臭豆腐档 Stinky Tofu stall - Laomeng Market
Rice noodle and grilled stinky tofu stalls were everywhere at Laomeng Market. Since we didn't know any better, we just chose one, and sat down!
Food in rural areas in China isn't very diverse. It typically reflects traditional local produce. In this case, rice is made into noodles, and soy beans into oil, tofu, soy sauce etc.
It's also very accomodating. If you don't like chilli, it can be omitted. Every dish is made up fresh, customised to every individual. Of course, that assumes the customer knows what the dish is composed of. ;)
The cold noodles was spicy and garlicky. It's amazing the amount of garlic they use. The raw garlic really gives the dish a good kick, even without chilli. The hot soupy rice noodles were good too, with a soy sauce flavoured soup.
You can't beat the price, CNY2 / AUD0.30 / USD0.25!
The stinky tofu came with a similar garlicky spicy dipping sauce. I don't think the tofu had time to ferment enough. According to the guy at Window on Yuanyang, stinky tofu is meant to ferment for at least 2 days, but some vendors run out and so they use one-day-old stinky tofu. Still, the fresh soybean flavour was good too!
Photos:
- Rice Noodles with Cold Spicy Garlic Sauce and Peanuts
- Flat Rice Noodles with Spicy Soup and Sesame Seeds
- Grilled Stinky Tofu with Spicy Dipping Sauce CNY1 for 5