Homemade Tofu from Thanh Son Tofu, Eden Center

[yeuxblu]

I will say one of the shops to the left of 4 Sisters has some fantastic fried tofu with mushrooms and such. Its maybe 8 shops down, after the bar. Not a restaurant, but one of the markets with a cafeteria style counter.

[Marty L.]

I will say one of the shops to the left of 4 Sisters has some fantastic fried tofu with mushrooms and such. Its maybe 8 shops down, after the bar. Not a restaurant, but one of the markets with a cafeteria style counter.

That would be Thanh Son. And it is great.

[V.H.]

Thanks for splitting this one off because it deserves its own thread. The tofu here is so good that it will make a convert out of people who don't even like tofu (like my husband). The tofu is made on site in a couple of different flavors and then sliced and fried throughout the day. There is nothing better than getting a batch that has been freshly fried with a firm crisp exterior and almost creamy interior. The prices are great, 3 for $1 for large pieces or 5 for $1 for smaller pieces. We like the lemongrass chili flavor which comes in the large piece format. Although it's quite good plain, I like to cut it up and use it in stir fries and curries. It takes on the flavor of the cooking sauce well while still retaining its own texture and flavors. I made a Thai Kra Pow with some last week and it was a knockout. My husband and I are huge carnivores but love this stuff. It's replaced chicken as my protein of choice in stir fries.

[goodeats]

Don't forget their soymilk selections: unsweetened (red cap); sweetened (green cap); and the other kind (blue cap). AND its soybean pudding. Mmm. Thankfully I just bought some. At around 12pm today, there was fresh lemongrass chili tofu served. It was busy at that time, and at 1pm when I stopped by for soy pudding with ginger syrup after lunch.

The only confusing part when I first went is that you have to order the tofu from the tofu area and other stuff from the other areas. I recommend ordering from the other area first and then tell them you want to order tofu, while walking toward the tofu bar area to point/tell them your order. Their bubbles aren't so good (50-50 chance of it being good), but you can ask for the smoothie drinks w/o bubbles, to just add coconut jellies, which are really good.

edited for errors on all fronts....

[Anna Blume]

Any closer resources for unusually good tofu for a DC resident who lives minutes from Maryland? I am hard-pressed to find a decent source.

[Fishinnards]

Maybe not unusually good, but fresh and decent, Sam Wang Tofu, 300 B. Morse St., Washington, DC 20002 (near A. Litteri ). This is the brand in the buckets at Grand Mart, so maybe your already familiar.

[Tweaked]

Hit Thanh Son Tofu before the Rice Paper $20 Tuesday dinner. Yummy stuff.

Since it was 7pm, looked like the selection was limited as they were closing at 8pm. Bought some lemongrass tofu (amazing), onion tofu (very good), and what I will call mixed vegetable tofu loaf. It comes in a small aluminum take-out type container, has the texture of a dense pudding with cubes of tofu mixed in...really good stuff.

Since I was about to go to Rice Paper, I didn't hit the prepared food section/steam table section. But there were a good number of people lined up getting take out.

[Anna Blume]

Thanks, everyone for suggestion! I bought fresh tofu, semi-firm for ma po (goodeats advises one to ask for the fresh tofu w ginger syrup if you're looking for soft tofu) and it is much, much better than anything packaged that I picked up at supermarkets and much better than the stuff hippies produce for food co-ops.