Saturday, December 29, 2012

I like big pork butts and I cannot lie

Momofuku Ssam Bar
207 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10003
www.momofuku.com


A few months ago, I made reservations here for a very special 30th birthday celebration dinner for Thompson and a few friends. T and I always wanted to try the pork butt from Momofuku, but never found a good opportunity to celebrate, or an awesome group to share with until now. Since I wanted to secure the time and date, I placed a special order for the Bo Ssam (which means pork wrap) a month in advance. Despite the name, pork butt doesn’t actually come from the rear end of the pig. It is one of the two cuts from the pork shoulder. Butt or not, we wanted it.

IMG_4703
Maine Uni with heirloom tomato, cantaloupe and shiso (not included in Bo Ssam meal)
IMG_4705
Seasonal pickles (not included in Bo Ssam meal)
IMG_4714
Accompaniments: fresh crisp bibb lettuce to make wraps, white rice, 2 types of kimchi, ginger-scallion, and Korean BBQ sauce
IMG_4711
1 dozen oysters to be eaten individually or with wraps
IMG_4710
This 6-8 pound tendered pork butt is slow cooked for 8 long hours. The best part? The outer layer of charred pork skin lacquered with sweet brown sugar.
IMG_4729
The delicious pork falls right off the bone, oozing sweet and savory juices.
IMG_4722
Guests are encouraged to make wraps with pork and condiments as they please.
IMG_4726
Oyster and Ssam sauce combo!
IMG_4727
With flavorful ginger-scallion sauce. Now that's a wrap! :)

The skin of the pork butt was glazed in brown sugar and sweet deliciousness. The meat was mouthwateringly tender, moist, and drenched in absolute tastiness. To make the perfect wrap, you'll need a good ratio of everything. With the crisp and buttery lettuce leaves for wrapping, a good bite of rice, a generous spoon of the savory ginger sauce, a little bit of kimchi, and a slab of flavorful meat. And... voilà! The combination of all the ingredients created a great medley of sweet, savory, spicy, cold and hot! Everyone was able to eat about 4 -5 wraps, and it was enough for everyone to be full and extremely happy.

We couldn’t stop raving about how good the meal was. It was delicious, plentiful, and engages the entire table in conversation and interaction. For $200, the Bo Ssam fed all 10 of us, not including tax and tip. If you don’t mind losing a couple days of your lifespan to gastronomical delight, you should definitely try it with a party of 6-10 (10 guests maximum) who will appreciate all the porky goodness.


Mickey’s rating: 9/10
Price range: $$$


Momofuku Ssäm Bar on Urbanspoon

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...