Momofuku Noodle Bar

There are so many noodle bars to choose from in New York but this one kept coming up every time I searched online. I was very impressed with all of the reviews so I figured we had to try it out.
The restaurant itself is very minimal and modern. All wood benches with short stools and 2 bars to choose from, one being for drinking and one for watching the cooking. We opted for a bench seat in the middle of the restaurant so we could see everything going on. This noodle bar has a pretty good sake list along with a few wine selections and beers. They also have a korean vodka called soju which i was told has about 1/2 the alcohol content of regular vodka. It can be paired with soda or their housemade sour cherry, rhubarb, or fire ball mixers, I chose rhubarb. The drink was very good, a little thick but not too sweet.
They did have a prix fixe 3 course lunch menu but our hearts were set on noodles. We ordered some steamed pork buns to start and a ginger scallion noodle bowl and the Momofuku ramen. I have never had pork buns before and these were an incredible introduction. The bun itself is a soft white bread that is wrapped around cucumbers, pork, and scallions in a sweet brown sauce. I added sriracha sauce to my bun and it made it that much better. I would have been delighted with just that but I knew we had much more to come.

Both noodle dishes were so outstanding that it was hard to choose a favorite. The ramen consisted of a poached egg, pork belly, pork shoulder, scallions, seaweed and a broth that soaked up all the individual flavors. It was so good, but it was big enough to split between 2 people.

The ginger noodle bowl was equally as fantastic, with scallions, cucumber, menma (dried bamboo,) and swiss chard. No broth in this bowl though, just noodles and veggies. It is a great vegetarian option in this not so vegetarian friendly restaurant.

This place is in a pretty cool block in the east village with lots of young, hip people, we even managed to run into some fellow New Orleanians there. Momofuku also has 3 sister restaurants, Momofuku Ssam Bar, Momofuku Ko, and Momofuku Bakery-Milk Bar all in the same neighborhood. I wish I would've saved room to check out the bakery, apparently they have killer homemade soft serve in cool flavors like rosemary and lemon verbena with olive oil cake and ritz cracker crunch toppings. So make sure to carve some space out in your belly for dessert, it is probably worth it.
Happy Dining



Momofuku Noodle Bar
171 1st Ave
New York, NY
(212) 777-7773
momofuku.com/noodle