Momofuku Ssäm Bar

I was recommended this restaurant and usually I’m pretty scared of other people’s recommendations. When my first drink was made of Thai basil and fish sauce I knew I was in for a treat! There were several hiccups in the service including waiting 1 hour for our entrees but the waitress was kind enough to make up with a dessert. I forgive easily when dessert is involved! A few highlights: spicy pork and rices cakes, pork buns and octopus salad. If you are not an adventurous eater this place is not for you. For everyone else it’s an awesome place to visit.

My first time at Momofuko in NY, this was packed! With good reason too… food is pretty good and the venue hip and pumping. Great to pop in and have a few quick dishes before trotting off elsewhere.

Out of all places in NY, this place had a wait of 40 minutes for a party of two on a Friday night at 8:40pm! It was worth it! Since there were so many bars nearby, we just went to the Juke Bar and grabbed a cocktail.
We were pretty much impressed with all of the items we ordered including the cocktails here at Momofuku Ssam Bar. Our bartender definitely knows how to make his drinks – Old Fashioned was on point and the Lychee Pisco Daiquiri was perfect for a warm night.
As for the foods:
The Steamed Buns– two thumbs up! Porkbelly, hoisin, cucumber, and scallion were a good balance to the palette. The Buffalo Pork Buns were also good! It’s your All American Steamed bun with crispy pork belly, hot sauce, and blue cheese. The favorite is probably the regular steamed buns but not by much!
We also went with the popular dish, Spicy Pork Sausage & Rice cakes. Don’t let the name fool you! I thought we’d get large slices of sausages but I was wrong! It’s tiny crumbles of pork sausages which was fine. It’s not a meaty dish but it does give it a nice hearty flavor! I loved how the rice cakes has a nice crisp and the bits of broccoli makes it a little refreshing.
We also decided to try the Smoked Seven Spiced Beef Brisket. This dish did not shine as much as the previous dishes. It was good. Very nice presentation of the brisket where you can see layers of different colors. This wasn’t for us though. Maybe it’s just the smokey barbecue flavor?
Chef David Chang knows how to perfectly balance the flavors! Love the place, love the staff!!! High Five guys!

We dropped by for dinner on a Saturday night, and had to wait a while before being seated at the bar. Due to the busy night and lack of space, it was rather crammed.
I had the spicy sausage rice cakes, and liked that the rice cakes had a slight crisp to it, however the dish was too salty.
Perhaps, next time I’ll have to try something else.

The way to get the best out of Momofuku Ssam is to go for one of their large group dining options — it’s the only way to make a reservation and the food is amazing. The Duck Ssam is one of the best dishes in the city! It includes a whole rotisserie duck on a bed of rice, confit duck legs, chive pancakes, bibb lettuce, a series of sauces, and two seasonal sides of your choice. The duck is juicy and tender, and don’t skip the rice which has been soaking up the duck fat. It is more than enough food for 6 people. However, the main menu has great options too, the favorites being the Pork Belly Steamed Buns and Spicy Pork Sausage & Rice Cakes. Hope to try the Bo Ssam one day!

I just moved around the corner and couldn’t wait to try all the different offerings.
I couldn’t wait to round up enough people to do one of their group dinners comprised of either Duck, Bo Ssam (Pork Shoulder), or Aged Ribeye.
Instead I had the opportunity to try their Duck lunch and the OG Momofuku Ssam (Pork Shoulder). I would definitely recommend going for lunch as it is cheaper and getting the Duck lunch. Soooo good. Definitely an experience and not too pricey for $ 16 + $ 5 supplements.
Afterwards, be sure to go across the street to Momofuku Milk Bar for Cereal Milk softserve + crunch. Go with the pint for $ 10 since its a better bang for your buck than the single serving for $ 5.

David Chang is one of my absolute favorite culinary icons, so when I went to NYC of course I had to eat at his Momofuku Ssam restaurant to tick it off the bucket list. I was a little apprehensive that it wouldn’t live up to the massive expectations I had set for it, but I needn’t have worried — our lunch there was one of the best I have ever had, anywhere!
We started off with their famed pork belly rolls, which were incredible. The pork belly was so tender that it practically melted in your mouth, and was bursting with intense flavor. «Meat butter» is the best term I can use to describe it. A fantastic appetizer to start off the meal.
For the main course, we had the duck special, which you have to order ahead of time so they can prepare it. The duck was beautifully carved and layered atop a mound of rice that soaked up all the wonderful greasy juices from the duck. Accompanying the spread was a host of delicious morsels — fried green onion pancakes, a multitude of sauces including hoisin and Korean BBQ, and some lettuce to create your own wraps.
The duck was absolutely mind blowing — super tender, extremely flavorful, and totally rich and decadent. It was also an enormous portion size — honestly it could feed 5 – 6 people comfortably, although our group of 4 cleaned the whole plate (probably with me eating 70% of it just because I’m an animal). The best part was how the duck grease dripped down into the bed of rice below and imparted all that lovely flavor into the rice itself — yumm.
Everything about the meal was amazing, and for roughly $ 60 per person was totally reasonable for such a high quality meal.
OVERALL: ⁵⁄₅. Glad I checked it off the bucket list and so happy that David Chang’s restaurant lived up to all my expectations and more. One of my favorite restaurants and I can’t wait for my next trip to NYC to stop by again!

I only got one thing here — the steamed pork buns — and it was amazing. The pork was super fatty yet the portion was small enough that you didn’t feel like a fatass afterwards. I definitely want to go back on my next trip to New York to try other stuff on the menu.

I’ve had dinner at Momofuku Ssam twice now and have had such good meals both times.
We went the first time and did one item per menu section: oysters, shrimp rolls, pork buns, charred broccolini & rice cakes.
The rice cakes are really spicy– I’m sensitive to spicy food– but they’re amazing and totally worth pushing through the spice. The pork buns are also a must.
The second time we pre-​ordered the duck. It was unbelievably delicious & juicy– and the sides were great.
Highly recommend making a large reservation in advance or waiting as a walk-​in!

Dropped into the Ssam Bar at around 7pm on a Tuesday night and we were seated right away at the bar.
We ordered the following:
1) Grilled Octopus (⁴⁄₅): The dish was pretty good and I liked how the octopus was cooked. I liked the sour taste to the dish.
2) Pork Buns (⁴⁄₅): Pork buns were pretty good but not the best I’ve had (Love the pork buns at Ippudo). However they were pretty delicious… Just alittle too fatty for my taste.
3) Pork Sausage & Rice Cakes (⁴⁄₅): At first i wasn’t too impressed with it but the more you eat it the most addicted you become to it. I liked how the rice cakes were kind of fried. The sauce was on the spicy side which I liked. But the pork sausages were not obvious because it was mixed in w the sauce. I thought the dish was a bit on the salty side but it was good and I couldn’t stop eating it.
Upon my servers recommendation I got their Penicillin and it was delicious. I loved that it wasn’t overly sweet! Definitely give it a shot!
I want to come back for their BoSam… LOL :)

Just like any other great place in New York, everyone will find out about it! The wait is probably the worst part about Momofuku Saam. This place has good options for a couple of friends or a big group. Two of us went in on a Friday night, the wait was about an hour (which was fine, there’s a bar across the street).
We had the pork buns, the kimchi, the choice pancake spicy sausage with rice cakes, and the steamed sea bass. The portions are on the smaller side but enough to make your belly happy! I did find the ricecake a little bit too greasy for sober dinning though.
Will come back again!

This is a review for the Whole Rotisserie Duck Ssam — 4 stars for cool vibes at the restaurant, the amazing food we had from the perfectly cooked duck served over rice to delicious pork buns (not part of the duck ssam btw! we ordered separately), and friendly service!
Highly recommend ordering the pork buns, they had the perfect amount of fat and were melt-​in-​your-​mouth good.
The duck ssam was the perfect amount of food for my party of 6. It also came with 6 chive pancakes, lettuce, sauces, and two seasonal sides (we tried broccoli and an interesting potato+beans side). I must reiterate that the duck was SOOO GOOD. Especially rolled into a thick chive pancake with lettuce, rice, and a little bit of hoisin sauce!
The desserts however were disappointing — we tried both the sake kasu ice cream and the fried bun, but they weren’t that exciting. Also we brought a momofuku milk bar cake since it was a celebration dinner, but they wouldn’t let us serve the cake at the restaurant! Even though it’s momofuku and I saw another table cutting a momofuku milk bar cake? Hmmmm
But the pork buns and duck ssam will definitely bring me back! Ps I secured a reservation about a month in advance for a specific date, but the group ssam dinners are popular so I would definitely try reserving at least 2 weeks in advance!

I never hated meat so much after eating the Bo Ssam. Seriously, SO MUCH MEAT. No more meat ever again. Actually this sentiment only lasted that night and I wanted more meat the next morning.
My friend made a reservation for the Bo Ssam on a Sunday night. She had 2 spots left and I was so happy to be invited. We went with 9 people overall and killed it! My friend and I pretty much carried the group and ate the rest of the meat when everybody else stopped. Definitely come with 10 people if you don’t want to feel overstuffed after. The table next to us only had 4 people, but they ordered both the bo ssam and the duck ssam. Such ballers. I was super impressed at first, but I saw at the end each person had a giant doggie bag.
The Bo ssam came with a dozen oysters, two large bowls of white rice, lettuce, ssam sauce, pureed kimchi sauce, regular kimchi, and ginger scallion sauce. I loved the ginger scallion sauce. It reminds me of my dad’s ginger scallion sauce, except my dad’s has more ginger in it. Kind of biased, but I think my dad’s version is better hehe. With that sauce and also the saam sauce, I couldn’t stop eating the meat. The pureed kimchi was interesting, but I preferred the other sauces. The meat itself was so tender and fall of the bone, but had this crispy exterior bark. There were some insanely fatty parts and one hunk which was dryer than the rest, but douse it with ssam sauce and you’re good to go.
We were all so stuffed at the end, so we only got one dessert to split among the 9 in our group. We ordered a yuzu sake ice cream soft serve with black sesame and Thai basil. The ice cream was really herbaceous from the basil and has a hint of sake. My favorite part was the black sesame soil at the bottom.
I guess we digested pretty fast because we went over to Momofuku Milk Bar nearby to get cookies and more ice cream. I have never been to either places before, so glad to have tried both in one night.

Não tenho muito o que falar sobre o Momofuku Ssam. E simplesmente do outro mundo. E viciante. Tudo é de primeira. Da bebida à sobremesa.
Um dos meus lugares preferidos em NYC. Alguns dias venho almoçar e volto pro jantar.
Não reserva portanto é bem prudente chegar cedo. Mas se tiver que esperar podemos esperar no bar. Uma ambiente separado e pronto pra receber os fãs diversos fãs de todos as tribos e todos os lugares.
Como disse é viciante. Difícil viver sem.

Ehhh… I really wished my experience could have been better, but it was average at best.
We didn’t have reservations, so came right before the doors were even opened. They were able to seat a group of 6 of us at the bar, so it was off to a nice start. We ordered a dozen oysters, pork belly buns, brocollini with beef tongue, snails and pig head, and 68oz of their bone in ribeye. I felt that the famous pork belly buns were okay, definitely not amazing as so many reviews here have claimed. I guess I’ve just had better braised pork belly buns for a fraction of the price. Everything else we ordered didn’t really stand out either.
Now…if you’re trying to figure out if the 68oz ribeye for the cost of $ 225 is worth it or not? I’m really saddened to say this, but it was not. First of all, it was way too fatty! Half the meat itself was full of fat, that me and everyone at my table was trying to dissect the fat away. I couldn’t understand why they even give you a bowl of oil to dip the steak in, when the meat itself was already swimming in a puddle of its own oil. The ribeye also wasn’t very flavorful, but with a sprinkle of sea salt it became a ⁶⁄₁₀.
I really wished we had made reservations for the bo ssam, because that’s what everyone and their mamas ordered. There is a high possibility that I might come back just for that alone, but save your time and stomach and don’t even bother to order anything else that’s on the menu.

Having been to both Momofuku Noodle Bar and Momofuku Milk Bar I had pretty high expectations for Ssam Bar — expectations that were both met and exceeded.
Star 1: How were the service and atmosphere?
Momofuku Ssam Bar walks the very fine line between classy and casual brilliantly. While there were clearly some hot shots and dolled up folks in the house when I strolled in late on a Friday night (props for having the kitchen open until 0100), I was entirely casual, and I loved that the server immediately adapted to my casual demeanor. I asked for a recommendation and he gave me a great one, and we ended up chatting back and forth a bit with the bartender and another server. Some places gain the popularity that Ssam Bar does and end up treating everyone like they should look and act like the Queen of England, but I was thrilled that the staff at Ssam Bar are brilliantly grounded, fast, and friendly. Star Granted.
Star 2: How were the portions relative to the cost?
I knew that Momofuku Ssam Bar falls within the nicer half of the Momofuku spectrum, and as a result I was expecting some pretty high prices. They’re certainly there, but don’t get the impression that there isn’t some great value at Ssam Bar. My server recommended the Spicy Pork Sausage with Rice Cakes, and for $ 19.00 I got a truly massive portion that was well beyond what I was expecting. Excellent. Star Granted.
Stars 3 and 4: How was the food?
Wow. Everything on the Ssam Bar menu sounded amazing, and if all of those amazing sounding dishes are even close to what my Sausage and Rice Cake was like Momofuku Ssam Bar is damn near perfection. The flavors here were amazing, and while I was a bit fearful that there would only be a small amount of sausage and mostly rice cake, the portion balance was perfect. I was warned that the dish was spicy and that things would get alarming if I were to touch the pepper nested in the dish (I didn’t), but this was a really good balance of heat and flavor packaged in a way that I’d honestly never seen before. Well done indeed. Dual Stars Granted.
Star 5: Would you eat here every day if you could?
Without a doubt. Star Granted.

3 – 3.5 stars. Menu items are super hit or miss. We ordered the steamed pork belly buns, duck dumplings and Seven Spice Lamb Ssam. The tastiness of the food basically decreased in that order: the buns were delicious-​dough was perfectly soft, pork belly just the right level of fattiness. The duck dumplings were solid but nothing too special. They had a fried coating and the inside was duck meat that tasted good, but didn’t necessarily bring out the special flavors of duck. Finally, the lamb ssam was regrettably probably one of the least appetizing things I’ve ever had. It was like a giant burrito gone wrong. The lamb had a sickening smell /​taste which pretty much ruined the entire dish.
I’ve been to other Asian fusian places before and this lunch just did not cut it. Service was good and the ambiance is chic/​trendy but the food was really not up to par. If you’re craving Korean with a twist go to nearby Oiji instead!

This Meal Was Insanely Delicious!
We came for the large party Bo Ssäm and Dry Aged Rib-​Eye Steak.
Imagine a perfectly slow cooked slice of Pork dripping with Flavor. Wrapped in Bibb lettuce, rice, oyster, with kimchi. It was a flavor missile that melts in your mouth.
It was a hardcore «Meat-​Lovers» dream.
But, none of the flavors were overwhelming, the cooking style was filled with balance and delicate compliments to strong flavors.
The Dry-​Aged Rib-​Eye Steak was the most tender piece of beef I’ve had compared to any steak house. As soon as I took my first bite, I wanted to leave my group and be alone with my steak. This steak needs no sauce. It was amazing.
The Bo Ssäm and Rib-​Eye makes a great dining experience for a group of 8 – 10. We really loved our experience.
What I love was that this meal was an expression of traditional sloppy delicious greasy food done with very high quality ingredients without pretentiousness and served with a focus on Execution.
Having never been to any of the Momofuku restaurants, I finally get what all the fuss is about.

Momofuku Ssam Bar delivers the Best Rib Eye Steak and Best Pork Shoulder in a casual bar atmosphere for a set menu price.
I had an amazing time!
The meats were amazing!
Bo Ssam:
Falling-​apart under your tongs/​fork, cracking that caramelized sticky/​crunchy brown crust, dripping with caramelized pork juices pork shoulder.
Wrap the pork up in Bibb lettuce, place in their homemade kimchi, and a oyster and you are in heaven!
107 Style ~70 oz RIB EYE
Best Rib Eye that I’ve ever had.
Maybe its the dry aged cut.
Maybe its the roasted garlic juices.
The rib eye was Dripping with beef fat, garlic sauce.
Perfect medium rare.
The steak was so beautiful that other tables stopped to stare.
The steak was flavorful, well seasoned, sweet (from garlic) and perfect.
I went to heaven again.
It was perfect.
One of the girls at the table doesn’t eat meat but she ate devoured this rib eye until she had a food baby.
And the best part was my hubby got to join because someone cancelled.
So we both got to enjoy this amazing amazing meal.
I booked this reservation for 9 girlfriends, two months ago.
Our friends wanted to try both the 107 style cut ~70-​oz rib eye and the bo ssam.
So the managers at Momofuku drew up a contract and we paid a hefty deposit ($ 317).
Go for a special occasion!
Its pricey but worth it ($ 100−120/pp).

This review is in regards to their bo ssäm feast. Had an amazing night with a group of friends here on new years day!
The place usually doesn’t take reservations — but the exception is if you make a reservation for the bo ssäm online. The dinner requires a minimum of 6 people and at most 10 I believe. We came as a group of 8 and there was definitely plenty of food to go around. The bo ssäm meal features a huge pork shoulder that has been slow cooked for hours until it’s fall apart tender. The meat is so flavorful with just the right amount of salty and sweet, and the fatty parts just melt in your mouth! It’s eaten communally, and you’re given butter lettuce leaves that you can make your own wraps. White rice as well as a dozen raw oysters are also provided.
Even with a bo ssäm reservation, you can order whatever you want off the regular menu and some of my dining mates ordered a handful of buns. Service was attentive and friendly throughout and we never felt rushed. The evening was perfect — strong cocktails, energetic vibe, excellent service, amazing communal meal, good friends, and great conversation; couldn’t really ask for more! They take credit card, but be aware that you can only split up to a max of 4 cards which is reasonable.
Would definitely come back!

Best was always saved for the last, that’s exactly what I was doing with David Chang and his Momofuku series. Ssam bar was no doubt, as popular as you could think of and I nailed down my duck reservation exactly one month ahead. Knowing I’m gonna be pretty stuffed by the end, I had a light lunch and urged my friends to do the same thing — it paid off eventually.
Size was pretty huge taking into account we had a group of four people. The duck was crispy at the outside while tender inside. The best part was to dip the duck meat into the special saam bar sauce… hmm yummy! Reminded me my time in Beijing having the Peking Roast Duck; apparently different flavors but same level of satisfactory.
Make sure to make reservation ahead of time so as to enjoy the duck (or steak/​pork). Everything was worth it! Thanks David Chang, I had a good start (Ko) and now a happy ending.

Came here at 10 pm on a Sunday and there was no two hour wait (score!!). Immediately sat down and ordered the rice cake, steamed buns, and the steak. Overall had a great time and the food was very good but the portions are smaller than you think. Given it was so late in the night and my bf and I had something to eat before, these three plates were enough to fill us. But I feel that if we hadn’t eaten something, our meal would be over $ 70 (tax/​tip included) hahaha
The steamed buns are of course a must-​get. If you’ve been to momofuku (the ramen one) then you just know you have to! The meat is so tender and I love their ssam sauce on the meat :) The steak was my second favorite because it’s so tender (cooked to medium rare!) and flavorful. But the sauce it came with was a bit too salty for my taste so I snagged some ssam sauce from the buns that was left on my plate. The rice cakes were good but a little too sauce-​y for my tastes. They are slightly fried so they’re crispy and you eat it with the pork sausage :) Overall very yummy and I’m glad I finally got to try it out! ps, the milk bar is right across the street for dessert.

Le Momofuku offre une ambiance de bistro feutré dans un décor moderne. Les saveurs sont définitivement au rendez-​vous, par contre, certaines entrées n’étaient pas à la hauteur de la description sur le menu. Le plat de résistance, la viande, était incroyable. Bön choix de vins à prix semi-​raisonnables, mais bon c’est New York! Une belle soirée pour sûre.

Un desastre! La peor atencion que hemos
Tenido en tiempo. La chica que hace de anitriona es una maleducada. Luego de esperar la mesa por 2 horas nos tuvimos q ir porque aun faltaba por lo menos 1 hora pese a habernos dicho que tendriamos la mesa a la hora de haber llegado. Por este camino se van al abismo, deben elegir mejor al personal

2 ans après mon long voyage à New York, cette adresse est de loin celle dont je me souviens le plus.
La devanture né paie vraiment pas de mine; j’y suis allée sous les conseils d’amis New-​Yorkais. Cet endroit est très connu par les locaux (le nombre d’avis en témoigne!) mais il n’est pas référencé dans les guides touristiques classiques (Routard, Lonely, etc.) et heureusement j’allais dire!
Momofuku est une sorte de chaîné de restos avec plusieurs concepts tous d’influence asiatique: Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Milk Bar (Pâtisseries), Momofuku Ko, Ssam Bar (gastro)…
La chaîné n’est présente qu’à NY, Toronto et Sydney. Si vous avez la chance d’être dans l’une de ces villes, foncez-​y !
Il s’agit d’une expérience à part entière tant les goûts sont originaux. Les buns m’ont laissé un souvenir impérissable. Nous étions installés au bar; je vous le conseille car cela permet de discuter avec les serveurs et de voir défiler les plats qui arrivent depuis la cuisine.
A rajouter sur votre liste de restos à faire une fois dans sa vie!