Momofuku Noodle Bar

163 1st Avenue
New York, NY 10003

212.475.7899

www.momofuku.com/restaurants/noodle-bar/

I had heard a lot about this asian noodle bar (yet, I didn't even know who David Chang was when I ate here finally) and had been dying to try it for months since I grew up on noodle soup as a kid in Toronto.  On a Monday night, there was still a 20 minute wait as seating is limited (~30 minutes) and it was pretty popular.  The setting as clean and smooth with a full length light colored wooden bar where you could watch all the food being made.  I was slightly disappointed since I usually associate noodle bars with small little holes in the wall that you find in Chinatown.

The three of us started with the steamed pork buns but not the ones that I remember from my youth.  The buns are flatter in nature and less doughy almost evoking a Michelin Man piece of pita bread and they are folded over the steamed pork belly which has a bit of a kick in it (but you could always add more with the sriracha on hand), some hoisin, and some green onions (I think).  The flavors were familiar but the technique of cooking them were more refined and were more elevated.

I felt the same way about the noodle soup.  This too gave me a faint reminder of my childhood with the long, thin noodles and the combination of braised pork neck & shoulder.   The flavor, though, was a combination of the asian flavors of my youth but pulled out by more refined culinary techniques.  The pulled pork and the use of thicker spaghetti noodles gave it just enough of a difference that it became something better.  While I went there looking for the flavors of my childhood, I came happy to know that I had discovered something new yet familiar that won't ever replace the traditions I've grown to love but instead became a new tradition that I will try to sample as often as I can.