Dinner Adventure #2

There's always that one restaurant, people speak so highly of, and that blows every expectation out of the water. Momofuku Ssam Bar is that restaurant for me. I vividly remember Jeana talking about her encounter with their pork buns (at the time I didn't actually eat pork due to my own ignorance- boy was I missing out) and how amazingly delicious they were. I immediately added them to the bucketlist of places to eat (yes there's a bucket list).

When Kevin and I met, aside from falling head over heels for each other, we bonded over our mutual love for food.  I immediately mentioned how Momofuku was my number one restaurant and he proceeded to tell me about his experience there with what he calls "the perfect scallop" (just for reference, they no longer offer this "scallop" as the menu is always changing).  A few months later and SURPRISE, he takes me to Momofuku Ssam for my birthday dinner. Eating here is unlike any experience; there is no restaurant to compare it to or food type to describe it; it's one of those places you need visit to see for yourself.  We indulged in pork buns, bar buns, crispy rice cakes with sausage, soft shell crab and one of the best pork chops I've ever eaten.  I'll admit to a foodgasm I had while eating one of the pork buns that a waitress actually caught. Needless to say, aside from my favorite birthday gift ever (Canon Rebel) because that clearly held a special place for the evening; this was one of the greatest meals I've ever had.  Now, along with Jeana, Kev and many others; Momofuku holds a special place in my heart.

I mentioned a few posts back, how one of the perks of working in my industry is being able to eat at some of the best restaurants NYC has to offer.  So when given the chance to go back to Momofuku Ssam Bar, I literally JUMPED.  I already knew how good the regular menu was, now it was time to try the meal that made this restaurant who they are; this adventure would to be a completely different beast.  I couldn't stop talking about how amazing this dinner was going to be.  I even went as far as sending the team the link to Anthony Bourdain’s episode clip of when he visited David Chang at Momofuku on his show, No Reservations.   

A little back story on Momofuku Ssam Bar, see there are several David Chang restaurants all over NYC - Momofuku Ssam Bar, Noodle Bar, Ma Peche and Ko - each one known from something different, Ssam Bar is well known for their Bo Ssam (click the link for all questions related to Bo Ssam).  In a nutshell, Bo Ssam is a slow roasted pork, served with lettuce leafs, rice, 4 types of sauce and the optional oysters.  The idea is to put rice, sauce, and oyster (if you like them) in the lettuce the use the tongs to pull some pork off the shoulder and wrap it all together.

Now for the pictures......

Pork Buns close up

The one and only, Bo Ssam!!!!

Lettuce and sauces

one of my many wraps.

The Aftermath...

The point of my story is, there's no way in hell I could have explained how fucking awesome the Bo Ssam was going to be.  Any sort of expectation I came to after eating off the regular menu was ANNIHILATED. It's all about the PORK!!!  From the first pull with the tongs, it was so tender, flavorful, mouthwatering and juicy.  Then combined with these unique sauces; it’s a taste explosion for your mouth.  My favorite sauce was the scallion garlic one but one of the red sauces (which wasn’t spicy) was also great. Using more than one sauce at a time is not frowned upon either.

If you're a lover of all things food, make Momofuku #1 on your bucket list and do yourself a favor - BRING A GROUP AND DO THE BO SSAM.  Next up on my bucket list: the fried chicken at Momofuku Noodle Bar.