We have often found Asian desserts are as focused on texture as they are on flavour. During a visit to Richmond, British Columbia - a city famed across North America for its Chinese cuisine - we made a point of looking for some dessert options and learned that iTofu was one of the most loved spots in the city.
This dessert shop started with a stall at the Richmond Night Market and used its popularity to create a retail location. Everything on their menu has a tofu focus: tofu pudding, tofucotta (a pannacotta-like treat), and Tofu Parfait.
Tofu Pudding
This treat can be enjoyed either hot or cold, depending on your mood and the seasons. The delicate, silky tofu provides the pudding base. They offer toppings like coconut milk, mango, and tapioca balls flavoured like black sesame. We went for the cold mango, which was sweet and flavour packed.
If you want something a little more interesting, consider the grass jelly, taro balls, or gluttonous rice. We gave a hot tofu pudding with colourful taro balls a try. The delicate, sleek tofu was a wonderful contrast against the denser, chewy taro balls.
You can adjust the sweetness of the dessert with ginger syrup, simple syrup, or cane sugar.
There are savory options as well, including seaweed and dried pork, or preserved vegetables and dried shrimp. We're suckers for Chinese dry pork and would give that a try if we found ourselves in town again.
Tofu Parfait
The tofu parfait is an excellent option if you want to try several toppings. A big cup is filled with layers of toppings with tofu pudding in between. This is the best way to explore different flavours in one visit. Tofucotta
As the name suggests, this is panacotta made with tofu. This has a thicker custard-like texture. Flavours come in familiar tastes like London Fog, Horlicks (malted milk), or Hojicha (a type of green tea). Asian food lovers will be excited to see Pandan and Durian flavoured tofucotta is also on offer. You can also choose to enjoy one of their toppings with this treat.
iTofu Drink
There is also a drink option where the pudding is mixed with soymilk, and two topping choices are mixed in. Bubble tea lovers might take some real pleasure in this option.
Address: 125 - 4040 No 3 Rd. Richmond
Website: iTofu-richmond.com Google: Goo.gl/maps/29oTrwyvzSRH16CB9 TripAdvisor: Tripadvisor.ca/Reviews-ITofu-Richmond_British_Columbia.html Yelp: Yelp.ca/biz/itofu-richmond?osq=itofu
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