Momofuku Noodle Bar 171 1st Ave
New York, NY 10003
As seen on -The Mind of a Chef -No Reservations
The Momofuku name has quite a reputation in New York. Celebrity chef David Chang has propelled all of the Momofuku restaurants into the spotlight of NYC dinning. Maybe the most innovative and trendy chefs in America right now.
Being a fan i wanted to try his world famous pork buns and his ramen is suppose to be top notch. The ramen was fine, a bit on the salty side. At $16 a bowl, I'd expect better though. Pork belly buns are delicious too, but for $5 each, a pure luxury. You better savor that meat, because it disappears quite quickly, and they don't really give you much of it. Def the best steam buns ive ever had but I can get ones almost as good for 1/3 the price so its a tuff call.
They do some spicy fried chicken family style that you need reservations for. I've never actually been able to try the large format fried chicken dinner, the whole reservation system stinks. I've tried to reserve before, but the reservation system kept failing, and when I called, they told me that it was fixed and I should try again. Well, it wasn't fixed, and I called again, but to no avail. They also only allow certain times for reservations, and given the hassle, I gave up. It seems like an interesting concept though, a tad confusing that they serve southern style fried chicken at a ramen bar.
There's a reason why people flock to the Momofuku establishments, and I think it's because they've bought into the vision that David Chang set out for his restaurants. And I think if you've gotten people to buy in, you've done a good job with keeping up the brand. However, there are different places to get good ramen and pork buns, at about the same quality, but for cheaper (Baohaus). I will say that while the food and the ambiance is pretty good here, due to the high prices and the long, long waits, this is definitely one of those "try it once, only so you know how it is" type places. Good stuff and worth checking out all of David Changs establishments. Don't forget Momofuku Milk Bar for dessert.
