Restaurant Review: Momofuku Noodle Bar

Before @jerpdavis headed to Toronto and Chicago for a business trip last week we went to Momofuku Noodle Bar for a little “dinner for two” action. We live just around the corner from this fine establishment so it’s one of our old reliables, but this is the first time I have been there since I started reviewing.

I group Noodle Bar into a group with the likes of Otto,’ Inoteca, Motorino, The Redhead. All very reasonably priced, unique and perfect for out-of-towners. The music at Noodle Bar is excellent – usually an Interpol/Radiohead/Arcade Fire playlist of some kind – making for an energetic and highly enjoyable dining experience.

This restaurant, which does not take reservations, is a little difficult to review because the menu changes so frequently (and because I love anything David Chang ideates), but I will do my best. No matter what, unless you go with the sometimes-available prix fixe menu, I recommend ordering the following:

• A soju slushy (or 5) for each person – highly recommend the Yuzu Palmer
• A “snack” for the table
• One “etc” item for the table
• One “side” or seasonal item for the table
• An entrée for each person (either a bowl or one of the daily specials)
• Soft serve or some other treat either here or at Milk Bar around the corner
• **If you’re extra hungry add another “etc” or “side” for the table**

This week we started out of with the spiced chips snack, which we actually never tried before. They were great, a nice munchie for the table. If you prefer something a little “healthier” go with the pickles, as these are always a winner.

For the “etc” course we switched it up from the usual pork buns (which you have to get if you never have before) and had the shrimp buns instead. They were amazing, but all of the Momofuku buns are amazing (even the vegetarian mushroom ones), so this was no surprise.

I’ll give you one guess what we had for the side. Yes, Brussels sprouts, duh. They were as delicious as expected – I’m really loving the apples/Brussels combo restaurants are dishing these days. I also would have tried the cauliflower, but @jerpdavis isn’t a fan.

For the entrée I went with my usual – the ginger scallion noodles. I cannot get over the flavor complexity of this simple dish – so perfect! I learned this time around that you can actually add things to this dish such as chicken, pork or a soy egg, so I did just that and added shrimp. It was a great addition, but it was the same style of shrimp as in the buns, so we wished we had in fact ordered the pork buns. Oh well, next time.

Mr. @jerpdavis had one of the daily specials for his entrée -  the braised lamb shoulder with fennel, beet and quinoa. I tasted this and thought it was quite good, an excellent use of quinoa and perfect for a winter night.

The only soft serve option at Noodle Bar was pineapple, so we decided to venture over to Milk Bar dessert. I have been looking forward to trying the chocolate hazelnut soft serve for a while, so you can imagine my delight when I was able to swirl that delicious flavor with banana. It was awesome. @jerpdavis also had the chocolate hazelnut soft serve, but swirled it with French toast instead.

If you’re not a soft serve fan, 1) you need to get yourself checked, and 2) don’t worry, Milk Bar has many other delicious confections including, but not limited to, crack pie, compost cookies and birthday cake balls.