New York: Gastronomic heavens
I bought this tray when I was at New Orleans and I think it describes how we feel about good food :) We know that there are so many excellent restaurants in NYC and we had to prioritize and decide on which to go to during our stay. In this entry, I'm gonna share 2 of our most exquisite and delightful meals.
Stvn is a huge fan of Iron Chef Morimoto so it was a must that we dine at his restaurant. The restaurant was jam-packed when we arrived so we were thankful that we made the reservation in advance. The set up was modern with soft lighting but what we didn't expect was the noise level. It was pretty noisy with patrons' chatters. In any case, the pictures that I took at the restaurant mysteriously disappeared so I have to use pictures taken from Stvn's iphone. We ordered the 7-course degustation meal.
Toro tartare w caviar. You scrape it off with the iron scraper. Each condiment creates a new taste. Very creative presentation and I'm impressed with that.
Fluke carpaccio topped with mushroom & a very delicate yuzu sauce. Very sweet taste of the fish combined nicely with the saltiness of the sauce.
Kampachi sashimi topped w soy foam n plum sauce. They blow torched the top of the fish to create a tataki style. The blend of cooked n raw fish w the delicate soy foam is exceptional!
Steamed oyster topped with seared foie gras & uni. Served w a teriyaki reduction sauce. Super decadent!
Sushi set
Wagyu, blackened lobster w lemon cream. The lobster was delightful.
Chocolate tart topped w chocolate sorbet. Too chocolatey for me but awesome for Stvn.
Being a fan of Michelin stars, Stvn proposed that we shall do a tour of the different Michelin stars restaurants in the Bay Area and other cities, with one restaurant per month for a period of 1 year. The inaugural restaurant was Commis, where we celebrated my birthday and for April he picked Momofuku Ko, which has been awarded with 2 Michelin stars. The process of getting the reservation was somewhat tedious as the restaurant has specific requests. It was also indicated on their website that no photography is allowed during the meal. Well, it's probably a good thing because for one I wasn't reaching out for my camera every few minutes and I could truly savour the meal. It was a 17-course degustation meal and it took us slightly over 3 hours to complete it. Without a doubt, this is my BEST meal ever! Really unique experience where creativity and artistry marry with great flavour and incredible techniques. Stvn took notes during the meal and wrote an excellent review.
Lunch at Momofuku Ko
I scored THE hottest dining reservation in New York City. The 12:25 seating at Momofuku Ko for lunch (booked 2 weeks in advance)!
Walking up to the small restaurant, there is no doubt that people who aren’t in the know have no idea what lies behind that door. Handing the waiter my printed confirmation ticket I was led down the small bar where three other persons (a couple and a single) were already seated. Sitting on a hard wooden bench the setting was a pair of take-out style chopsticks perched on a bottle cork, a wine glass, a folded napkin, and a small hand-printed list of alcoholic beverages. Definitely more like your friend's well equipped kitchen than a 2 Michelin star restaurant.
No pictures were allowed, so you'll need to rely on your imagination to picture what the food looks like. There are no “servers” at Ko - the three chefs making the dishes are plating the dishes, serving the dishes, and describing the dishes while two young men work the front of the house (checking bags, refilling drinks, changing out silverware) and another man rapidly cleans dishes in the back.
Moving on to the food, the differential seat timings made a lot more sense to me as the meal came together - essentially 4 persons were served at a time in a rotating fashion so that those of us in the first sitting were getting dish 3 while the second seating was starting on dish 1 - and each chef composed different aspects of different dishes uniformly. The menu is as follow:
1) Amuses:
- Pommes Souffle with Hackleback Caviar and Leek/Sourcream filling was clearly Ko’s take on a traditional caviar presentation - albeit quite minimal in size. A single hollowed-out crispy French fry was presented with a dollop of salty caviar on one end and the other end sliced off and piped full of pungent sour cream. Technique to cook this is incredible, as it was paper thin and very tasty.
- Duck pate square served in a spoon
- Curried lamb sausage (deep fried) with spicy aioli
2) Presented on a bed of ice filling a wooden box was a Shigoku oyster with sweet potato vinagrette. Briny as expected, the heavily accented vinegar temper the oyster quite nicely.
3) Sashimi tasting: Medai with Crispy Scales + Chives + White Soy, Kombu cured Fluke with Water Chestnut and Shiso Flower, and Diver Scallop with Buttermilk + Chives + Poppyseeds, Mackerel with Yuzu + Masago + Shallots. All of the sashimi had wonderful flavors that were unique to each other. The accompaniments such as dehydrated beet all gave unique taste and texture to the sashimi. Beginning first with the Medai, my second favorite of the group - smooth and well accented by the chive/soy I quite liked the crispy scales shaved over it. Second, the Fluke - very mild flavors, was my personal fav. Third, the scallop - wonderful. Completely raw and well complimented by the bitter buttermilk and crunchy poppy seeds. Finally, the mackerel was surprisingly mild and the yuzu smoothed out any heaviness that may have been left to linger. The masago (actually masago caviar) nicely added a degree of saltiness that brought everything together.
4) Uni/tofu in pineapple dashi and puffed black rice worked brilliantly. The uni was accompanied by chu toro with hackleback caviar and waygu sashimi. The flavor of the wagyu was incredible. I had beef sashimi in Austin, beef tartare in a couple of restaurants and none came close to the rich beefiness of the wagyu sashimi. No wonder wagyu is so expensive as the marbled fat really amplify the raw taste of beef.
5) Kimchi consomme with spring vegetables. The amazing thing about this dish is the consomme is actually in a gelatin texture with the full robust flavors of kimchi. It's very refreshing and goes well with the vege.
6) Sliced beef cheek with charred/pickled jalapeno puree, accompanied by white fungus, maitake mushroom and cilantro. The jalapeno sauce actually increase your appetite by adding a subtle spiciness to the dish.
7) Puffed chicken egg in bacon dashi. The texture of the egg is really unique (kinda foamy and spongy at the same time). They used an interesting looking container to do something to the egg.
8) Ko’s verison of a bento box: curry seasoned lamb rib with kolrabi slaw, pork fat grilled rice cake, mustard greens, dashi broth with uni. The lamb was so tender that I was able to cut it with a spoon.
9) Poached buttermilk dumpling served in a fried chicken broth. My least fav. The broth was good but I don't like the dumpling.
10) Roasted halibut served with chinese mustard greens. The halibut was very juicy and flavorful. Prob the best I ever had, as all the halibut I had tasted were pretty flat...
11) Perhaps the most famous dish of momofuku Ko - was Lychee, Pinenut Brittle, Riesling Gelee, and Shaved Foie Gras. Expecting great things I was not let down - you really cannot “think” how this dish tastes and feels - like the most unctuous foie gras but also harkening memories of peanut butter and jelly, plus a “built in” wine-pairing with the Riesling. It was so incredible that my normally reserved wife nearly fainted from the ecstasy of foodgasm!
12) Grilled chicken with fresh hummus. Didn't like the hummus but the chicken was very tender, juicy and tasty. The chicken breast was fused with a sausage/pate like meat and seared together.
13) Cheese tart. The tart was nice but I wasn't really blown away.
14) Coconut cream filled toasted black rice cake with passion fruit ice cream, caramel sauce and toasted crunchies.
15) Orange granita with black streusel and thai basil.
The bathroom have books ranging from Adria to Keller to Tetsuya lining a bookshelf above the toilet. Took the opportunity to read a few pages of Adria Ferri's cookbooks. The dishes look amazing and I really hope to eat El Bulli before it closes.
Paying the bill, I have to say I’d gotten my money’s worth - there were so many dishes and each of them can easily sell for more than $10 each - and in total I was glad I’d had the chance to experience the cuisine and watch the chefs at work A final example of the service - after paying the bill a jar of house pickles and a Kimchi rice-cake wrapped in Nori were given to us with a “Thanks for coming.” That's really thoughtful and the nori became our dinner after digesting this very creative and decadent lunch!
I am really amused with point 11 although i won't describe myself as "reserved". I must admit that it was unbelievably good and I was speechless. Absolutely divine! I've never tasted anything more exquisite and superior! I feel really blessed to have these opportunities to enjoy the creativity and talents of these chefs. It was a real eye-opener. Of course I have to thank my dearest husband for sharing this wonderful experience with me. Looking forward to May's treat :)
Entrance of Momofuku Ko.
The restroom. Check out the cook books!