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Momofuku Ssäm Bar, 2nd Avenue and 13th Street in East Village - Chef Max Ng Comes from Singapore


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On a trip to NYC with my family that was filled with great eats at casual restaurants, the duck lunch at the Ssam Bar was the clear winner. The rotissiere duck over rice with chive pancake, the duck wings, the duck duck noodles, and of course the obligatory steamed pork buns were all amazing.

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On a trip to NYC with my family that was filled with great eats at casual restaurants, the duck lunch at the Ssam Bar was the clear winner. The rotissiere duck over rice with chive pancake, the duck wings, the duck duck noodles, and of course the obligatory steamed pork buns were all amazing.

You mean this...

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And this...

post-6410-0-59232400-1354306166_thumb.jp

Just had lunch here yesterday :rolleyes:. One of my favorite lunches in the city, and a good deal at $20 includes the chive pancake, boston lettuce leaves and a side order.

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Dinner here Saturday night with friend was a mixed bag.  Major upside - table for 4 at 7:30 was available without any wait.  Major downside - three minutes after sitting down they lowered the lights to almost being non-existent.  I don't mind a bit of down-lighting but this was to the point of being a bit odd.

As usual the steamed pork buns ($10) were great - even though these have become common in so many restaurants, Momofuku's continue to be among the best versions around.  Kimchee and pickle jars ($5 and 6$ respectively) were good as always, and an order of Peekytoe crab with apple and mango ($16) was a light starter but somewhat bland.

+1 had the Beet salad with a sunflower hozon, duck prosciutto and raisins.  This was a pleasant enough salad but the earthiness of the beets, match with the earthiness of the sunflower, became largely one-note without much raisin to offset.  My Seafood Hotpot ($19) came with a generous amount of squid in a green broth that tasted mostly of coconut milk.  It was disappointingly one-note, greasy, and lukewarm.  The real winner of the evening was the Boneless Porgy Ssam ($39) which was plenty to be split for 2 and had a nice ginger scallion flavor.

My favorite part of meal may have been my Rodenbach sour ale ($9) - if you like sour ales, definitely one to try.

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1 hour ago, Marty L. said:

This is mostly right, Don.  But I wouldn't preclude the possibility that one or more Chang establishments could continue to be great--even revelatory--from time to time, depending on who he hires to run the kitchens.  I can't wait, for instance, to return to the Ssam Bar in light of this.

Skate wing cooked in a banana leaf can be awesome - it's generally topped with some type of paste (a curry-like paste), and it is invariably moist and delicious. In the hands of Max Ng, it's probably transcendent.

Oct 31, 2017 - "Momofuku Ssäm Bar Keeps Evolving under a Singaporean Chef" by Pete Wells on nytimes.com

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