The day I learned about banchan

Yesterday my dear friend C Ro -- who, years ago, I randomly approached on the street and insisted she let me be the president of her fan club -- took me to lunch at the Korean Tofu House in the University District.

And it was good. Very, very good.

I had the #1, which was a boiling bowl of tofu soup with clam, shrimp, oyster, and beef. As the server set it down in front of me, she asked if I wanted egg as well, and when I nodded, cracked the egg directly into the bowl. The soup's extreme heat cooked it instantly.

The description for #1 didn't wow me -- I was more interested in the kimchi soup -- but when I asked our server what she recommended, it was the tofu dishes hands down.

Makes sense. After all, it's in their name.

So I figured, what the heck, and picked the first tofu dish in the list. It was incredible!

Lunch was also my first experience with banchan. Banchan are an assortment of small side dishes that accompany the meal, like tapas. Yesterday's banchan included kimchi, bean sprouts, green onion fried pancakes, tofu, and sweetened potato. And oh my gosh, the only dish I didn't wolf down was the bean sprouts.

Because I was full.

A sincere thanks to C Ro for letting me in on the secret of the Korean Tofu House, which was probably only a secret to me.

The Korean Tofu House is located at 4142 Brooklyn Ave NE (between 41st St & 42nd St); Seattle, WA 98105; University District. We were there at 1pm on a Tuesday and it wasn't too crowded, but I bet the lunch hour is packed.