Taiwanese Stinky Tofu Touches Down in Montreal With a New Shaughnessy Village Opening

A new restaurant claiming to be the purveyor of “Mtl’s first authentic stinky tofu” has popped up in Shaughnessy Village. Tapas du Taïwan opened on July 29, taking up residence on St-Mathieu Street, between de Maisonneuve West and Lincoln.

The signature here is Taiwanese-style stinky tofu: fermented bean curd cubes. Commonly sold at night markets across Taiwan and known to emit an odour that carries through space, the street snack hasn’t quite taken root in Montreal. But it isn’t wholly absent either — it was recently sold at the Chinatown night market and is the highlight of one of the mini hot pot options at Taiwanese restaurant Nabe on St-Laurent.

Tagline aside, Tapas du Taïwan is more than a joint for strong-smelling bean curd served with Taiwanese pickles. Its menu features various Taiwanese street eats, including sticky rice with pork and braised egg, fish cake soup, and oyster and scallion pancakes. The restaurant ventures into traditional meals, too, including Taiwanese-style sausage rice, danzai tainan noodles, intestine noodle soup, and three cup chicken rice.

Tapas du Taïwan, affiliated with Old Montreal bubble tea shop One Babo, is the latest in a spate of restaurants to open in the Concordia-adjacent hood. In the past year alone, recent additions have included Shanghainese xiao long bao spot Fu Chun, de Maisonneuve West’s Wonton Express, and Koren restaurant and bar DaDashi — but no other dishing that stinky tofu.

Tapas du Taïwan is open Tuesday to Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., at 2100 St-Mathieu Street.