Dinner at Vit Goel ToFu (Lighthouse Tofu)

I thought I was too full from afternoon tea to eat dinner until they told me we were having Korean food. My appetite suddenly roared to life.

Located at a quiet strip mall in Annandale, Va, Vit Goel Tofu was a very unassuming Korean restaurant.

The one page menu was brief and contained all my favorite Korean food. It’s much cheaper to eat lunch here. In Manila the restaurants have the same price for lunch or dinner.

Vit Goel Tofu’s menu

The appetizers and free soup weren’t my type except for the bean sprouts. I wish they had squash salad like the one I had in New York.

After scooping out the rice the server poured bori cha or roasted barley tea in the stone pot to loosen the rice that has crusted on the bottom and sides of the pot. Based on my research,  Koreans like eat this concoction to soothe their tummies after eating spicy food or drinking too much alcohol.

noo roong jee

Pa jun is one of my favorite Korean dishes and this version was really packed with seafood and veggies. The pancake wasn’t greasy and the bottom was golden to a slight crisp.

pa jun or Korean style seafood pancake $12.99

The noodles were very spicy, enough to clear anyone’s cold. I just picked out the tender squid which was all I could handle.

noodles stir fried with calamari & vegetables in spicy sauce $17.99

The specialty of the restaurant was soondubu or tofu soup. We ordered a combination which had clam, shrimp, oyster and beef and one not so spicy that had just pork and beef.  I don’t think we have a Korean restaurant in Manila that specialized in soondubu.

Soondubu – tofu soup $9.95

Chee put a raw egg in the tofu soup.

The soondubu with egg turned creamy. I tried the less spicy pork and beef soondubu and loved the creamy tofu and the spicy beefy broth. I suspect the addition of bullion cubes because the soup base was too tasty. This was a wonderful balm against the chilly December weather in Virginia.

I concentrated all my efforts on the succulent beef ribs that were lightly glazed with a sweet marinade. Everyone couldn’t understand how I was able to eat this without rice. I can and I appreciated the taste of the beef even more without the distraction of rice.

galbi $17.99

It’s no wonder I was able to eat so many pieces of beef ribs.

My cousins did a good job with the rest of the food.

My silly cousins wanted photographic evidence that I paid for dinner. Thanks to Sha’s two coupons our meal was a steal at $60 considering all the food we ordered.

Vit Goel ToFu (Lighthouse Tofu) 
4121 Chatelain Rd. Annandale, VA 22003
telephone: 703-333-3436