Indian: Earthshattering "Odorous" Tofu

I remember watching Andrew Zimmern pitifully down some rancid tofu in a dingy backalley eatery in Taipei, unbearably consuming what is known to the rest of the world as stinky tofu. Mind you, the three-week old creation in that episode probably reeked of fermented grunge. Last week I found a shadow of this food at a restaurant in San Gabriel called Indian, hailed as a "Hooters" for Taiwanese food.



We started off with tame dishes of water celery beef and stir-fried rice noodles. Both were straightforward compliments to the real show: five intestine soup and stir-fried stinky tofu. My half-Taiwanese former roommate went absolutely nuts when he saw this on the menu. He claimed that this was his favorite comfort food back home in Houston. This bubbling concoction of white offal featured a tangy, spicy broth with chunks of coagulated pork's blood for additional stomach-wrenching disgust. The placement of the large plate of stinky tofu right in front hits one much like an 18-wheeler rams into a hapless deer - at full throttle and with blazing aggression. Thoughts of rotten mushrooms and six-month old cheese in the back of fridge came to mind. A quick knot formed in my stomach, aghaust at this perilous dish before me.





The modus operandi was to sprinkle the tofu on one's bowl of rice, then douse it with a spoonful of the five-intestine soup. The first bite was nauseating, causing me to close my eyes and just eat. I chewed. I swallowed.

It wasn't half bad. I took another bite, and then another and before I knew it I was repeating the soup-on-stinky-tofu gig until both of those wonderful dishes disappeared. As I ate these foods, my stomach recoiled in utter disgust but my mind calmed it down, knowing that I was eating something delicious. The sight of my orgiastic roommate oohing and aahing in front of me helped. I haven't quite had a dish (or dishes) this earthshattingly amazing and paradigm-shifting in a long time.



I was telling this friend to my cook/chef-friend last night and all he could say was, "let's go get stinky tofu! let's go get stinky tofu!" while my friends were trying to watch this season's first game of Sunday Night Football. I'll have to take him back and show him how amazing it was.

As a note, I didn't grow up on this stuff, so I heard that the dish that we had was about the tamest stinky tofu you can get. They have a deep-fried version that's many times the intensity. I want to step up to that when the time is ready.



In other respects, the restaurant is a half-decent watering hole with pints of draft brew (we had Kirin) in tiny little cups accompanying large pitchers. The decor is tacky like Hooters, but who cares? Hooter's wings don't stand a chance against "odorous" tofu.

Indian Restaurant
633 S San Gabriel Blvd
Ste 105
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 287-0688