Innovative take on Chinese cuisine

From broth soup to Japanese cheesecake, Dofu’ offers Japanese-style Chinese dishes

Recently, there have been an increase in the number of Chinese, Japanese and Korean restaurants across the city. It can prove to be difficult to tell whether they are worth the trip until one tries it out. So we headed to ‘Dofu’ on 100 ft Road, Indiranagar.

The quaint dim-lit space invites you in. Every detail, including the chopsticks, was well-thoughtout.

The food is an innovative take on Chinese cuisine. It reflects the culinary influences from its neighbouring countries.

They specialise in ‘chuka’, a Japanese-influenced Chinese cuisine.

They offer a number of non-alcoholic beverages that pair well with the menu.

We started the dinner with ‘Beef Broth Soup’. “This is the kind of soup I want to have when I’m sick. I can already feel my sinus clearing up,” my friend exclaimed after the very first sip.

It had the right amount of spice with a hint of tanginess. The noodles and vegetables were well-prepared.

Bringing in a Korean influence to the menu is the ‘Ssam Wrap Salad’, which you can customise on the table. A dish dating back to the Yuan Dynasty, it includes a large plate of grilled meats, lettuce, pickles, sauces and oil.

We had the ‘Grilled Pork Belly and Ham Slices’ that also had sticky rice morsels, lettuce, granny smith apple kimchi, raw garlic, miso, fermented chilli bean sauce and sesame oil.

We enjoyed mixing and matching the combinations. Each oil gave a different and distinct flavour to the wrap. The portion size was generous and could easily satisfy two people.

Upon the chef’s recommendation, we also tried ‘Pajeon’, which is a Korean egg pancake. Ours had tofu, mushrooms, cabbage and scallion as toppings. I wasn’t a huge fan of the dish as something about the flavour didn’t appeal to me.

You cannot skip out on the sushi when you are at a Japanese-influenced joint. We opted for the ‘Chuka Sushi Roll’, the ‘Garden Roll’ (avocado and pickled vegetables), ‘Quinoa and Vegetable’ and ‘Salmon and Cheese Roll’.

The sushi was much smaller in size than I expected. The first and last were my favourites. However, the rolls felt a bit dry for my liking.

When we were served ‘Roasted Pork Belly Ramen’, my friend noted that it reminded him of the Maggi noodles. However, it tasted nothing like it.

The ramen was well-seasoned and it’s probably one of the dishes I would go back for.

One of the last dishes we tried was the ‘Char-Grilled Belgium Pork Belly and Apple’. I would highly recommend it.

There was very little sweetness from the apples, which I really liked. The pork was heroed in the dish.

We ended the meal with the now-famous and highly Instagrammed ‘Japanese Cheesecake’. It was a great ending to a rather heavy meal. The cheesecake was soft and light.

I would also recommend that you try their teas for the complete ‘Dofu’ experience.

The restaurant is located at 303, 100 ft Road, Indira Nagar 1st Stage. For more details, call 63646 36222.