Last day in L.A =( For lunch that day, my brother took me to BCD Tofu House. He has been to BCD Tofu House before on a previous trip to L.A. and wanted me to try it out. Apparently BCD Tofu House is quite popular in California. It is a chain that was first established in L.A back in 1996, and since then has expanded to Korea, Japan, and various Southern California locations. I find it impressive how BCD Tofu House actually started in the U.S. and went expanded back to Asia (most food franchises work the other way around). So props to Hee Sook Lee (CEO of BCD Tofu House)! Hey, maybe BCD Tofu House will eventually make their way to Canada too, who knows."We sold over 10 Millions of Tofu Soup". Gahhhhhhhhh! They need to check for grammar!
BCD Tofu House's menu consists of many different kinds of tofu stew, such as : Original, Assorted, Seafood, Kimchi, Ox Tripe, Dumpling, Bean Paste, Laver (no idea what that is), Vegetable, Curry, Ham & Sausage, and Beef & Octopus.
They also offer combos where they pair up a tofu stew with BBQ Rib / Beef or Pork Bulgolgi / Chicken Teriyaki / Bibimbap / Spicy Pickled Crab / Yellow Covina (no idea what that is either).
The Curry Soon Tofu caught my eye because I've never seen that in Toronto. I mean yeah, I have never seen Ham & Sausage Soon Tofu either but those are just different ingredients. Curry Soon Tofu would be a different soup base altogether. MUST TRY.
The place was bustling during lunch, which affected the service. The servers had a hard time keeping up with cleaning the tables and sitting customers. But then again, the waiters weren't really working that hard or quickly either. Interesting.
Our salads.
Our side dishes. Not impressed with their side dishes at all! There were hardly enough for two people (the eggs on top the top don't count, they are for the tofu stews). The side dish on the utmost right are four thin slices of pickles in ice water. What the...
I guess the fried fish is something you don't see everywhere as a regular side dish. Itt was not crispy at all though, just soft and mushy. The fish looked rather sad too *sad face*.
Our rice came.
The waiter immediately scooped out the rice for us and filled up the stone bowls with water.
My brother ordered the Beef Bulgolgi Combination Lunch which came with a Premium Tofu Stew. The Premium Tofu Stew is basically a regular tofu stew with your choice of pork or beef. The tofu stews in the combination lunch are smaller in size than the regular tofu stew if you order it separately.
The Beef Bulgolgi was pretty good. The beef was soft and marinated well. Nothing that I can't find in Toronto though.
My Curry Soon Tofu with potato, onion, carrot, pork.
Now this is definitely different.
The soup was THICK, a lot thicker than I thought it would be; it was like an actual curry instead of a soup. I was expecting a thinner soup with curry flavor. But yep, this was actually a sauce in itself, not really a broth or a soup. The curry was probably made from curry powder or something - it didn't have much kick or flavor to it unfortunately.
I felt stuffed afterwards, not from the contents of the stew, but from the thick curry soup/sauce ...didn't feel pleasant at all.
I don't think Toronto is missing out by not having BCD Tofu House. Well maybe that is an exaggeration on my part since I haven't tried all their tofu stews. But my brother's Beef Bulgolgi and tofu stew was nothing out of the ordinary, and I definitely would not have their Curry Soon Tofu ever again. So maybe I will rephrase my statement to "I don't think Toronto is missing out by not having Curry Soon Tofu" =)
Well this post officially ends my food journey through L.A --> San Fran --> Napa Valley --> Yosemite --> and back to L.A. I want to say thanks to Virgin America and Klout for this wonderful free trip!
My Virgin America Trip to Los Angeles, Caifornia