Stinky Tofu Everything at Dai’s House of Unique Stink

Dai’s House of Unique Stink is a small restaurant in Xinyi that serves up a variety of stinky tofu dishes. Our Taiwanese friends are big fans of this place and had been urging us to go for what felt like an eternity. We had always vaguely agreed to go at some point in the future, but were hoping that they would forget. In case you can’t tell, we are not fans of stinky tofu. We’ve tried it a few times and have found it to be (mostly) extremely unpleasant, so we are by no means the best people to judge a place serving only stinky tofu. To give this restaurant a fair chance, we brought along some Taiwanese friends who love it. We’ll be sure to give you a balanced idea of what to expect.

Dai’s House of Unique Stink is run by a nice local couple who use a healthy (and comparatively rare), natural way to ferment their tofu: they put vegetables in water, let them ferment, and use the water to ferment the tofu. Apparently the alternative to this is to use chemicals or rotten meat, which we were appalled to learn. Still, we have some strong cheeses back home, so who are we to judge?

The restaurant itself is rather small, and can comfortably accommodate around 20 people. The menu is all in Chinese, but there are lots of photos on the back wall that you could point to if your Chinese isn’t great.

The first thing we ordered was the cold stinky tofu ($35) with crunchy fried seaweed, which had a stink level of 13. This is the highest level of stinkiness on offer. Our Taiwanese friends marvelled at the thin veins of green that ran through it like blue cheese, but to be honest, just looking at it made us feel queasy. We tried the tiniest bite ever, smothered it in some chilli sauce, and swallowed. It actually wasn’t that bad, though this was probably due to the fact that we could barely taste it. Our Taiwanese friends thought it was very tasty, with a delicate flavour. If you like stinky tofu, we suggest you value their opinion over ours on this one.

The next we thing ordered (shudder) was the fried stinky tofu ($65), which had a stink level of 12, putting it in the second stinkiest tier. It didn’t look that bad to the naked eye, so we tried a little more this time. We hated it, despite having drenched it in chilli sauce and swallowing it as fast as we could. For some reason, the flavour really lingered on this one, as did the smell. Our Taiwanese friends agreed that this one tasted more, well, stinky, but they liked it. “Very tender,” they said.

Next, we got the steamed stinky tofu in Chinese herbal broth with mushrooms and edamame ($60). Doesn’t it look divine? Don’t be fooled just yet. The stink level on this one was only about an 8 or 9, but for some reason, this was the stinkiest thing we had tried thus far. The soup looked so good that we took a big bite, but we immediately gagged due to the taste. Don’t get us wrong: the broth was delicious, and we really wish we could have liked it. It was embarrassing that we were the cliched foreigners retching and moaning, but we have to be honest. We did not like this one bit. Our Taiwanese friends, on the other hand, adored it. They also loved the broth but agreed that this was even stinkier than the last two. Maybe it’s because the broth is so light? Maybe it was a fluke? Either way, only eat this if you’re a legit stinky tofu fan.

After that, we chose the Sichuan spicy stinky tofu soup ($100), which was a level 12 stinkiness. This was also very stinky, but the spicy broth was delicious and did a reasonably good job of disguising the taste. You could still taste it, but it was nowhere near as bad as the soup right before it. Our Taiwanese friends went mad for this, adding more and more chilli sauce until our mouths were numb.

Last but not least, we ordered the stinky tofu burger ($50). This was by far our favourite item on the menu, as it disguised the level 12 stinkiness pretty well. We weren’t expecting the bun itself to be made of tofu, but it was kind of cool that it was. The crunchy vegetables and lashings of sauce made this almost enjoyable, although the persistent stinky flavour and smell ultimately defeated us. Our Taiwanese friends thought it was fun, too.

In addition to the stinky tofu dishes, we also ordered a dish of noodles with fried seaweed on top. This was pretty basic, but it was nice to have a non-stinky dish to cleanse our palette.

We also ordered some drinks: sour plum, sweet melon, and roselle (all $30). The roselle had zero sugar in it and was a total shock to the system, so we do not recommend it unless you know you love it like this. The others were pretty good, and helped mitigate the stinky tofu somewhat.

Check out their full menu here  (it’s in Chinese, but the back wall has some photos of dishes that you can point to. You could also show them our photos):

All in all, we would be lying if we told you we enjoyed the food at Dai’s House of Unique Stink, but that’s only because we have not developed a taste for stinky tofu. The friends who accompanied us have — they love it — and they enjoyed everything they ate here. They told us that it was by no means the stinkiest as far as stinky tofus go, but that the flavours were layered and sophisticated, and they felt like these creative dishes really elevated stinky tofu in a fun way. They also loved that everything was made naturally, and was therefore much healthier than certain stinkier alternatives. So now you have it — two very different perspectives. Unless you already know that you like stinky tofu, eating here is going to be a gamble. It’s just up to you whether or not you want to make that choice.

What’s the vibe?

Small, clean restaurant serving a variety of stinky tofu dishes. The customers were all local when we visited.

Worth it?

It’s certainly not expensive, and they make the stinky tofu in the healthiest way possible. Trying everything is certainly an experience, whether you will enjoy it or not.

Would you go back?

Not in a million years.

Visited: July 2019

Dai's House of Unique Stink

Chinese Name: 戴記獨臭之家臭豆腐專賣店

Hours: 11:30am – 10pm Closed Tuesdays

Phone: 02 2760 7661

English Address: No. 2, Alley 3, Lane 120, Yongji Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City

Chinese Address: 台北市信義區永吉路120巷3弄2號