Food: Yan Wo Dou Bun Chong (The Best Tofu Fa!!)

Want to go "meat-less" for a meal? Here's a great choice
Image from Locky's English Playground

Between jobs in the evening, I searched for my next meal as usual. I did not feel like having too much meat though, so I pondered over the limited choices as the raining kept falling on my head. I tried to think hard, but  my legs had already taken me to where I should go.

Renovated about a year ago
Image from Locky's English Playground

Within a short period of time, I found myself at Yan Wo Dou Bun Chong, a bean product shop at 15 Canal Road West, Wan Chai -- an old friend. I used to visit this shop pretty often when I was teaching in a secondary school nearby for the last 5 years, and because of that, I do know a staff or two who can speak English. This time round, the familiar faces were not there, so I had to seek the help from the menu.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Ordering is not at all difficult, just point your fingers at the numbers listed on the menu, what was warmly surprising was that the old lady who took my orders understood my English and repeated my orders in English!!!

Image from Locky's English Playground

The food came in a flash and I was delighted to see that the orders were correctly placed! It is definitely rare to find an old lady who has such English ability in Hong Kong, I am simply impressed!

The Iconic Trio
Image from Locky's English Playground

I ordered what are dubbed to be "Iconic Trio" -- hot tofu fa, fried noodles and pan-fried tofu with fish meat, for these three yummy dishes are ever present on every table.

Fried noodles
Image from Locky's English Playground

Fried noodles are commonly found in small congee restaurants, I like this one best because the taste of the fried noodles is not overwhelmed by soya sauce, and I adore the dried bean curd slices that go with the bean sprouts. Most importantly, unlike what I often get from other shops, the noodle is hot when it arrives!

Hot tofu fa / Soya bean custard
Image from Locky's English Playground

Some like cold tofu fa, but if you are an expert you know only the hot ones can provide the actual aroma of the beans and the true texture to reveal the skill of the tofu fa maker. It is a hell of work to produce extremely smooth tofu fa that is at the same time elastic -- soaking, washing, measuring, blending, filtering, hard-boiling, "crashing" (that is the pouring of soy milk with coagulant) then warming. Most shops can produce tofu fa in its form, but no shops I have visited so far are able to have its tofu fa unbroken when hold by at the edge of a spoon. Other than my mum's home-made tofu fa, only this shop can. Too bad I did not take a photo of this amazing quality, I'll make up for it next time.

Pan-fried tofu with fish meat
Image from Locky's English Playground

Pan-fried tofu? Freshly made, burning hot at delivery. Crispy skin, mellow deep within; taste of rich soy bean in every bite. The fish meat is really unnecessary, the protagonist has always been the tofu itself. Good news for the health-conscious group, the piece of paper helps to reduce the oiliness quite a bit.

Sauces, salt and pepper
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To make it taste even better, I have always like to add a little sweet sauce and loads of chili bean sauce. I do not know the chemistry behind this but it just spices things up another notch once they are added.

Finally, although there are several shops from this company, I will only go to this one. The reason being? It's tidy and hygienic, new tofu products made are almost instantly consumed by the hungry crowd of tofu fans! I have visited another Yan Wo Dou Bun Chong shop in Mongkok which is by the road side, there was dust and dirt in the bowl!! How horrifying!

This one in Causeway Bay has got to be the best!


Vocabulary:
trio -- (n) [C, + sing/pl verb] a group of three people or things:
overwhelm -- (vb)[T usually passive] to cause someone to feel sudden strong emotion:
make up for sth -- (phrasal verb) to take the place of something lost or damaged or to compensate for something bad with something good:
protagonist -- (n) [C] an important supporter of an idea or political system:

Resources:
Yan Wo Dou Bun Chong @ Openrice
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=15258&tc=sr1

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/trio?q=trio
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/overwhelm_2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/make-up-for-sth
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/protagonist_1?q=protagonist+