I have had the old “favourite food” conversation with my friends umpteen times, and Korean food always tends to reside atop my list. It’s about time, then, that one graces the annals of this blog. To be honest, I’m not sure why it took so long.

Well, maybe I do… I used to have a twice-a-month love affair with a couple of Koreantown hole-in-the-walls. But it wasn’t until Tofu Village – House of Soon Tofu came along that my thinking about Toronto Korean food changed for the foreseeable future.

Full of locals and an extensive Bunsik menu, Tofu Village steams some of the best Dumplings on the strip ($6.95). Numerous pots of Soon Tofu are on offer for $6.95 each, and their Dolsot BiBimBap ($8.95) is everything a good version stands for: crunchy julienned Veggies and BBQ’d Bulgogi atop rice that has cooked to a crunch at the bottom of the stone bowl.

The Cadillac of Korean dishes, though, at least for me, is Gumjatang ($6.95). And I absolutely love that Tofu Village serves it to me spicy, without assuming that they should default to the mildest variety since I’m not Korean. Cold bottles of Hite ($4) amply wash everything down, and I leave the same way I always do after a good Korean meal: waddling.