Brunch at Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village | I just want 2 eat

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Brunch at Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village

image of Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village

I had Momofuky Ssam Bar on my wish list for a while, being a fan of other Momofuku's locations and of their creator, David Chang. Problem is that they do not have that many vegetarian dishes, catering more to meat lovers, especially pork or duck, the later being another reason I wanted to go there, my love for this bird being incommensurable. 
image of Chopsticks at Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village

We decided to go on a Saturday for lunch, early enough to get a table as they only take reservation for large group and specific menus served for three people or more, like the  bo ssäm pork shoulder (serves 6-10 people), the whole-rotisserie duck (serves 3-6 people), or the dry aged ribeye (serves 3-6 people).
image of Dining room at Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village

When we arrived, luckily, there were not that many people in this zen and modern restaurant. Twenty minutes after, it was full of people coming to try their menu made of small plates, perfect for sharing, as well as large ones.
image of Kitchen at Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village

They sat us in front of the kitchen that is located in the back of the restaurant. It was definitely busy over there, the dishes leaving the kitchen at an incredible pace. Surprisingly, our first plates came within few minutes. The first one was the steamed pork buns, one of the signature dishes of Momofuku Noodle Bar and this place.
image of Steamed Pork Buns at Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village

These buns, made with pork belly, hoisin, cucumbers, scallions were succulent, the cucumber giving a nice crunch, the pork belly being tasty and heavenly fatty and the hoisin sauce giving a fantastic sweetness. Definitely a dish I recommend.

The second dish was the kimchi deviled eggs.

image of Kimchi Deviled eggs at Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village

Kimchi is fermented Korean side dish made of vegetables (the most common being cabbage) with a variety of seasonings. Mixing it with the mayo and egg yolk is genius! It was not spicy as I expected and you could taste bits of kimchi that added a bit of texture to the dish. 

Then, we shared the edwards ham and egg sandwich:
image of Ham and egg sandwich at Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village

It was a nice take on a classic ham end egg sandwich, made with a delicious biscuit (I could eat these with just some butter and honey), a sunny side egg and a red-eye gravy (no idea how they made it, but it was very good). It was served with chicharron that is fried pork skin.
image of chicharron at Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village

This is another recommended dish.

The last dish was grilled duck hearts served with red cabbage, sunny side egg and toast.
image of grilled duck hearts at Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village

The presentation looked very appetizing and a bit surprising as I thought that they would just serve it on a piece of toast rather than breaking the bread into pieces. What I did was to pierce the yolk so it dripped in the bottom of the plate and soaked the bread.
image of grilled duck hearts at Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village

I really liked the dish, the duck hearts not being chewy and having a nice grilled taste and the cabbage adding some crunch and texture. I thought that this was a better dish than the duck hearts dish I had at Craftbar last year. 

We had a great brunch at Momofuku Ssam Bar. Not surprisingly, the food was original, elaborate and delicious. The only negative is the very limited vegetarian dishes, but I am sure that if you ask they can accommodate you.

Enjoy (I did)!

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1 comment:

  1. Actually momofuku is very very unacommodating and unwelcoming to vegetarians, they generally refuse to modify dishes in any way. Each of his restaurants has about one vegetarian option..... The mushroom version of the pork buns is great but i think that's only noodle bar. (And the veg ramen at noodle bar is not great).

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