After relentlessly trying to get reservations at Momofuku Ko, David Chang's newest endeavor, Vivian and I gave up. Well, sort of. I'm still dying to go there at some point before I move out of NYC in the next few weeks, but we gave up on trying to go there together. Maybe I'll have more luck if I try eating there by myself, while she can wait to eat there until the hype dies down, if it ever does. So we decided on Momofuku Ssam Bar, and at least they don't take reservations. Usually, I don't like popular places that don't take reservations, but Ko's reservation system frustrates me to no end. Perhaps I'll elaborate on that when and if I ever get to eat there.
We showed up at Ssam Bar around 5:45 on a Wednesday night. That's really early for me, but we were both hungry and were worried about a long wait later on anyways. While browsing the menu (it changes daily, so I stole one!), we noticed a note on the back mentioning a tasting menu, so we asked our server about it. It's a $70 6-8 course tasting menu where the chef picks anything out of the regular menu, typically one from each category. We asked if they would allow us to pick out a few things that we were more interested in, and they were totally cool with that, so we told our server that we definitely wanted to try the pork buns, sweetbreads, and the skate. Other than that, we were cool with whatever else they want to pick out for us.
We started off with an amuse bouche of crostini topped with uni. I LOVE LOVE LOVE uni. I can still taste the brininess of the uni I had a Yasuda. Unfortunately, Ssam's uni wasn't quite as briny, but it was still great. We were also given a soup spoon with a calamari spring salad, which was quite refreshing.
To get the ball rolling a little more, we were given the plate of Seasonal Pickles. This is when I realized that there's not really such a thing as tasting portions for the tasting menu here. The portion was huge, and it came with maybe around 10 different pickled fruits/vegetables. My personal favorites were the pickled pears, fennel, cauliflower, cucumber, and kimchi. I actually thought the pickles were just supposed to be on the side the whole time - totally didn't realize it was a course on its own until we were asked a few times if they wanted us to take the pickles away.
This was the Cured Hamachi with edamame, horseradish, and pea leaves. I'm not very good at processing what the servers tell us every time they come out with a new plate, but I can only assume that the crunchy black stuff was the horseradish. I'm not sure what the green sauce was, but it added a nice touch.
The Sliced Kona Kambachi with arugula and strawberries came out at the same time, and this is the point when we realized that we don't get the same foods. Hell yeah! This must be the awesomest thing about Ssam Bar's tasting menu. It's not even like this at Ko, so yay for that. It seems like they also intend for you to share each other's plates, so they gave us empty plates for the purpose of sharing as well. Viv and I pretty much just split every dish half and half, so we really got to sample quite a bit here. Anyways, I liked this raw dish as well. The funny thing is that I frequently make an arugula salad with strawberries (and other stuff...I'll post up the salad recipe eventually). If only I could add some kampachi on my salads frequently. The strawberries and fish combination was pleasantly surprising to me, and you know I enjoy new flavor combinations. Loved loved loved it.
This was the Satur Farms' Asparagus with miso butter and poached egg. I absolutely love asparagus, and while I normally don't like runny eggs, I will more than willingly eat raw or runny eggs at a place that I trust. I definitely liked this with the asparagus, but what made this dish superb was the miso butter. The flavors all blended so well. If only I can get some miso butter somewhere and make this myself.
The Roasted Mushroom Salad with pistachio, radish, and sunchokes was another really good vegetable dish. I wanna say that the sauce was a pistachio sauce, which blended with the mushrooms really well. There were two kinds of mushrooms, one being oyster mushrooms. I'm not sure what the other kind was.
This was the monster plate of Country Hams. They gave us two kinds, but unfortunately I honestly can't tell you which two out of the four they are because I wasn't listening carefully enough. In any case, they were both good. I'm not an except on hams, but clearly they were sliced thinly like prosciutto, serrano, and the like. It was also served with coffee gravy on the side, which I actually did not like at all, and this is coming from a coffee addict (who gets migraines if she doesn't drink her morning coffee). It just tasted bizarre to me even though it was exactly what you would expect coffee in that creamy, mayo-texture form to taste like. I wasn't sure how that was supposed to be eaten with the bread and ham. But as you can see, this was a really large portion of ham. As awesome as the ham was, I would've been perfectly satisfied with half the portion.
Alas, the pork buns! Now let me just be up front about this. I used to not eat pork in it's most natural, meaty form. Sausages have been among my most favorite things in life since I was a kid, and definitely bacon in the last few years. But I formerly did not do unprocessed or uncured pork. I know this is a huge shame for a Filipino Chicago native. Really really bad. I'm sorry. But it's ok because I started to like pork just this past Christmas when my cousin made an amazing braised pork thing. I still don't think I'll eat pork chops or lechon since I don't really like the natural taste and dryness of pork, but maybe I'll give it a shot again.
Anyways, the pork buns. They were really freakin' awesome. The pork belly melted in my mouth. While of course there was a good amount of fat, it was the kind that melted in my mouth. Chewy fat grosses me out to no end. I wish I could've had like 10 of these pork buns. I kinda wanna go back for lunch now just to eat these mini pita-like buns.
Next, we both got our fish courses. This one is the Old Bay Pan-Fried Skate with roasted fingerlings, pickled ramps, and spicy aioli. I really liked how the spicy aioli went with the skate. The only thing I didn't like was the pickled ramps, and you know I love ramps. I guess the pickled taste of it was just weird to me.
This was the Grilled Mahi Mahi with sunchokes, tomatoes, and pancetta. It was probably my least favorite dish of the night. I just thought the fish itself was a bit bland. On the bright side, there was pancetta. Yay for more fatty pork.
For the last savory course, we got the Grilled Veal Sweetbreads with pickled roasted chilies and lime. I had never really had sweetbreads (thymus glands...yes) before aside from a bite from the sweetbreads my dad always orders at Babbo, so I was pretty excited for this. The lime gave an extra layer of flavor which I actually thought was necessary. The char also gave it a smoky flavor which was nice. These sweetbreads were also richer and creamier than I thought they would be. I don't remember the ones at Babbo being quite as creamy. While I really enjoyed these sweetbreads, I feel like I would prefer them to be fried a la KFC popcorn chicken-like Momofuku Noodle Bar style. I think the crunchiness would balance the inner creaminess well. I'll definitely have to try that at some point.
The other 7th course was the Bev Eggleston's Pork Shoulder Steak with zucchini and buttermilk dressing. This was yet another standout of the night. I never thought buttermilk and pork would go together, but I was seriously wowed at how well the flavors went together. The only thing is that this serving was way too large for a tasting, but nothing wrong with more pork, right?
One of our dessert courses was the Blondie Pie with cashews. I really liked this. It was quite rich, sweet, and dense, but very well-flavored.
Last, but DEFINITELY not least, was the Rhubarb Shorkcake with Kendall Farm's Creme Fraiche. I've never had rhubarb before. I didn't even know it's sweet. This was ridiculously good. The homemade creme fraiche was amazing, and it balanced the sweetness of the rhubarb and shortcake very well. The crunchiness of the outside of the shortcake was really nice too. If you have a chance to go to Ssam Bar while rhubarbs are still in season, you must get this for dessert.
So that's the end of our meal at Momofuku Ssam Bar. It was truly truly awesome, and any adventurous eater (or pork lover) would be amazed by this place. Do yourself a favor, and try this place...especially if you, too, have given up on trying to get a reservation spot at Momofuku Ko.
Momofuku Ssam Bar
207 2nd Ave
New York, NY
