Excellent Tofu & Snack - Richmond, BC

It's a quiet place with a quiet man behind the counter who reads the newspaper while a few customers eat at the counter.  With all of the hustle and bustle surrounding bubble tea cafes, why would you come here?  Why would you want to eat in the quiet of Excellent Tofu & Snack?  Well, because it's just that - it has excellent tofu and snacks.  

Not much of an interior...  Total Asian dive.  Oh well, I'm just here for what they're named for - the tofu!

Soy Pudding with Young Coconut Meat - $4.50

This comes unsweetened and the soy pudding is bland.  It's up to the customer to add either sugar water or ginger sugar.  I chose to go with a few squirts of ginger sugar and this went from ok to really good.  Just the right sweetness since I added the sugar myself and the coconut meat is just a nice bit of sweet and tart flavors as well as crunch.  So yummy...

Soy Pudding with Red Beans & Coconut Milk - $4.50

This one also comes unsweetened but after a few teaspoons of ginger sugar, this is good to go.  Mr. Piglet likes the coconut milk flavors and the grainy texture of the red beans but it's not as good as my young coconut dish.  Mr. Piglet says he'd probably order something with more texture next time, maybe black rice or even the young coconut.

Honey Dew Soy Pudding - $4.00

Now we're on the full side but Mr and I feel we should try one of the flavoured puddings.  Sold out of chocolate flavour we decide on honey dew.  Doesn't look like much, in fact, it looks like mush but this is darn tasty!  Silky light tofu with tons of honey dew flavour without being too much.  I wasn't expecting anything great but this is so good, I don't think I'll be able to buy the flavoured boxed tofu from now on.  Mr. Piglet and I will be back for the flavoured pudding for sure.

Pan fried Vegetarian Radish Cake - $4.50

The cake is a tad greasy but it's crispy on the outside and has a nice radish flavour that some people might find light but we thought was ok - it's just as it's named, nothing more and nothing less.  It comes with a spicy sauce and brown seafood-based sauce that's really tasty but kind of masks the taste of the cake.  

There are no flashy lights, no Canto-pop music, no tv screens, no cute waitresses, no gimmicks - just pure unadulterated silky tofu at its best.  If you love that traditional Chinese treat, this is a place not to be missed.  Bon appetite!

Oinks:

• Great selection of tofu snacks in a variety of flavors and different mediums
• Very tasty offerings
• On the pricier side for tofu
• Take-out available - in fact, a lot of the business is take out

Doinks:

• Small selection of snacks - no full meal options
• Dive ambiance
• Cash only