Monday, March 15, 2010

Momofuku Ssäm Bar (New York, NY) ...and XLERATOR


fuzzy

[ts]
As you may have guessed from that fuzzy peach (haha!) -- well, and from the title of the post, duh -- we ate at Momofuku Ssäm Bar while in New York.


"we do not serve vegetarian friendly items"



[ts]
We sat at the counter. There's another blurry photo; this time, of the interior.

I apologize in advance because every photo we have is blurry. I blame the descending darkness while we were eating.


American Wagyu - cucumber, ponzu



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I've never had wagyu previous to this. Not bad. The accompaniments to the beef were nice, but I don't think my unsophisticated palate detected anything too special about the beef itself.




Crispy Pig's Head - lime pickle, peach


Grilled Baby Octopus - chorizo, pickled fennel, Piperade oil

[ts]
Both of the above dishes were also nice.



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Of course, we had to order "the" pork belly bun.


Steamed Buns - pork belly, hoisin, cucumbers, scallions





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Supposedly, one is to eat this with hot sauce. So that's what we did.

So how was it? Not bad. But nothing spectacular.

Of course, how could it be spectacular compared to our Taiwanese Gua Bao 刮包 (Pork Belly Bun)?!?!?


Ice Cream Pie - sweet corn cereal milk, tristar strawberries



[ts]
Dessert was OK. I was drawn in by the promise of sweet corn ice cream... but I don't recall it being too corn-y at all.

JS and I were also not that full from the meal. Did we not order enough?

All in all, the food was not bad, pretty good. I don't know about all the hype. It was pleasant enough. Did we not order the correct items? Did we go to the wrong Momofuku?

The Most Memorable Part of the Evening


[ts]
I went to the bathroom and chuckled out loud when I saw that their hand dryers were of the XLERATOR brand. Why?

Back in 2006, while at the airport in London, I went to the bathroom and experienced the XLERATOR experience.

See there near the nozzle, it says: "FEEL THE POWER".



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I placed my hands under and WHOA!



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"FEEL THE POWER" is right!

It was the same XLERATOR experience at Momofuku Ssäm Bar.




Momofuku Ssäm Bar
New York, NY
http://momofuku.com/ssam/default.asp
Visited in August 2009

We ate all the food below -- and more -- in 4 days! Insane. See how: NYC Eating Extravaganza (August 2009)

[eatingclub] vancouver in New York
Rice to Riches
Shake Shack
Grom Gelato
Bleecker Street Pizza
New York Burger Co.
Ess-a-Bagel
Artichoke Basille's Pizza
Katz's Deli
Lombardi's Pizza
Hummus Place
Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Man
Anthos
Momofuku Ssäm Bar
Amy Ruth's
wd-50
Taïm Falafel and Smoothie Bar
A Tale of Two Dogs: Gray's Papaya & Papaya King

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8 comments:

  1. Wow that's one super dryer! Heard lots about momofuku and I even bought the book! Would love to try someday.

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  2. Loved the pork buns and that pig's head torchon...mmmmmmmmm still thinking about it!

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  3. The hand dryer blown me away hahaha! Those were very thick slices of pork on the buns.

    I like the disclaimer in the menu "we do not server vegan friendly items."

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi! Great post! My friend absolutely ADORES the Momofuku restaurant(s) and she is even on a current mission to test out all his recipes. You can find her here: momofukufor2.com

    Also, just wanted to note that the Excelerator hand-dryer can also be found at Chambar. I know, I was quite blown away too, lol.

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  5. Okay, that dryer is scary...
    Anyway, I wasn't too impressed with the pork buns too, even if they looked good. Is it because we Filipinos have a great tradition for immigrant Chinese pork buns? I know I've had a gazillion better ones.
    I did leave very full, though... Won't elaborate for now :P

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  6. pigpigscorner:
    I'm curious about the *OTHER* Momofukus now.

    Su-Lin:
    I didn't expect the pig's head to come in torchon form, actually, and was quite surprised when it did!

    Brian Asis:
    I love that dryer. But man, the heat from it was intense. I had to keep my hand there for longer than normal to get the picture. I was afraid of burning myself! ;)

    Wait for *OUR* "gua bao" (pork belly bun)!

    j.V:
    Seems strange, but hearing about the hand dryer at Chambar makes me want to go there. Haha.

    Manggy:
    I guess I'll have to wait for *your* Momofuku post? I didn't really have that much to say about it, hehe.

    re bun ~
    Actually, I think the Taiwanese "Gua Bao" -- which is the inspiration for his buns, I am assuming -- is much, much better.

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  7. Whoa! Xlerator - wonder if they make hair dryers? :-)

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  8. ET:
    If they did, those hair dryers just may blow your hair off! ;D

    ReplyDelete

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