Review Momofuku SSAM Bar

[rating:4]

Momofuku is one cool cat! Since dining at his restaurant, I have seen his magazines, heard him telling stories on the moth, and realized that there is so much more to this guy than just his restaurants. I’ll let you listen to the stories if you want to know how he feels about having michelin stars, I’m here to talk about the food!

I recently celebrated another year in this world. For my birthday gift, the lady took me out to dinner at this location. The first question we were asked upon entering was whether we wanted to sit next to each other or facing each other. I prefer to face my dining partner, it makes for easier conversation. We were seated on this bar like table with a view into the open kitchen.

[twitter-follow username=”arodomus” scheme=”light”]

The decor at this restaurant is modern chic, pretty cool. It is slightly dark, but not to the point where you don’t see the delicious culinary treats presented.

When I go to fancy famous chef restaurants, I like to try new items, things I would not normally trust from a regular spot. These guys are supposed to be super talented, so let’s see what you got son. I’ve been a judge on a network television show. I’ve had celebrity chefs cook private dinners for me and my friends, I’ve received coaching on cooking from celeb chefs, and I dine at restaurants all over this great city. Bring your “A game” my friends, because I’m taking over the world. Lol, not really, I want to, but it isn’t gonna happen. So, uhm, yeah.

In any case, yes, new stuff! Pork belly is a food item that many of my friends love. I’ve actually avoided it, something about eating the item that I’m trying to reduce on my individual body has never felt right. Hahah, I have my personal pork belly.

“Angel, you were on that TV show! I saw you on the TV! It was supposed to be healthy show right? For you to lose weight? I guess it didn’t work did it?”

Ouch! True story, by the way, I was on TV, and I’m still working off the excess weight. This person wasn’t being malicious when they said this to me, it was just an etiquette oversight. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself.

Steamed buns – pork belly, hoisin, cucumber, scallion
So I tried the pork belly buns. I’ve had pork buns before, and I like those a lot, so why not? This product is not quite the same style. The dish has its on twist. Instead of being a bun that completely covers the ingredients like your typical pork bun, this was styled more like a bun taco of sorts. You actually fold the bun over the pork and veggies. It was extremely delicious, the wife and I were very happy with the dish. Yum.

Peekytoe crab – apple, green mango, myoga
Another item that I love is crab, so we decided to the crab dish. This thing was an assortment of flavors that really pleased our palates. They even sprinkle some shaved ice around it, which gives it a refreshing, cool touch. Right out of the ocean fresh, try it you’ll enjoy it. Unless you are allergic to seafood, then don’t eat it because my man Momo don’t be using no fake ass crabs! Feel me?

Whole boneless porgy – turnip, hon shimeji, shio kombu
As one of our main dishes we went with the porgy. This is a whole fish, but they serve it “boneless.” It comes in a large bowl, in a delicious broth. Surprisingly, it was pretty much completely boneless, again Momofuku comes through for the win. Restaurants say boneless, but there are always bones! There are always bones! Except here, kudos Momofuku!

Niman ranch rib chop – cauliflower, pear, sunchoke
The other main dish we had were the pork chops. These were really good too. They came with sort of like a mashed potato, sauce thingamajig made out of the cauliflower. Uhm, delish! The pears caught me off guard. I was expecting a salty item and blindly bit into it, when it was sweet, I was all like “Yooooo! What is this madness!”

All in all, this was a great place to celebrate my birthday with my lovely lady. The service was excellent, but of course, we’d expect nothing less from a man that owns like five restaurants in the same vicinity, one of which has two Michelin stars. It’s funny; my wife thought she was taking me to the one with the fancy accolades. This isn’t it, that one is Ko. However, stars or no stars, this place lives up to the standard of Momofuku. The food, service, decor, and overall experience of the evening was splendid. I look forward to trying out the other restaurants that he owns, including the one with all those fancy smancy Michelin stars!

If you enjoy listening to stories, look up Momofuku on moth, listen to his story about earning his Michelin stars. He’s really funny and entertaining.

(Photo courtesy of Momofuku website.)

Momofuku Ssäm Bar on Urbanspoon

Leave a Reply to arodomus Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.


*