Grayson isn’t a huge fan of Korean food so I haven’t had Korean food in a while. But Grayson likes tofu hotpot and so I made a proposition to go to House of Tofu soup since it’s a happy medium between what we both like.
Banchan
Like with all Korean restaurants, House of Tofu soup offers you side dishes with your meal. They had mashed potatoes, kimchi, marinated seaweed and pickled onion. The mashed potatoes were nice and fluffy because they were whipped but we found it to be a little bland. It wasn’t until we were done that we realized that we were supposed to put the caramel sauce on the side on top of it.
I tried the kimchi first and told Grayson that it’d be too spicy for him but he didn’t listen to my warning and tried it for himself. I later got an “okay you were right…” in between his gulps of water to quench the heat. We weren’t a fan of the pickled onion but it’s okay because we were in love with the seaweed. I don’t think I’ve seen seaweed prepared this way at Korean restaurants before so I found it interesting. Grayson loved it so much that he requested for more of it and of course, our server gladly brought him some.
Kimchi stew
Initially I wanted the tofu soup ($9.99) but then Grayson also wanted it so I changed my order to the Kimchi stew ($9.99) and I’m sure glad I did because it was scrumptious! In addition to choosing your protein/vegetable (chicken, seafood, beef, mixed protein, dumpling, and various vegetables) of choice to add to your soup, you get to choose the level of heat (white, mild, medium, hot and extra hot) you like your soup to be as well. I think it wasn’t until two minutes after I placed my order that I realized I probably shouldn’t of ordered it “hot” at a Korean restaurant especially if it was my first time here, but I felt like venturing so I didn’t end up changing my mind on it.
The soup looked so fragrant and looked packed full of yummlicious goodness. And I wasn’t wrong to have that initial reaction because upon digging into my pot to see what was lurking inside, I found eight shrimps and a bunch of clams! I thought that the kimchi stew was really fragrant as if it had been stewing for a really long time to bring out all the flavors. Although I thought that it might be too spicy for me to handle, it was the perfect amount of heat for me! Oh and each soup comes with a bowl of rice which they serve from a stone pot but since they scoop it out for you at your table right away, you don’t get the crispy bits of rice that usually comes along with bibimbap.
White tofu soup
Grayson decided to get the soup and bulgolgi combo ($15.99). he got to pick an item from their soup menu and a half order of their bulgolgi (chicken, beef or pork). He ended up choosing white tofu soup with seafood and beef bulgolgi. Grayson really enjoyed the soup and thought that the tofu was amazingly silky smooth. He was actually surprised as to how much tofu was packed in there! I mean, he received a whole pot-full of it (not that he complained though).
He also liked that it came with an egg because he got to crack it on top of his soup before he ate it. Except after a while he noticed that it wasn’t really cooking so he couldn’t eat it until the end of his meal. He didn’t end up having all the shrimp because he felt there was a lot of protein in his meal.
Bulgolgi
Normally Grayson isn’t a fan of bulgolgi meats because he finds the marinades to be way too sweet for his liking but he actually quite enjoyed this one. He said that although he could taste the marinade, it wasn’t overly sweet or overwhelming. He found that the beef was also prepared differently because it felt as though it was cooked on dry heat instead of on a grill but with that being said, the meat was not dry either.
Remember how I said that you get your rice served out of a stone pot earlier? Well, after they give you your bowl of rice, they leave the stone pot at your table with the rice soaking in some tea. Our server told us that we’re supposed to eat it at the end of the meal to cleanse our palette of all the heavy flavors we just experienced. I had never seen this before anywhere else so it was quite intriguing to me.
The two of us absolutely adored House of Tofu Soup and would come back again without a second thought. I thought that this dining experience was unlike any other one I’ve had before but in a good way because it allowed me to try a different version of the Korean food that I’m used to. However, I must note that parking here is nearly impossible but that really shouldn’t steer you away from it because it was definitely worth the visit.