Thursday, May 25, 2006

Stinky Tofu (Chou Taufu) @ Cheras Pasar Malam, KL



I have always been curious about stinky tofu or what we term in Cantonese, Chou Taufu after hearing about this snack from the Hong Kong television serials I follow. Finally had the opportunity to try it for the first time at the Cheras pasar malam (Malay for night market). It's not hard to find this particular stall as all you need to do is follow the stink. People don't seem to mind the smell as there was a small queue waiting patiently while they fried up the tofu.


The tofu is cut into small square pieces and deep fried in hot oil. Once it's brown and crispy it's ladled out to be served. As they fry it batch by batch using a normal sized wok, there will always be a queue waiting for the tofu to be ready. The outside is extremely crispy while the inside is holey and spongy. It's strange as the tofu looks fine when it's cut up i.e. no holes but the brine which they soak it in has micro-organisms which causes fermentation. Tastewise it's nice because of it's crispy exterior and not as stinky as it smells. You eat it with lots of chilli sauce and cabbage pickles that they give you or else there's no taste. Pricewise, it's 4 cubes for RM2.40.


It's definitely an acquired taste and not for the faint hearted as the stink can be extremely overwhelming. The tofu is packed in these plastic containers which contain brine made from fermented vegetables and shrimp. The brine is said to take approximately six months to make to allow proper fermentation while the tofu is soaked in the brine for six hours. See how the tofu is even getting a bit of mould from soaking in the brine.

Incidentally if you intend to pack them home, beware as the smell follows you around until everyone knows you bought the stinky tofu. Hence it's appropriate that even the stall has the tagline, "aroma across thousand miles". Fluff Puff, the ever greedy kitten sniffed the tofu and also declared it off limits when I offered her a bit.

Chiew Chiew Chou Taufu
Cheras Taman Connaught Pasar Malam (Every Wednesday)
The stall can also be found at Kepong Baru's pasar malam (Sunday), Sri Petaling's pasar malam (Tuesday), OUG pasar malam (Thursday) and Taman Putra Cheras pasar malam (Friday).

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review

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19 comments:

Babe_KL said...

i doubt i can stomach them :p

Unknown said...

This is the stalls with super long queue everytime..The smells and the queue pull us back everytime..We need some guts for tat..

冰冰-ping said...

hey, i really love ur blog man..having alot of delicious food..
well..i love Chao Taufu...it's taste weird..and special...do u think HK want is the same as M'sia???
yea, really hope u'll blog more about those dilicious food..(i m looking fwd to it...haha)
BLOG MORE....:)
that's all for now..okie..byebye

冰冰-ping said...

hey..one more thing i forget to ask u..can i link ur blog to my blog...?

Collecting Moments said...

oooooo stinky stinky.. but i LOVE IT!! The que is mad but its worth the wait.. everytime when my guy n i passes the stall, he will squirm..but to me, it smells like heaven! hehe. Eat it when its hot! SEDAP!

Tummythoz said...

OMG, the smell is horrible! Can't even psyche myself to get close to the stall. U r 1 brave soul!

wyejon said...

lol... congrats boo!

i've tried it before but i really can't stand the taste... IT STINKS!!! really it does.

Praveen R. said...

previously when i used to frequent this pasar malam at connaught..i used to get this horrible stench and someone told me its because of a drain near by...only later we both found out that its because of this stinky tofu (which is ironically a super hit)....i dont think ill eat it..the smell is too overpowering

boo_licious said...

babe - if yr tummy not strong enough, better not try.

kampungboycitygal - yeah the smell hits yr nostrils and the first instinct is to walk off ASAP!

thick frames glasses ping - dunno if HK or even Taiwan ones taste the same as I didn't come across any in HK. No problems linking me, all are welcome.

honey star - wow! girl of many tastes. I'm glad to find two enthusiasts for it. It's quite unique as it's so nice and crunchy.

tummythoz - for the sake of my blog! Just joking - I really wanted to try it out since I always hear them go on abt it in TVB shows.

wyejon - good on you for trying it. I wouldn't say I love it but it was quite an experience trying it out.

praveen - I smelt it and said yucks! Then I saw the sign and knew I had to try it out.

Chen said...

always wanted to try that..
*slurp*
I want to eat that !!!

I have tried the stink tofu in Beijing & Chengdu.. but the one available there are different from the one in HK :)

boo_licious said...

chen - when you come down to KL, try it at the pasar malams I listed down. The cheras one seems to huge though but I think difficult to find parking.

elb said...

definitely something I probably wouldn't try for a long time!

boo_licious said...

elb - it's something every foodie must try!

firethorn said...

Tried these stinky tofu when I went to China. The smells stink, but when you actually eat it, it isn't that bad. And I loved the crispy exterior and the spicy taste! It makes a fabulous snack on a cold day =)

boo_licious said...

I'm glad to find you're a fan. I do agree it's nice with it's crispy outside.

Babe_KL said...

my Msian stomach can take all these stuff but errr I doubt I can stomach the stench kekeke

chen, next time u come down ask Klip Tzai to bring u to dat pasar malam. its walking distance from his place :D

Yvonne said...

If you ever review this back. I tried once in Asia Cafe in Subang. It does not taste good at all compared to what was claimed. It is stinky, and crispy, but the inside tasted a bit sourish. Not such nice taste of it.

mhel said...

I tried the Notorious Stinky Tofu when were in Taipei, you might want to check out also my hilarious story.

kiwi said...

i wana know is that the stinky tauhu stil have in Taman Putra Cheras pasar malam for Friday? Cos i notice that ur post is on 2006.. thanks

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