Poll: Mapo Doufu--Love It or Hate It?

Posted in: Forums > Food & Drink • 14 posts • Newest

• • jane_v
    August 27, 2009
    32 posts
  • Mapo Doufu seems to be one of those foods like cilantro/coriander that elicits a strong response from people--either they love it or they can't stand it.

    It might be one of the signature dishes of Sichuan cuisine, but I can't say I care too much for it.

    Strange, because I like spicy food, and I love tofu (especially the kind that's used in mapo tofu), but this particular dish, in my opinion, is just too loaded with ten billion conflicting flavors to be really enjoyable.

    But more than once I've had dinner companions be like, we have to get mapo doufu, as if there's no possibility that somebody might not like it.

    What do you think? Thumbs up or thumbs down to the pock-marked bean curd or whatever it's called in English?

• • invisible
    August 27, 2009
    494 posts
  • LOVE IT! It's been on high-ranking on my list of must-order dishes, but only if it's done well, make sure sauce is not watered down and avoid the MSG. Imo Tiantian currently has a nice MDF. However it seems the dish is more popular among meat-lover and tofu skeptics (like me). Vegans and Vegetarians usually won't like it that much, maybe it's because if you order it without meat it looses some of it's original flavor. It's perfect just with rice or even better in combination with mash potatoes which could make it a proper meal on its own. 3 thumbs up!

• • davidl
    August 27, 2009
    1 post
  • Love it too - one of my favourite dishes, so Sichuanese in its constructed flavours where the ingredients are just a vehicle for the sauce. And that tablespoon of fresh huajiao on top! Meat does add extra depth to the dish, but I reckon vegetarian versions using extra fermented black beans are pretty good too. HAS to be eaten with rice.

    I always liked the CMPDF chain, though staff can be snotty.

• • francesen
    August 27, 2009
    6 posts
  • It's possibly my favourite - if it's done well. You need the slightly softer tofu, not the more flowery kind of soft tofu, and a ton of huajiao (without enough, it's just douban flavour). Without the meat it's just as good. Following the recipe in Dunlop's book Sichuan Cookery you can make it like the restaurants, nay one's mother, would make (if she's sichuanese). It's warming in winter. mmmm. I personally didn't even know people object to it! And as a vegetarian, it's actually one of the few dishes that pack a lot of flavour that you can order without meat.

• • jane_v
    August 27, 2009
    32 posts
  • see what I mean!? everybody just assumes everyone else loves it. personally i would prefer to eat the tofu just plain, or with a bit of sesame sauce or sesame oil and salt. i guess that grosses out most westerners (esp the non-vegetarians). i've always been a sucker for "food that tastes like nothing," e.g., potatoes, fensi, plain-flavor yogurt, etc. what can i say? i'm a white-supremacist when it comes to food. some have chalked it up to the cantonese influence.

• • francesen
    August 27, 2009
    6 posts
  • plain food is good at times, sure, but we're discussing the merits of a dish that I go to for lots of flavour (read: huajiao and black beans haha). It's a shame you don't like it though. I hereby promise to be more sensitive to those who can't take the heat in the future ;p

    who else dislikes it then?

• • hedgepig
    August 28, 2009
    275 posts
  • i like it. i'm also part of the group that's surprised to hear that others don't like it.

    i was first introduced to the dish in the north of china, in veggie form, where i was told it was 麻辣豆腐. so, i still tend to think of the veggie version as being a different dish, even though this reasoning doesn't really stand up in practice.

    it's definitely a candidate for *the* sichuanese dish, though i think i'd have to side with 水煮肉片 if it came down to it.

• • invisible
    October 6, 2011
    494 posts
  • I feel recently most restaurants mess up the mapu tofu. Wtf s going on with this city, are they really loosing their culinary culture within a decade?

• • jinjiang
    October 6, 2011
    9 posts
  • I would agree with you that many Chengdu restaurants are "hit or miss" and lack consistency. However, I would also say that this has always been the dilemma living here (part of the relaxed attitude that embodies the culture). Don't snicker but there is a chain restaurant that features a consistently tasty MDF (South Beauty – located on the 2nd ring road). I have eaten at this place in Beijing and Chengdu (several times) and have never been disappointed in their MDF.

• • meigui
    October 6, 2011
    2 posts
  • how can you NOT like it. My favorite dish ever since day #1 in Chengdu. First time I ever had tofu that I liked. I ask my house helper to prepare it every other week with no the meat and yes extra fermented beans. Soooooooo good! I can even eat it cold from the refrigerator.

• • Skins
    October 6, 2011
    5 posts
  • Loooooooooooove it！！

• • misubi
    October 8, 2011
    20 posts
  • Hate it. I know my Chinese food. Being Hong Kong born Chinese American, I'd say I had much better Mapo Tofu outside of China than in it. The local version is extremely oily (so what else is new?) and bland for a dish loaded with such spice. I was surprised to taste not much meat in the meat sauce. The Sichaunese food in my hometown is way better than most of the stuff here btw. Sacrilege, but my theory is that A) 50 years of Communist economic policieshave destroyed any regard for quality and good cooks have moved to Taiwan or elsewhere B) the over use of cheap MSG has destroyed both cooks and palettes and C) the Sichuanese palette has changed over the years to be narrower and more extreme.

    Case in point, why are there so few non-Sichuanese restaurants in Chengdu? Even Hunanese, with it's similar flavor profile is rare. Shanghainese is non-existent. Very sad.

• • shi enbo
    October 10, 2011
    9 posts
  • BEST.THING.EVER.INVENTED

    I think that I love it, and crave it after just 2 days without it. Have to have some good rice to go along with it, but Chen Mapo Tofu restuarant is the place to go, but 7-11 in a pinch.

• • babymaomao
    October 14, 2011
    6 posts
  • love it!!!!

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