The Heir to a Tofu Dynasty Finally Learns to Make Tofu

Glove is ripped! Watch the video-- his left glove has a hole! Doesn't seem very sanitary...

Come to San Francisco!

Soy milk? Milk? I didn’t know soybeans expressed milk.

By comparison... Freshly made tofu in Albany is .50 a cake.

Tofu is tasteless and unpleasant, no one should make it ever, I would just as soon eat styrofoam.

Portland OR has a City, State, and National Treasure in the form of the Ota Tofu company. As a Westerner it even sounds to me like hyperbole, but tofu is a seductive white block of stuff. The fact that a devout carnivore could wind up seduced is still a wonder to me. Eating for the health benefits tofu and miso and can sneak in on you with out you know it's happening. Buying it at the shop the smell may be the first thing. The humid and nutty smell starts out odd, and becomes delicious over time. You know that you are done for the first time you lean over a block that is still warm and just take a bite of it au natural. You will just have to take my word for it because I know it sounds nuts.

There was an old Chinese saying, "a tofu a day keep your doctor away." LOL, I made this one up. But seriously I love tofu and it definitely have health benefits. Tofu is very versatile, you can eat it fresh, stir fry with other vegetables, just add hot olive oil with fresh fried crispy garlic and a tea spoon of soy sauce and you are in heaven.

“Many Chinese people have left, and foreigners have moved in,” said Mr. Lun referring to NYC. I wonder who these ‘foreigners’ are?

Loved the article, photos and videos. Looking very forward to your next article. Keep up your excellent work Aaron Reiss!

I hope this shop doesn't crowd out the more traditional sources of tofu. People who visit this shop because of this article will hopefully support more traditional, less pricey options as well.

First I wish Paul the Best of Luck, but I also think that his Brother Kivin who passed away 10 years ago should have been credited with making the Tofu at the original location or over 30 years.

The article brings me back to my time in NY city. Forty years ago, having left my office in Wall Street on Friday afternoon, I usually stopped by this place to buy a bloc of tofu and a bottle of soy milk. Then I embarked the subway station (Mott st) to go home in the upper East Side. I usually cooked the tofu and saved it for the whole week. Sometimes my Caucasian boyfriend stopped by and devoured all my tofu dishes. The next day he drove me to Chinatown to compensate me with another bloc of tofu. I'll visit Mr Eng's shop next summer.

Fresh, artisanal tofu for $2? Sounds like the best deal in New York!

Growing up, we visited every Saturday to get our fresh made tofu and rice cakes. Out of principle and nostalgia, I'll stop by and support Mr. Eng, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to taste. I hope he was able to recreate the recipes successfully. The price increase is probably necessary to match increased rents in the area, but it does sadden me that after years of being separated from his family's business and legacy, that it took the closing of the shop (and maybe the lucrative business opportunity for an "authentic" shop, think Nom Wah) for Mr. Eng to come back and reopen this fixture in the community. It would be a pity for the shop to reopen, just to be avoided by neighborhood ladies who can't afford the overpriced tofu, and swarmed with cultural tourists who learned about it via instagram. Let's hope that's not the case!

In 1977-78 I used to make tofu weekly from the recipe in The Book of Tofu when I was a poor graduate student vegetarian. It's not difficult. With practice I got the process down to under 1 hr including washing the dishes. The stage where you first get clouds of whispy curds in the pot is quite beautiful. Fresh tofu tastes much better than factory made. The book also had recipes for using the by-product of ground soy beans after they had been squeezed for soy milk. For anyone seriously interested in tofu that doesn't have a good local source, I'd recommend trying it at home.

I used to go in the1980s and 90s to buy fresh tofu at this place. From NJ, I’ll go there once a month and support the store if they use organic and non-GMO soy products

This was a great story, and I’d even make the shlep from the Bronx downtown to buy it IF the tofu used organic soybeans. Sadly, the article didn’t mention the amount of pesticides used in conventional, genetically modified soybeans. Think Monsanto and Roundup. Eating only organic soy products is your best bet.

I have been living near Chinatown and shopping here on regular basis since the 80s. Tofu shops used to be the anchor of neighborhood blocks and seemed to be thriving. They provided everything soybean needed in a Chinese kitchen besides tofu. From bean sprouts to soy milk, tempeh to tofu skin and a lot more. As Asian food became more popular, people all over have grown familiar with vegan or vegetarian ingredients used in the cuisines. Packaged tofu from Japan or Korea are much better in taste and quality a lot of times. I always wonder why the Chinese tofu makers never felt the need to improve or innovate, the demand is definitely growing. Maybe Mr. Eng should channel David Chang and pay pilgrimage to China,Japan and Korea to learn about the real tofu culture, he will be humbled. Chinatown is after all, not China, the scope is more than limited. This is a good beginning though, I wish him luck.

Congratulations Mr Eng, for carrying your family history forward. I wish you all the best. Please consider giving a discount to seniors in the neighborhood, as respect for elders. They supported your parent’s business, but perhaps are now priced out.

A very good, well-written story. I love the paragraph about the three women wanting to enter the store. I felt as if I had been inside the shop looking out. The photograph of the ladies is terrific. I genuinely admire the gentleman’s dream and passion. Perhaps there’s hope for Manhattan, after all.

Love tofu, wish the shop was in my neighborhood! Great article and photos.

This is not only a wonderful, inspiring story, but it also makes a strong statement about how greedy landlords are destroying the character of Manhattan. The loss of so many family-run stores can destroy the fabric of a city. The recent closing of the Paris Theatre is a particularly galling example to me. I hope Mr. Eng succeeds. When we visit New York City three times a year, a week or so at a time, to see some theatre, go to museums, dine out, and enjoy the experience of being in Manhattan, we stay with friends on the UES who are great restaurant-goers, as well as being excellent home cooks. I’ll make sure we visit Eng’s shop and bring goodies back to the apartment to use for a few delicious meals.

I've been eagerly following this new venture since Mr Eng announced he was going to re-open his family business. I've lived on Mott Street for almost 20 years and the old Fong In Too was a regular stop in for their fabulous tofu pudding which was ladled out by the same older gentleman for years. It was perfection. I think when I first started going there, I paid 75 cents for a small container. The shop was always bustling, the pots in the back boiling, the sound of my family's dialect filling the air. You had to elbow your way to get to the front. The closing of the shop was a huge loss. I recently visited the new shop for the white rice cakes and was taken aback by this new modern entity- it seemed a bit too sterile for me. And the sticker shock was, well, shocking. It was definitely not the old place- and it doesn't feel like it's meant to cater to the old neighborhood. But I understand you have to think about the future and how to make a small business survive. I wish Mr Eng the best of luck.

Thank you for this article. One of the reasons I like Oregon is they seem to have a fresh tofu store on every black. Good luck Sir with this endeavor. Plus how nice to see a Earth saving article instead of cattle or chickens.