July 18, 2010
Ari Tofu House
The kid conveniently decided to take a noon-time nap. So we were able to leave him with the nanny and sneak out for a quick lunch. Wanted to go to a reasonable sit-down place, but didn't want to spend too much time away in case he wakes up early. There's plenty of casual restaurants in the alleys near SYT Memorial Hall station that fits our criteria. And we decided to give the relative newcomer a try.
The clean, modern decor and strong air-conditioning were comfortingly cool on a hot day. The restaurant could've been serving any cuisine for all one could tell, but it turns out they specialized in the Korean spicy tofu stew or soondubu jigae (순두부찌개). With the fiery red sauce and cubes of soft tofu one could add meats or seafood. This would go perfectly with rice and they offer both white rice and a healthier multi-grain purple rice. They offer a decent variety of pan-chan side dishes, all-you-can-eat. The cold pan-chan is a nice contrast to the hot tofu stew, or more hot kimchee if it's not spicy enough yet. The extra plate of bulgogi beef was overkill, but it was a relatively cheap addition to a jigae combo meal. As part of the grand-opening special, they threw in an extra piece of salt-grilled fish. But it was kinda cold and not very good compared to how the Japanese restaurants do it, and we had so much food on the table already that we gave up on it after a few bites.
It ended up being a bit more expensive than I expected, about NT400 per person. But we got lots of hot, filling food in a comfortable environment. If I were demanding authentic Korean I probably would've liked a bit more oomph in the spicing. But it was good for a satisfying lunch without blowing the roofs off.
Ari Tofu House
台北市光復南路280巷31號
02-2721-3033