豆腐村 京站小碧潭店
🚩Korean-style Tofu Hot Pot Restaurant—Highly recommend the side dishes and ice cream✨
On a typhoon holiday with no wind or rain, I arrived at the Little Bitan near the Taipei Main Station. Not wanting to eat at IKEA’s restaurant, I wandered around the food street on the 5th floor. I initially thought there wouldn't be many people dining today, but upon arriving at Tofu Village, I saw it was packed. It turns out everyone came here to eat. Tofu Village is one of the more reasonably priced restaurants on the 5th floor. Besides having many seats inside, they also have several tables in the outer corridor (is that legal…?). The overall decor has a rustic style, with walls made of light orange-red retro bricks, complemented by wooden floors and furniture, and a touch of black metal framing, creating a warm and harmonious atmosphere.
Due to being full, we couldn't sit directly and had to scan the QR code at the counter to register the number of diners. Today, we waited about 20 minutes and sat in the outer corridor. Ordering was also done by scanning a QR code, and after dining, we paid at the counter, which allowed cash and various payments to correspond with the Taipei Main Station business area; invoices were available, and service charges were included.
After ordering, we were first served a portion of tofu, dipping sauce, and seaweed. The meal took some time to prepare, so we could go to the self-service bar to grab 4 types of side dishes.
Potatoes: I expected them to be heavily seasoned based on their color, but they were unexpectedly light and very tasty. The warm potatoes were soft and easy to eat; I took several servings.
Vegetables: They seemed to be very inexpensive vegetables, mixed with some shredded carrots. The dish was cool and not oily. While not exceptionally delicious, it complemented the main dish by adding necessary greens.
Seaweed: Also cool, the seaweed was not too salty and very nutritious.
Kimchi: Being a Korean restaurant, it served Korean-style kimchi (sijchi), which I personally don't like. I only had a little bit.
For the main dish, I ordered the mushroom and clam tofu pot. The broth was mildly flavored and carried the freshness of the clams, with plenty of mushrooms and filled with tofu. However, the amount of soup was very little, leaving me wanting more.
The side dish was purple rice served in a stone bowl. The temperature of the stone bowl is very high, allowing for some crispy rice at the bottom, which was nice to eat with a splash of soup or wrapped in seaweed. However, a big issue with the serving was that the tofu pot and rice were not served simultaneously. Often, the ingredients of the tofu pot would run out before the purple rice arrived, leaving a leftover bowl of rice that wasn't quite sure how to deal with (but I have a big appetite, so I finished it off with the side dishes anyway 🤣).
After finishing the main course, I returned to the self-service area and have to say the hot drink machine at this place is incredibly bad—so bad that it makes you question life (it seems like there isn't enough milk or sugar? In any case, I tried it several times and it just didn't work for me). However, compared to the hot drinks, the ice cream was truly amazing! Today, I had peach tofu flavor, with a delicate, creamy texture that showcased the slight sweetness of the peach and the rich flavor of the tofu. Eating a lot didn't feel guilty at all; I really recommend it! 😋