Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Momofuku Lives Up to Hype

I have been crazy busy with work the past few weeks and completely remiss in my food blog posting. So here's some to catch up...
I was in NYC for about 20 hours as a stop-over for a business trip I had to Philly. Visited X, J, and A, my fav Manhattanites. As none of us had been to the much heralded Momofuk, we went there for a Sunday lunch. Got seats at the bar facing all the cooking action and a running commentary from the chef. Not bad at all...
Roasted brussel sporuts with kimchee puree and bacon. This was the hands down favourite for all of us. I think some of us may try to imitate this dish for T-givings. Spicy, smoked chicken wings with chili and scallions. Wanted this to be a more bit Korean wings style, but good nevertheless.

Braised pork belly with daikon, pickeled mustard seeds, and bok choy. This was not the best renditon of pork belly I've had (the honour still belongs to that first time at Scott Howard with that 52 hour sous vide at 123 degrees). But the pickled mustard seeds were a revelation. I need to try making it at home.
X's oxtail soup with rice cakes, daikon, and scallions

A's chicken ramen

J's pork ramen
My momofuku ramen with combo pork and a poached egg. I asked for the noodles to be cooked hard, but they were not. They would have been great noodles had they not been overcooked for my taste. The broth was good but also a bit single note-ish. Not quite the complexity of a Santa or even Himawari. And I thought Bay Area ramen was ions behind. The thing that did shine was pork. Both the shredded meat and the pork belly were incredibley flavourful. I also learned a new technique of making poached eggs that I will try and then report here.
Overall, even thought there were points I could pick at, I still think that Momofuku lives up to the hype. Our meal was delicious (especially the appetizers). Plus, I think we all want to go back and try their version fo shrimp and grits.

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