I finally made it to one of the restaurants on my bucket list! Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York City! In 2019 I became obsessed with David Chang, the creator of Momofuku, through the various Netflix series he hosted or appeared on. So when Haris and I knew we were heading to NYC right around Christmas, we knew we had to check this place out.

And we weren’t disappointed. We headed over right around opening lunch time and managed to be seated right away which was great because within 20 minutes the wait jumped up to about an hour for 3 or more people. We were seated with a great view of the kitchen, in which you can be given a seat near to watch the chefs at work.

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The menu is pretty straightforward and you order on a piece of paper, much like the all you can eat sushi places I’ve eaten at in Denver. We started with some drinks of course. Haris got the Mr. Orange which included: Mr. Black, amara rossa blood orange liquer, cynar, fever free indian tonic. It was an interesting drink but delicious nonetheless!

I ordered the Harvest Moon (described as a fancy cranberry vodka). It was fantastic and I actually wouldn’t mind one right now! It included: rosemary reyka vodka, bokbunja, giffard creme de mure and cranberry. As we sipped on our drinks we ordered our apps and ramen. The waiter was great and even asked us about any food allergies before putting in our order. We ordered two appetizers from the daily specials: Crispy Shrimp and Pork Buns.

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The pork buns were amazing! I mean, just look at them. The pork melted in your mouth and the buns were nice and springy. The shrimp were very interesting. Before we ordered them the waiter made sure to tell us that the shrimp would be fried with the head and the tail both on and that we were to eat the whole thing like chips. I’m not gonna lie, this made me hella nervous. Why? Well because what if part of that shell, so thin and so crispy, lodged itself in my throat and I started choking? Or what is I didn’t like the texture? But you know what, these little buggers were amazing! I loved every bite, and yes they were very much like chips! But Haris had the best description:

I like the shrimp more than the pork buns because they are a little more rugged. It’s like what I imagine getting in a little village in Cambodia where they don’t want to waste anything so they season it all and have you eat it.

– Haris Khan

Haris always has the most interesting takes on food and one of my goals of 2020 is to give you all a little more of those thoughts! But anyways, on to the main event- the Ramen! Haris ordered the ramen above: the Garlic Chicken Ramen. This ramen includes yu choy, egg yolk and bamboo. And it got the Haris stamp of approval, even if his face doesn’t show it in the picture below.

After finishing his bowl of ramen he said he felt super satisfied. Part of that being the serving size. The ramen places at home tend to make these HUGE bowls of ramen, and yet these dishes were perfectly sized to make us feel satisfied and feeling ready to tackle our long walk to and through the Met. I ordered the ramen below, even though I wanted the ramen Haris got, but you know we have to keep it spicy here on the blog. This was the Smoked Pork Ramen which includes pork belly, egg yolk and bamboo. I love that it literally includes an egg yolk and not a soft boiled egg, because honestly, the soft boiled egg is one of my least favorite things in ramen. Even though I wanted to order the ramen haris got, I’m super happy I ordered this one because it was delicious and well balanced!

So whether you are traveling to NYC or another wonderful city that has a Momofuku Noodle Bar, make sure to check it out. It’s an amazing experience for your mouth! And if you are worried about money, it was surprisingly not a meal that broke our wallets. Our ending total was $109 for two drinks, two apps and two bowls of ramen. Not too shabby if you ask me.