胖嘟嘟臭豆腐
When it comes to the famous stinky tofu in Hualien, many people might think of Qiao Tou, but personally, I believe that the stinky tofu at the original store in Yuli is much better. If you're in Hualien City and want to eat stinky tofu, I would recommend this place, Fat Dudu; it's in my top three (don’t ask about the other two, it's a secret 🤣). Please, Fooday, give me a stinky tofu master award first!
Fat Dudu's main dishes are three: stinky tofu, pig's blood soup, and old-fashioned red tea. Each dish is closely related, because once you eat the stinky tofu, you'll want to have soup, and after drinking the soup, you'll crave red tea, haha.
The stinky tofu is fried to a slightly crispy texture, and you can still taste its natural grain. The overall moisture is just right, unlike some stinky tofu that can be over-fried and end up dry and unappetizing. Plus, they give a generous portion of pickled vegetables, so pickled vegetable lovers need not worry. If you enjoy Fenglin chive stinky tofu, you can also find delicious chive stinky tofu here that’s even better than Fenglin's.
The pig's blood soup also has a lot of fresh, clean chives, which pairs really well. The pig's blood itself doesn’t have much of a fishy taste, and it retains the desirable chewiness that fresh pig's blood should have; I truly recommend eating it along with the stinky tofu.
Since I ate a bit late, I didn’t order the old-fashioned red tea. Otherwise, it would surely have been a nostalgic and delicious flavor.