Dachi Tofu shop was recommended to me by two different people when I went to Taitung a few months ago. One was @floatinglin a local from the area, and the other is my Taitung airbnb owner. When two local people who doesn't know one another recommend the same place, you know its gotta be good.
We followed our GPS to Dachi, and drove down a few small roads further and further away from town. Suddenly we noticed the sign and by then we had actually drove past it. Luckily the road wasn't busy so we just parked on the side of the road and walked across. Dachi isn't actually a shop, it's more of a workshop with some tables outside.
Tofu is one of the staple foods in Taiwan and they are cooked in all different ways. At Dachi, they do two types, a tofu dessert, and crispy fried skins. My airbnb owner said I have to try the crispy fried tofu, preferably straight with no sauce.
Whilst I was waiting for my order, I went to look around inside the workshop. I was lucky that I came on a weekday as there was a sign by the door that said they don't allow tours over the weekend because it gets too busy.
The first thing I saw inside the workshop was bags and bags of soybeans. Non GM from Canada. That's a good sign to see that they use quality ingredients.
It was very steamy inside the workshop as there are many pans of soybean milk simmering away. I could smell the aroma of freshly cooked soybean milk throwing themselves towards me. As the soybean milk boils, it forms a skin at the top just like normal milk, only it is much thicker. The workers collects the skin and hang them on the rail above the pan. In my video, you can see the lady moving these skins around from one part of the workshop to another to dry them out. When they're dry enough, she folds them into little parcels and bags them to be sold.
This is the first time I have actually seen tofu skins been made so up close and personal and witness them from skin formation to being bagged. It's a very simple process, but takes patience as you can't rush the skin formation process. That means you're constantly working in a heated and steamy environment. I'm not sure if I could handle that. I'd much rather enjoy the fruits of this process.
The tofu dessert is one of my all time favourite and a good one must be silky smooth and served with a good syrup. This one was spot on.
The star at Dachi are their famous tofu skin that I just saw being made. The little parcels are fried till they are nice and crispy and served four in a portion. Remembering what my airbnb owner told me, I tried the first one straight without any sauce. It was devine. The outer layer was crispy, then as I bit through the inner layers they were smooth and silky and bursting with flavour. The soybean aroma from the workshop had stayed inside this little parcel and every mouth full was an absolute delight. Yum.
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Taiwan Province, Taiwan
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