Momofuku

Noodle Bar!

Met up with one of my oldest friends Kari tonight for dinner, as she's in town on business (fancy!) for a few days. Type of foodie that she is (high expectation, low b.s. tolerance), I knew we'd be heading somewhere fantastic for dinner. I was not disappointed. Enter: momofuku noodle bar. The original Lower East Side joint run by the much-beloved Chef Chang, who now hosts a number of spots all over town.

We arrived a bit early (especially by NYC late dining standards) and were immediately seated at the bar. Definitely have to be comfortable slurping noodles with strangers, as they squeeze you right in where ever they can find a spot at the long community tables and you very well might be sharing a bench with a new friend. As it was our first visit, we went with the staples - split an order of pork buns and each got a bowl of momofuku ramen.

Heavenly.  The pork buns, though pricey, were insanely delicious and I probably easily could have eaten two six more. Ramen was more filling than I usually find soups to be, coming in a giant bowl filled with tons of veggies, pulled pork shoulder, pork belly and a poached egg - the combination of which sounded less than delightful to my normally bland-preferring palette beforehand, but I trusted the steadily growing line outside and was pleasantly surprised!  Fun spot, great company and the hipster waiters were much nicer to us than their beautifully frosty appearances and oversized reading glasses would suggest - win win win!