Momofuku Noodle Bar

I am a big big Momofuku fan, so much so that New York is chosen as a holiday vacation out many other interesting places in the States partly because Momofuku restaurants are there. I have a Momofuku cook book, still loving it; and have been trying to perform some David Chang experiments in my own kitchen with great success, so I have very high hopes in Momofuku Restaurants.

Not wanting to spend a fortune on the new Momofuku Ko, we decided to try the first Momofuku shop - The Noodle Bar. The noodle bar's original location is now Ko and Noodle Bar is moved to East Village, bigger space, more seats. We make it a point to visit Momofuku Noodle bar for a late lunch while we're in NY. 

I must say the shop has a very subtle facade but having previously checked out the location on Google Earth, it's not a problem finding the location. Warm welcoming staff and a pretty occupied restaurant at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon seem like good signs to me :) We were lead to the bar seats, simple 'paper menu' are provided and specials of the day are written on chalk boards hanging on the walls.

Open kitchen so diner can see all the kitchen actions; simple decó, nice & bright; and the process flow of the restaurant is streamlined to perfection, I must say. The kitchen never have to worry about take away for it is being taken care of at the bar. Even the placement of the take away utensils are thoughtfully arranged in a way that benefits the process flow. One of the head staff is closely monitoring the output from kitchen, checking the 'performance'.

We ordered the 'must try' Momofuku pork bun as starter to share, Mr.T decided to try their signature ramen and while I want to put my taste bud to test on their Kimchi stew (did I forget to mention I LOVE kimchi?).

Our pork bun arrived after a short wait. My first impression of the bun was not good. The pork is too fatty and the colour doesn't look like it's been braised well. A bite into the bun brought even more disappointment. The pork is no doubt tender and the buns are steaming hot but the combination of pickled cucumber, hoisin sauce and spring onion which should accentuate the taste of the pork are just not working. The textures are there but the tastes are missing!

Soon after, my kimchi stew is delivered and the colour just looks so luring. Does the Kimchi stew taste as good as it looks? Nah, big NO NO. The attractive colours aside, the kimchi stew doesn't even taste much of kimchi. The only thing that taste of anything in this stew is the pickled daikon. Unfortunately the daikons are cut into such a big chunk, a few bites of the same bits is enough to push me to the limit of stop eating. Pork is still tender albeit tasteless. Did they forget to season the stew?

And then comes Mr.T's order of signature Momofuku ramen. Judging from his expression, he's not happy with the quality of his noodle either. Thinking it cannot be that bad, I tasted his noodle and reluctantly, I have to admit this is an absolutely bland noodle. The only part that taste good is when Mr.T broke the egg and the yolks blends into the soup. I'm sorry to say they seem to have the ability to suck all the tastes away from what should have been a very tasty bowl of noodle (considering how many ingredients are present in this bowl).

Three dishes tasting below par on a visit really makes me doubt Momofuku's reviews & ravings. It's either both Mr.T and my palettes are totally off than those of New Yorkers or something is really wrong with the Momofuku Noodle Bar the day we visit. I also suspect they're using MSGs because we are both very thirsty after dining at Momofuku.

After the trip, I log into Trip Advisor to leave a comment and was surprise to see that others who have visited the restaurant on the same day as we did had very good review about the restaurant. Having dining from street side stalls to Michelin restaurants, I do not think my taste buds (or Mr.T's for that matter) are made any much different than others; and although hard to believe but even as a Momofuku fan, I have to say Momofuku Noodle Bar is not delivering!! 

I still refuse to believe this is the normal standard of Momofuku but I do believe they need some better quality control if this is what they are delivering daily to customers. For now, I'll just be a Momofuku cook book fan than the restaurant itself.