EATING NEW YORK – Momofuku Ssam Bar, Noodle Bar

I first heard of David Chang in an article in the Observer Food Monthly that mainly focused on his mythical pork buns, but didn't really give me much of an impression of his restaurants. I got more of that when watching an episode of Vice' munchies series (Chang goes to a fried chicken joint in Korea-town called Mad for Chicken) and the cookbook, which aside from some excellent if time-consuming recipes, is worth getting for the excellent writing. The stories of the unconventional rise and the shaky starts at both Noodle and Ssam bar are as charming as they are inspiring. Charming because he makes a lot of mistakes, (Ssam bar was originally supposed to mainly sell the Korean Burrito's known as Ssam) inspiring because he he barely knew what he was doing when he started and does a lot of things differently to the restaurants we're used to in the UK.

Each of the Momofuku restaurants has an iconic picture when you arrive through the door, at Noodle bar it’s an Elliot Landy picture of The Band, at Ssam bar it’s a tattered picture of John McEnroe and even at their new Sydney outpost there’s two pictures of AC/DC’s Angus Young, because Chang apparently reckons they're ‘Australia’s best export.’

A top ten most played list at a Momofuku restaurant:

• “Tomorrow Never Knows” by 801,
• “Providence” by TV on the Radio,
• “Five Cornered Drone (Crispy Duck)” by Yo La Tengo,
• “You Can’t Stop Me Now” by the RZA,
• “Life Like” by the Rosebuds,
• “Mambo Sun” by T-Rex,
• “Your Fucking Sunny Day” by Lambchop,
• “Point That Thing Somewhere Else” by the Clean,
• “Sweet Lady Guinevieve” by the Kinks,
• “Freaking and Tweaking” by Luna,
• “Margarita” by the Traveling Wilburys.

And the food, a mix of high-end techniques, processes and knowledge with an appreciation of comfort food and the munchies (Chang enjoys Marijuana and probably loves the Big Lebowski). They've made grits fashionable again, spearheaded a fried chicken renaissance and created desserts like crack pie and compost cookies at the hugely successful Milk bar offshoots. Of course walking around New York now, you'd say that there's tons of restaurants doing similar things, but most of them weren't doing it eight years ago and aren't named no.40 in the top 100 restaurants in the world. I managed to get into both the restaurant Ssam bar and the second incarnation of Noodle bar and check out the sites of the original dude-food revolution.

SSAM BAR

As we walked into the restaurant, Pavement were on the stereo and the signature scruffy McEnroe picture hung loose on the wall. The host told us we’d have to wait (there were six of us) but could do so in their bar next door. In the last week this has transformed into a new Dave Chang and Dave Arnold collab-bar called Booker and Dax, (a scientific cocktail bar which includes a red hot poker section). But right then this wood-lined room ski-lodge-resembling room was Momofuku Bar; a pretty loose set-up with wine, beer, cocktails and snacks. As at Frankie's, The Stooges were on the stereo, I ordered a bottle of Ithaca Cascazilla red Aae, which was one of the best beers I drank in New York, my girlfriend had a bottle of Virgil’s cream soda, which was so good we searched for it at every bar for the rest of the trip. From the snacks menu we ordered some ham chips and fried hominy, the chips had the texture of feather-light prawn crackers, but infused with the flavour of ham rather than crustacean. Hominy is one of the forms of corn that can be made into grits, and this time was made into a grit chips, (very similar to the polenta chips we are more familiar with) which were a little bland on their own, but good with the shrimp mayo they came with. Both snacks were especially good with beer.

When our table was ready we were guided into the restaurant passing a glistening rotisserie duck that forms part of the Duck Ssam menu they offer for parties and the busy open kitchen.
We were given water in the school dinner-like stainless steel jugs that are a feature of New York restaurants. In New York, we never had to ask for water.  We ordered liberally, our server thought it not enough, but then, they always do.

Jonah crab claws, which are in the excellent Momofuku cookbook. The yuzu mayo was delicious, but the claws were, we thought, a little too cold. It does say in the cookbook they buy them frozen-  still tasty. I love crab.

The legendary pork buns, how can something so simple be so good?

A voyage of discovery through a plate of pickles, the carrots or the meaty mushrooms were the best.

The bread came with whipped lardo (cured pork fat) and sea salt butter. It was good and the lardo was great.

Matsutake Dashi with fishballs, sepia & pine. This mushroom dashi was incredibly flavourful and fresh, like tasting a forest. One of the best things we ate.

Stuff we didn't get photos of:

Veal sweetbreads with almond, sauerkraut & thai chilli. I’ve had sweetbreads before, but not veal. Damn these were good, the best I’ve eaten. Deliciously crisp on the outside, moist in the middle with an amazing almond puree, it's a shame people get so freaked out about eating thyroid glands. Who even knows what thyroid glands do?

Bev Eggleston’s pork shoulder steak, cauliflower, piperade. This one’s also in the cookbook (though with a different garnish) and was one of the tastiest bits of pork I’ve ever eaten. Perhaps it was because it was served pink in the middle, maybe because  Eggleston's pork is so damn good. It came with a super-tasty cauliflower puree and chunky non-traditional piperade combo.

NOODLE BAR

We hit noodle bar for lunch, with the sole intention of having Momofuku Ramen, having made an appropriation of it at home and being big fans of the stuff without actually being able to get it much in the UK (outside Wagamama's). There was no queue this time, a Thursday lunchtime, so we sailed right in, past that picture of The Band (representing the Momofuku group mentality). This isn't the original noodle bar; that tiny space has now been turned into the twelve-seat, two-Michelin star Momofuku Ko, which as you might imagine, is pretty hard to get into. (Get on the website at 10am, a week before you want to get in and you might get lucky.)

The lunch menu centered around variations on their 'classic' ramen and buns, plus daily and seasonal specials. We held true to our stated intentions and ordered Momofuku ramen, though we did relent just a little and get a pork bun each too. Pork shoulder and belly, nori, spring onions, noodles, an incredibly flavorsome broth and a slow cooked poached egg that made everything taste even better once the yolk was broken. This bowl of ramen was the kind of simple, uncomplicated bowl of food I wish I could eat once a week... for the rest of my life. There was only one thing that let Noodle Bar down: a surly bartender who made us feel like he really didn't want to be there, which after having had such good service at other places, perhaps seemed especially unfortunate.

Oh, the music:

The Silver Jews were on the stereo telling jokes:

Robot walks into a bar.
Orders a drink, lays down a bill.
Bartender says "Hey we don't serve robots,"
and the robot says "no, but someday you will."

IN CONCLUSION

In the evergreen, excellent state of New York's current dining scene, Momofuku might not seem quite as exciting and as revolutionary, as when it first arrived. But for me, a first-time visitor to what has become an institution and enduring influence, this was an exciting, interesting and above all else fun, place to eat. And you know what? The Pork buns really are the stuff of myth.