Restaurant: Seoul Tofu
Location: 2101 Sawtelle Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90025. 310.444.9988
Date: October 21, 2013
Cuisine: Korean
Rating: Solid
Seoul Tofu seems a relatively new offering on my favorite Westside Asian lunch street, Sawtelle. It features a newer, more attractive build out that some of the old mainstays.
It seems a formula that Korean restaurants offering the spicy tofu soup also serve up a variety of Korean BBQ dishes as well. Not the kind one cooks oneself, as Seoul Tofu doesn’t offer the table-side burners, but the sort served up on hot metal skillets.
Koreans always start off with a variety of little side dishes. My favorite here is the fried tofu or fish cake in the bottom left. It has a nice chewy texture and a pleasant smokey flavor.
The menu.
Soon Tofu with beef dumplings. This is why I come to these places, for the lovely silken tofu in an intensely hot (temperature wise) bubbling spicy broth. The tofu and the soup were both delicious, but the dumplings lacked a bit in flavor.
A nice presentation of white rice (hot!).
Bulgogi. Grilled thin slices of tender beef marinated in special sauce. This was tasty enough, but the onions were too raw and the meat perhaps a little fatty.
Seoul Tofu follows the exact same formula as the nearby (1 block) Tofu-Ya, and the decor is nicer and more up to date, but the older restaurant is a dollar or two cheaper — and more importantly, tastes a little bit better. Ain’t competition a good thing?