Tasty Douha in a Vintage-Style Setting at Origin Tofu Pudding
Douhua — also known as tofu or soybean pudding — can be a polarising dessert choice among newcomers to Taipei. Many love its simple flavours, customisable nature, and soft, silky texture while many more have yet to be charmed. We’re a little embarrassed to admit that for the longest time we fell into the latter category, and even today wouldn’t consider ourselves huge lovers of this traditional Chinese dessert. Despite this, one douhua experience stands out above the others we have tried. Located between Xiaonanmen and Ximen (with a new branch near Taipei City Hall in Xinyi), Origin Tofu Pudding checked several boxes for us: a great-tasting product, friendly service, playful old-school atmosphere, and a highly photogenic setting.
We’d be lying if we told you that the aesthetically-pleasing shop front wasn’t big part of why we first visited. Origin Tofu Pudding is cute, with a distinctly retro vibeย and a playful atmosphere tongue-in-cheek slogans reading things like, “HOT GIRLS ALL SAY IT’S DELICIOUS, AND HOT GUYS ALL LOVE THE FLAVOUR”ย or “THIS PLACE HAS LASTED THREE GENERATIONS, AND WE ARE THE FIRST GENERATION.” It’s a nice mix of modern and old, and makes for a great little photo spot. To make things even better, an adorable puppy that works on Saturdays has become their very own social media star. Seating in the Ximen branch is all outside and therefore limited, but this rather adds to the experience. The Xinyi branch can seat around eight people inside.
Origin Tofu Pudding has a small but relatively diverse menu that’s displayed on little suspended wooden tags. They have a range of hot and cold douha, with some traditional choices like a hot wheat herbal jelly soup and douha to something more modern like the milk syrup flavour douha. Everything on the menu is very reasonably priced and ranges from $49 – $59 per item.
Another fun element to the menu is the way you order your toppings; i.e. by choosing a different coloured chopstick and handing it to the cashier. They have sweet potato balls, tapioca, pearl barley, green bean, peanut, and red bean, and if you’re undecided on what to get, you can even choose a chopstick at random to make the decision easier. Two toppings are included in each douha, although you can add more for a modest fee. If you check in on Facebook, they’ll throw on some extra tapioca for your trouble.
The two kinds of douha we got were the milk syrup douha (bottom right, $59) and a special that they had, which was douha in a hot ginger syrup (bottom left, $59). We got the milk syrup douhua served cold so that we could try both kinds, and were very pleasantly surprised by how much we liked it. We’re not usually the biggest fans of douhua, but with this sweet, slightly caramelised syrup it was an absolute dream. The douhua itself was tender and soft, with a gentle but distinctive soy taste that suggested the pudding wasn’t overprocessed. For toppings, we got taro balls, sweet potato balls, and peanuts. Both were nice, but we had a strong preference for the balls, both of which were deliciously chewy and bouncy, and actually tasted of taro and sweet potato, respectively. Our Taiwanese friend has always told us that the only traditional desserts worth having taste strongly of their original ingredients, and both the douhua and toppings passed this test with flying colors.
We enjoyed the second of the two desserts — douhua in hot ginger syrup — slightly less than the first, but it was still pretty enjoyable. The ginger syrup was sweet and warming, without too overpowering a flavour, which may be disappointing to die-hard ginger fans who prefer a spicier kick. However, it was just the right balance for us, as we were still able to taste the delicate flavours of the douhua. Interestingly, the taro and sweet potato balls were a little less chewy than they were in our first dessert. We didn’t hate it, but we would keep it in mind when choosing between a hot and cold dessert next time.
Overall, we actually really enjoyed our trip to Origin Tofu Pudding. Douhua is usually not our thing, and while we can’t claim to be 100% converted after this one trip, we sure came close. There are probably better tofu puddings in the city, but we loved the focus on quality ingredients, innovative ordering process and gorgeous vintage-style decor. Whether or not you’re the biggest douhua fan — either way, you’re not alone — it’s a fun place to check out, have some dessert, and snap a few photos.
What’s the vibe:
Small douhua shop that combines modern and traditional elements for a playful yet rewarding experience. Customers were a pretty diverse group, not just the young and beautiful following the latest social media trends.
Worth it?
Yes! It’s cute, affordable, and we actually enjoyed the douhua.
Would you go back?
Yes: it’s a nice place to take people from out of town, current or aspiring douhua lovers, and anyone who likes a good vintage aesthetic.
Last visited November 2020
| Origin Tofu Pudding |
| Chinese Name: ๆฌ้ก่ฑ่ฑๅบ |
| Hours: 1pm โ 9pm |
| Phone: 06928978980 |
| English Address: No. 1, Section 2, Guiyang St, Wanhua District, Taipei City |
| Chinese Address: ๅฐๅๅธ่ฌ่ฏๅ่ฒด้ฝ่กไบๆฎต1่ |
| Origin Tofu Pudding (Xinyi Branch) |
| Chinese Name: ๆฌ้ก่ฑ่ฑๅบ ไฟก็พฉ |
| Hours: 1pm โ 9:30pm |
| Phone: 0975532802 |
| English Address: No. 78, Songlong Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City |
| Chinese Address: ๅฐๅๅธไฟก็พฉๅๆพ้่ทฏ78่ |
