17 Course Lunch at Momofuku Ko

Momofuku Ko is located where Momofuku Noodle Bar used to be. I remember once I was taking Ryan to Noodle Bar and I just walked right into Ko. They pointed us next door where they moved. Point being, the restaurant is black with a single peach on the front door to guide your way. They don’t take walk-ins, so I guess they don’t need to make it flashy.

We have literally been trying to get reservations for a year. The reservation system is extremely democratic. There is no favoritism, they claim, and a famous account of that is a NY Times food blogger that had a daily watch of when he would actually be able to get a reservation through their online system. You go online and reserve a spot through their grid system. The only problem is that there is only a weeks worth of spots open at any given time. (I actually like that system, since then, you won’t have people booking it up forever) A new day opens every day at 10am, I believe. It’s incredibly competitive clicking and getting spots, especially for any party larger than 1. Lunch seems to be a bit more easier to get into.

It’s a TINY space and they cook right in front of you. You are seated at a bar that surrounds the kitchen and there are only 12 spots. That’s it. Online, they only accept reservations for 1, 2, or 4 people. They are known for not answering the phone or to messages. There are also no menus, tasting menu only, and when you make your reservations online, they ask you what you are allergic to.

I opted not getting the wine pairing, and we got a bottle of sparkling rose instead. It lasted us for half the meal and we supplemented with a half bottle of a really nice white. Otherwise, I missed taking pictures of the first 6 courses. We started with radish spirals topped on hearts of palm, then baby string beans tossed with hijiki seaweed. This was paired with a long fried crisp filled with creme fraiche and topped generously with caviar. Then the seafood courses started with a single oyster completely covered with caviar. Then we had fluke over cucumber spritzed with lemon and toogarashi. Beautiful. Then it was followed by sweet shrimp, which was decadent, and a maidai course topped by a pickled radish (see picture).

All of the sashimi dishes were two bite wonders and very small. I think we felt a little cheated in the beginning. I enjoyed the sashimi, but I would rather that they halved everything and consolidated them as one course. This might just be how they pace the diners, though.

Home-made soft yuba skin (tofu skin, aka. vegetarian duck) generously topped with uni, toasted puffed red rice, and scallions. The yuba was so soft, like egg whites, that the whole dish melted in your mouth. Taste-wise, the uni was front and center, as the yuba offered a faint soy taste. Some might call it bland, but I really enjoyed this soft dish.

Pickled watermelon slices in an octopus salad. Both were topped over shishito peppers, and the whole thing was one of those quiet dishes that might get forgotten in light of some odd frozen foie gras dish. However, the odd salad mix gets good marks from me. It was a tasty treat with a side of a horseradish tartar sauce. Too bad it wasn’t more memorable.

The next course was a soft “puffed egg” in bacon dashi (bacon broth, really?), accompanied by a bagel stuffed with bacon, cream, and chives. It was delicious. It really was. It was so soft, hearty, and the egg wafted of bacon. I never really thought about using or poaching eggs in broth, but the whole thing was incredibly flavorful and interesting. This was one of both of our favorite dishes. Ryan loved the bagel and claimed, “I could just pop these in my mouth all day and I would be happy!”

The bacon creamy goodness was followed by another creamy course of sweet corn and pickled chantelle mushrooms in a cream corn soup. It was topped with crispty toasted nori and it was pretty exceptional. The odd thing about this dish was the pickled mushrooms. Since chantelle mushrooms are so creamy, I can see how it would go well with this dish, but the pickled flavor adds another dimension. It was subtle, though, and did well to contrast with the sweet corn.

Summer squash with daicon on top of home-made gnocchi. the Gnocchi were perfect and in glazed in a cream sauce. the squash was sweet and refreshing. It was timed well to follow the soup. However, the gnocchi fell a bit short and leaned towards the bland side. It wasn’t very memorable. I did like the edible zucchini flowers, though. The whole dish was very pretty and summery.

This dish was a home-run for me. It was REALLY inventive, I think. I liked how it was refreshing and at the same time hearty. It was a consomme like soup that tasted entirely of rich tomatoes. They called it a tomato water and basil soup. It was accompanied by scallops, squid, bass, and clams. It was topped with fried tapioca saffron balls. It was SOOO good.

This dish is the talked about infamous frozen foie gras over reisling jelly and lychee. You can find this on the finner menu and on the lunch menu. This was the dish that gave them a notoriety. This was definitely the most memorable dish of the evening. It was WEIRD. It wasn’t bad, and people seemed to LOVE it. I spoke to another girl that went to Ko that raved about it.

The frozen foie gras absolutely melts in your mouth. If you eat it alone, it will be an odd experience. It’s creamy and tastes like foie gras and the experience really reminds you of melting butter in your mouth.

Here is my confession: as a child, I used to like to eat a small sliver or two of butter once in a while. In the same fashion, I kind of liked this.

With the lychee, it was really interesting. The tart and sweetness of the lychee goes amazingly with this dish. It was kind of a mind-fuck. It’s good. The reisling jelly… reminds me of fat, for some reason. It was an odd experience. I rather felt like I was being shown the extremes of decadence. I don’t know why… the experience was kind of obscene.

All throughout the beginning of the meal, they kept on basting and broiling this big chunk of meat. Ry and I were very curious about it and it looked amazing. I had thought that maybe they were doing the preparations for dinner? However, of course, it was for us. It was a huge tender slice of duck. the skin was done really well and crispy. The slice near the skin was tenderer than the other cut they gave us. It was tough to cut, but juicy and tender to bite through. Odd, eh? It was accompanied by plum glazed in the duck gravy and a toasted rice ball. It was a straight forward dish and I liked it.

Ryan thought that the portion was too big and he would have rather had another plate for half the size. I think they do this, because at a certain time you need sustained flavors to satisfy you. I think this whole experience was really well paced and thought out in order to satiate you.

I’m kind of getting exhausted typing this out. From here on out, we started on the desert dishes. The first one being an assorted cheese plate of aged cheese and herbs. It was really well done and a nice way to wean your way towards the end of a huge lunch. It wasn’t mind blowing, but it was pretty damn good. It was also a nice palate change after the duck.

The first sweet desert was an Arnold Palmer sorbet. I didn’t know what an “Arnold Palmer” was. It was a tea and lemon sorbet, which was pretty damn amazing. It was surrounded by yellow cake crumbs and fruit puree. The second sorbet was a little more lackluster. I was actually disappointed that they gave us two sorbets, instead of a course of cake or pastry or something! Oh well. the second sorbet was strawberry surrounded by five star strawberries (they were soft, TINY and sweet) and broken ritz crackers.

If you enjoy Ssam Bar, go! If you feel like having a 3-4 hour lunch, go! If you just want to be puzzled over some frozen buttery meal, go!

Ryan and I polished off ALL 17 courses and a bottle and a half of wine. IT WAS AMAZING. Then he went to rehearsal.
; )