Momofuku Ssäm Bar

David Chang has built an empire under the Momofuku brand.  Momofuku Ssam Bar is an attempt to bring Korean food to the masses; however, it’s a bit of an Asian fusion restaurant.  It’s located in East Village.  Anyway, Momofuku Ssam Bar’s accolades are as follows as if it matters:

• Bib Gourmand in 2014
• Bib Gourmand in 2015
• #64 on the San Pellegrino 2014 World’s Best Restaurants

David Chang came out of Daniel Boulud’s Cafe Boulud and has become a restaurateur like many celebrity chefs.  I would compare David Chang to LA’s Ray Choi even though Chang had made controversial comments about California chefs in the past.  The only correlation is that they are both Korean, chefs and trying to bring Korean food to the masses.  With that, I say “good luck” cause you know rednecks or other minorities ain’t into smelly cabbage.

I came here on Labor Day and to my surprise it was pretty empty.  The service was pretty good. The wait staff were all very attentive and made sure my cups were always filled.  They all had a pleasant smile on their face and the food came out fairly fast.  I thought I was transported to another city cause this wasn’t the typical New York attitude.  I was a bit disappointed cause I was hoping for someone to tell me to get the f*ck outta here.

Now, I ordered two of the most popular items on the menu.

1. Steamed buns – This is the dish everyone and their mama talks about at Ssam bar.  It’s a steam bun with pork belly, hoisin sauce, a slice of cucumber and scallions.  The slow roasted pork belly literally melted in your mouth and the sweet hoisin sauce added a simple complement to the pork belly.  The vegetables provided a lively feel to it like cocaine in West Village.

   

2. Rotisserie Chicken Bowl – The dish came with rotisserie chicken topped with ginger-scallion, sprouts, and shiitake mushrooms.  To be honest, I’m on the fence about this bowl like Bernie Sanders supporters are with Hillary Clinton.  I’m not sure whether it was an off day or not but the bowl was really sour like an insecure person being called on on their shit.  The rice was a lot wetter than usual, which I expected from the way Koreans make their rice.  The chicken’s texture was very good but the overall sourness of the dish really overpowered everything where I couldn’t finish it.  I never let food go to waste even if it’s overdue milk or chicken with mildew.

   

Overall, I would recommend Momofuku Ssam Bar.  It’s a great place to grab a quick meal and be on your way. I don’t think my meal took more than 40 minutes from ordering to walking out the door.  In addition, it is good at what it does, which is provide simple meals with familiar and comforting flavors.  Unfortunately, I had to tell myself to “get the fuck outta here” with a New York ascent cause they wouldn’t do it.  I hate people with decency and manners.

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