Restaurant Review: Momofuku Ssam Bar, New York City

David Chang is one of the hottest young chefs on the New York restaurant scene today, and he has created the beginnings of an East Village restaurant empire with his three Momofuku restaurants. Momofuku means lucky peach in Japanese, and Momofuku Ssam, which is the second restaurant in the group, gets the rest of its name from its cuisine. The food is Asian/American fusion, but there is a concentration on "ssam," which simply means anything that is wrapped. David Chang is very well known for his creativity with pork, which is featured in many menu items, including the bo ssam (a whole barbecued pork shoulder that is meant for a group of 8-10 diners).

My brother (who is a chef) accompanied me on my first visit to Momofuku Ssam. We had checked out the website beforehand to get a sneak peek at the menu and found out that they do not accept reservations, which can mean long waits. Therefore, we opted for a 7pm dinner to avoid the crowds - that's early in New York and especially in the East Village, where restaurants don't come to life until around 10pm. We got there just in time - at 7pm, Momofuku Ssam was already too loud and too crowded for my taste, but we did manage to get seats at the bar. The trendy dining area is very attractive but small, with uncomfortable chairs.

As we read through the menu, we found many items that piqued our interest, but due to the way the dishes were categorized (headings were: raw bar, small dishes, ham, ssam, offal, seafood, etc.), we couldn't really tell which dishes would be entrée-sized and which would be smaller. The prices weren't much help, ranging from $8 to $25 or more for seafood options. We couldn't get a waiter's attention, so we decided to wing it and ordered hamachi from the raw bar, sweetbreads, steamed pork buns, lamb belly, and a special of skate wing and congee.

Fortunately, we guessed fairly well - we ended up with 2 dishes that were entrée-sized and 3 that were basically small appetizers. The appetizer sized dishes, which were the hamachi, pork buns and lamb, outshone the entrees by a wide margin. The pork buns are a signature item at Momofuku Ssam, and it's easy to see why - they were filled with meltingly tender pork and an addictively sweet hoisin sauce. Unfortunately, there were only 2 on the plate! The lamb belly was also a standout, with a deep-fried crisp crust encasing velvety meat and luscious fat. The skate special was heavy and bland, and the sweetbreads were disappointingly overcooked. My brother agreed and thoroughly enjoyed telling me how he could have done it better!

The dessert offerings were limited but sounded delicious, particularly the brown butter shortbread. Unfortunately, we were much too full for dessert, so that will have to wait for another time. Hopefully it will still be available on the seasonally-changing menu! We enjoyed our trip, although I did find the menu's lack of clarity to be frustrating. Also, the atmosphere is a little too East-Village-trendy for my taste, but that's something you just have to put up with if you want David Chang's food. Momofuku Ssam is well worth a visit!

Address: 207 2^nd Ave., corner of 13^th St.
Phone: 212-254-3500
Hours: Daily 11am-2am
Price Range: small plates $6-16, entrees $12-25, raw bar $16-30