Momofuku Ssam Bar Review: Eating duck things at Ssam Bar
I went to Momofuku Ssam Bar for lunch a while ago. Did you know they used to do like, Korean burritos when they first opened? But I guess no one dug that shit so they stopped and became this nice casual restaurant with food that could be found in upscale restaurants. The funny thing is now in food trucks, you can get Korean tacos and burritos. Ssam bar was just ahead of the times. There’s something to be said about adapting the original concept if the audience is not so keen on it. That’s why I’ve always been cool about shitting on newly opened places. You can’t let the criticism be shifted like, “It is their livelihood, have some compassion.” You know what allows for my livelihood? Money, cuz it pays for rent. So if my money goes down the drain, and time is a precious resource I can’t recover, why the fuck is it fair if I spend money on something that isn’t good in its early phases and not tell other people? By the way, I actually had one of those Korean burritos that Ssam bar used to sell. They were alright. Their food now is admittedly way better than burritos and garners them much more well-deserved attention.
They do this Duck lunch thing at Ssam bar now where lots of the menu items are duck related. You can even get a fixed price menu for $25 for an appetizer, entree, and dessert. There’s other stuff on the regular lunch menu that is not duck related and not available for the prix fixe menu too. For example we tried the sweetbreads, which came with Asian pear and mint. The combination was really tasty and not something I would have ever thought of before to be delicious.
The duck bologna sandwich was pretty filling. You figure anytime you eat a sandwich from a NYTimes 3-star restaurant, it would be dainty and unfulfilling. Untrue on both counts, it was a good size and represented a good entree for lunch. It’s probably simpler than some of the other duck options, because you could select this as part of the prix fixe menu, but it’s still a worthy choice.
Lastly I tried the corn ice cream pie. Like the soft serve that I’ve tried at Momofuku Milk Bar, this ice cream certainly did not lack salt. In fact, there hasn’t been a time when I tried a soft serve from Milk Bar that I thought, “Oh man, what this needs is a touch of salt.” No, they always seem to be very in-yo-face with the sodium in ice cream. I dunno, salty frozen treats just rub me the wrong way. But it’s still good you know. Soft server, ice cream, or gelato… even when it’s bad, it’s like an ugly supermodel. It’s still awesome. Overall the meal at Momofuku Ssam Bar was definitely worth it and if you get the $25 prix fixe option, it’s a steal.
Momofuku Ssam Bar207 2nd Avenue.New York, NY 10003212-254-3500
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