottom. This after a while, becomes a rice broth of sort that tastes almost like a kind of tea. For less than $10, all this is a very good deal. Not only that, I didn’t need to sacrifice the flavour. I can honestly say that Buk ChanG Dong Soon Tofu serves the best Soon Tofu in Koreatown, and I’ve tried most of them. It’s no wonder that customers are lining up outside the crowded restaurant during dinner.