Momofuku Noodle Bar
171 First Avenue (btwn 10th & 11th)
New York, NY 10003
(Photo via New York Times)
Momofuku has been on my list of places to try FOREVER. It opened back in 2004 when I was still a student at NYU. For some reason it took nearly 6 years for me to finally get my act together and go.
It was worth the wait.
I was meeting my awesome friend Kim there for dinner at around 7:30pm. The place was packed and we were told the wait would be between 45 minutes to an hour. But after about 30 minutes of waiting we were seated along the bar. Not bad at all Momofuku, not bad at all.
I was intrigued by the day’s Prix Fixe menu but I came in knowing exactly what I was going to eat: the pork buns and ramen. So that’s what I ordered.
Ever since having the infamous Momofuku pork buns I can’t get them out of my head. These aren’t your traditional steamed pork buns at all. Take the dough from a regular steamed bun and turn it into a pancake. Top it with slices of some of the yummiest, most flavourful pork belly, pickled cucumber, scallions and sauce. The fattiness of the pork belly helps keep everything moist. I’m pretty sure the secret ingredient in these pork buns is crack dust or something because they are addictive.
I ordered the Momofuku Ramen because I’ve been hearing about it for years. I am no ramen connoisseur. Most of ramen experience comes courtesy of Mr. Noodle (shrimp flavour) so I can’t compare this to other exemplary rament specimens. For what it was this ramen was pretty darned good. It was a bowl of really flavourful broth filled with pork belly, pork shoulder, a poached egg, scallion, nori and other assorted bits of goodness. I was initially freaked out about the poached egg since runny eggs freak me out, but the poached egg didn’t impede my enjoyment of the ramen at all. I just stirred the egg around in the hot broth and was able to forget about any egg. This was the perfect dish for a cold New York evening.
Since I was on vacation I decided to go all out and even get a drink. I ordered the Soju “dark n stormy” slushie. WOW. It was an alcoholic slushie with a serious ginger kick to it. Really refreshing and perfect for cutting through some of the fattiness. If I still lived in NYC and it was summer I would drink these all the time.
The restaurant was so packed I hardly got a sense of the place. We sat at the bar and were comfortable enough. I also appreciated the hooks to hang up my jacket and purse. The service was not memorable at all. Not to say the servers were mean or particularly nice but they did not strike me at all.
David Chang, the owner of Momofuku has a number of restaurants in the East Village under the Momofuku name. I’ve been to the Milk Bar for treats but that’s about it. While I’m sure the other restaurants are great I’d be pretty content hitting up the Noodle Bar on my next trip.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
