Friday 1 March 2013

Momofuku, New York

Buns 

I just got back from New York for a friends wedding which was wonderful fun & obviously whilst there I made sure that I went to some amazing restaurants. The first one that I rushed to was Momofuku noodle bar for dinner, http://momofuku.com/new-york/noodle-bar/. Along side me was my old friend Jateen who came out to NY also.

On first impressions the decor seemed like a nicer Wagamama's (a lot more wooden), packed full of people & very loud rock music blasting away. We sat at the bar so we could watch the chefs working & ordered a carafe of the Momofuku house sake. I expected a small carafe but they literally bought what seemed like a jug of sake. Pretty good & only $21.

Ramen
For starters we had to try there famous "Pork bun" with hoisin, scallion & cucumber. It was absolutely delicious. I could of ate quite a few of them but as it is there is 2 on a plate. It was almost like crispy duck pancakes or at least the hoisin sauce made it feel like that. Either way, Yummy!

Onto mains, I had the "Momofuku ramen" which consisted of pork belly, pork shoulder & a poached egg. It was again, delicious! Really tasty slices of pork belly, lovely noodles & the broth was really tasty without being to heavy, if that makes sense. Jat had some sort of veggy mushroom ramen & he seemed a bit dissapointed with his but didn't really give a reason.

For dessert we went round the corner to the Milk bar http://milkbarstore.com/, which is part of the Momofuku chain & does cake & coffee. I had the "Crack pie" which is a tart based cake. I was pretty tipsy from all the sake by this point so I don't remember much about it, but it was sweet & a bit salty & I scoffed it down. I remember thinking it was good.
Jat left by this point & I really needed the loo so I tried to sneak into a bar across the road from the Milk bar & got completely spotted by the bar staff so ended up having a $20 Negroni cocktail. It ended up also being a Momofuku place called Booker & Dax, http://momofuku.com/new-york/booker-and-dax/. Lovely Negroni but I was wasted!

Anyway the meal was so great I took my godmother there for lunch a few days later & we had the pork buns again (still delicious) but this time for main I tried the "Chilled Spicy Noodles" consisting of Sichuan sausage, spinach & cashews. The waiter said it was very hot but I didn't believe them as usually when people say it's hot I find it never is but this was one of the spiciest dishes I've ever eaten. It was really really tasty! there was a good crunch from the cashews which were sweet & salty & the combination of that with the heat was brilliant.

I had to finish on a ice cream to cool the mouth & they had a sort of Mr whippy machine with one flavour, which was "Cream Cheese Sage". It was really quite tasty & cooled the tongue down no end. Anyone going to New York should definitely visit one of the many Momofuku restaurants, Milk bars or cocktail bars. They all seem brilliant.