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| - Actual rating 3.5.
The Momofuku (lit. lucky peach) Restaurant Group is an umbrella of restaurants founded by chef-owner David Chang. Fed up with working in fine dining, he wanted to serve his take on casual Asian cuisine to the masses. His four most successful concepts include his take on ramen (Noodle Bar), ssäm (Ssäm Bar), fried chicken sandwiches (Fuku) and desserts (Milk Bar, headed by former employee Christina Tosi and now its own business). While most of his restaurants are in the East Coast with a majority of them in NYC, this was his first Momofuku to be situated in the West Coast.
CONCEPT: Unlike the specialized concepts in the East Coast this particular Momofuku doesn't have one central theme. The dinner service is arguably the most generic out of the entire Momofuku lineup with focus on family-style group dining. The Vegas decadence ever present in Strip restaurants is in the form of using high-quality meats and using caviar for their fried chicken and caviar service. To partake in signature Momofuku signature concepts one must go during lunch or late nite at Peach Bar (begins 11pm). Both have a few ramen flavors during that time, with the famous ssäm wraps only available during lunch.
VENUE: Located in the 2nd level of Boulevard Tower, you are first led to believe that the restaurant space consists of exactly what you see at the entrance. Turns out that this is all a facade - the space closest to the entrance is merely Peach Bar. The main dining room is at least twice as big as Peach Bar and is more akin to a more formal dining experience. Murals are painted by David Choe and feature his and Chang's dogs.
SERVICE: Good service overall.
We wanted to focus on the signature dishes so initially I was torn on the ssäm and ramen. With accolades on Momofuku's ramen the family ended up getting bowls of their shoyu pork ramen (pork belly & shoulder, slow poached egg, $17). I added shiitake mushrooms for additional $2. It's a beautiful bowl at presentation especially with the poached egg at the center and the pork on the sides of the bowl but the ramen was a bit underwhelming, especially for $17. My siblings made a note that the broth was shoyu (soy sauce) while the best broth for ramen was tonkotsu, which has quite a bit more umami packed into the broth. This is when I realized that a *good* ramen bowl stems from the sum of its ingredients. A bowl may have good meat, al-dente noodles, fresh veggies and/or an umami-filled broth but if one of the components is subpar or underdeveloped (in this case bland broth), the ramen just falls apart. I'm willing to pay $17 for ramen but at that price the bowl must stand out, and for the bowl to stand out every component of that bowl must be top-notch.
The $7 buns are excellent in their execution. My sister and brother tried all 3 and thought all were delicious. I got to share half a pork bun with my mom. Best pork bun I had due to a very good slice of pork belly.
I'm not going to give up on this restaurant because of my subpar ramen experience. I would definitely love to try their ssäms, especially their signature bo ssäm. As for the ramen, I might not order the same ramen from this visit but I'm open to trying a bowl with a more umami-rich broth. As for the rest of my family they'll just settle on the desserts made by adjacent Milk Bar as they seem to like its creations better.
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