Momofuku Fried Chicken

[trickdos]

I have a reservation for 4 people this Thursday night. Just wondering if anyone has been and if it was worth it. I haven't seen much on the boards regarding this since it was new.

I am a huge momofuku fan and love all of the restaurants.

[AceMakoHatz]

I've had it. It's good but not great. Try it.

[PhishFoodie]

Thanks fo rsharing those photos! I'm going for lunch Saturday- so excited!

[ellenost]

Finally had the fried chicken. In a word: excellent. We had a party of 4, and it is a "ton" of food. I had to start my meal with the delicious pork buns (especially since I'd never been to Noodle Bar before). The pork buns are delicious too (perfect amount of meat to fat ratio). The table shared the corn side dish that was very good. The chicken arrives as a mountain of chicken pieces--just dig in. After almost 2 hours, there were about 8 pieces left. I enjoyed both styles equally. The sauces were nice, but the chicken is great all by itself. The chicken pieces are large. The outside of both styles has great crunch--the traditional is crunchier though. Both styles have great flavor. The meat inside is very juicy. (I never tried to make a wrap with the pancakes; never touched the side vegetables--too healthy!) Service was very attentive and friendly. We received our choice of the soft serve flavors for dessert. I loved the watermelon shlushie that I had as a cocktail! Noise level is very high. Look forward to having the fried chicken dinner again (probably will wait several months). I think 6 people would be the best size group to finish the chicken.

[roro1831]

Six is probably right, we went with five and had a few pieces left over

[c11]

Do they serve the chicken whole or cut it up?

[ellenost]

It's two whole chickens cut up into pieces with some extra wings added. The pieces are huge (sort of chicken on steroids huge).

[roro1831]

Two chickens cut up, some pieces done southern style (brined then buttermilk and battered, heavy on the Old Bay, not particularly Southern, but very good) the other pieces are Korean triple fried. It comes out with a bounty bowl which has lettuce, carrots, radish, herbs and four sauces, hoison, a spicy sauce, ginger sauce with jalapenos and I can't recall the fourth. I ate the southern style as is but took the Korean style off the bones and wrapped it in the pancakes with some of the herbs and lettuce with some of the sauces.

[RGR]

Hey, ellenost!

Thanks for posting the review. It was great sharing the experience with you and sis. :) Mr. R. and I have been very busy -- eating! LOL -- and I haven't had the chance to write it up. I just uploaded the photos. You and anyone else who is interested can see them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11863391...

[steakrules85]

Wow as always great photos. Looks like you guys had a great time. Awesome!

[RGR]

Hey, steak!

I have no doubt if you had been with us, the only thing left would have been a bunch of bones! LOL!

[ellenost]

Hi RGR!

Great photos. Both David Chang and Danny Meyer should hire you to be their official photographers. Your photos are wonderful! We enjoyed sharing this delicious dinner with you and Mr. R. Next time we should invite steakrules too! How did the leftovers taste?

[RGR]

Hey, ellenost!

My apologies for not yet e-mailing you to thank you for your gracious invitation to join you and your sister. You two are terrific company, and Mr. R. and I had a grand time.

I appreciate the compliments about my photos, but I seriously doubt either Chang or Meyer will be knocking on my door anytime soon.

We've been so busy dining out in NYC, that we haven't gotten around to trying the leftovers. But I've shlepped them back to NJ, we'll be eating at home for the next few days, and I have a feeling quite a few of our meals will revolve around chicken! lol We also took home some tasty leftovers from Allegretti and Aldea.

Hey, steak!

Next time, we should definitely include you in! :)

[steakrules85]

LOL you know I would never turn down a meal with you and Mr. R!

[steakrules85]

Haha definitely R!

[squid kun]

Here's the short version, for anyone who doesn't have time to wade through the several dozen posts: http://www.chow.com/manhattan_digest/... (there are also links for those who do have the time).

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Momofuku Noodle Bar
171 1st Ave, New York, NY 10003

[fireinthehole]

What is the website? I would like to try this when I come to town from Texas next month. Does anybody know of anything similar outside of NYC?

[kathryn]

http://momofuku.com/office/reservatio...

[hungrycomposer]

I reserved about a month in advance and had my fried chicken yesterday. Both types were delicious - I preferred the Korean, while my BF preferred the Southern. The herbs were impeccable - fresh, intensely flavored and nice compliments to the bird. The pancakes were good but I can't say I always had the composure to put together a little package - my instincts were to just pick up a drumstick and devour it! I was struck by option anxiety - so many wonderful possibilities...

The experience was definitely enhanced by the ritual - the waitstaff walks you through it with great enthusiasm, and warns you that you have to wait 18 minutes after ordering. So the suspense builds. Everyone working there was knowledgeable and friendly, and they seemed like they enjoyed it as much as we did.

Don't worry about having a ton of food, we just enjoyed 2 meals of leftover fried chicken. It gave us the chance to savor it and taste all of the sauces at our leisure. (Freshly fried chicken sure can inspire a feeding frenzy!) That was a real late summer pleasure, along with some beautiful corn on the cob from the greenmarket. Again, the staff was wonderful, dividing our booty into two take home packages, each containing both types of chicken, each sauce, and the herbs and vegetables.

[davisready]

Was it only the two of you? I was under the impression there was a 4-person minimum.

[hungrycomposer]

No, there were five of us. Our leftovers went home to two separate households.

[davisready]

Excellent. I'm planning on going with a party of six. From the sounds of it, there should be plenty of food.

[Daniel76]

I loved my recent meal or momo with the exception of the fried chicken.. It was like a nugget. Didnt like the texture of the chicken..

The trout dish on the other hand was amazing!

[hungrycomposer]

Lots of food for six, unless you're all football players!

I loved the fried chicken, but it may not be my favorite menu item - that would be the pork buns (and the watermelon slushie if we're including alcohol). But the fried chicken dinner is so much fun it's definitely worth braving their reservation system.

[kelea]

I had a party of 8. we started with a roast pork sandwich each and could barely finish the chicken. I htink there was 2 little sad wings that just no one could stomach anymore. it was delicious. a huge fan of the korean...not so much the southern but then again i like dark meat.

[NellyNel]

daniel - were you at Noodle Bar or Ssam bar?

Because the fried chicken at Ssam is shaped and formed like a nugget - and some people are put off by that - but the fried chicken at Noodle bar is meant to be amazing - and serves "real" chicken pieces

[kathryn]

Daniel76, we're talking about the Noodle Bar fried chicken you have to reserve in advance for a part of 4-8 people. Not the Ssam Bar corn fried chicken dish.

[Daniel76]

Ahh.. thank you, I had no idea.. I was wondering why everyone was raving about it.. I will have to go to Noodle Bar.

[ssp242]

hey, what's the best way to get a reservation? I've been trying for the past few days, clicking the button starting at 9:59am and I still can't get in...

[ellenost]

keep trying! (it does work).

[PistachioMacaron]

I agree with the ellenost....keep trying! Yesterday around 6 pm, I was able to get a reservation for the end of September - they had two dates available to choose from. This morning around 11 am I randomly checked to see if there was anything available sooner, and there was availability for this Saturday night.

[RCC]

A Momofuku here. Thanks for resurrecting this thread ... I didn't know about the fried chicken dinner until now.

[KTinNYC]

Be aware of the fact you have to reserve the fried chicken dinner in advance on the Momofuku website.

[conordog]

going tonight. im excited. can anyone recommend sides? we'll be four dining. hope it compares to the bo ssam which i thought was exceptional- the rest of what i had at ssam was forgettable though. i wouldnt choose to go back to ssam if not for the bo ssam dinner. would actually try to convince a group not to go there if not having the ssam. never been to the noodle bar, but ive read underwhelming stuff about their ramen. hope the fried chicken holds up. to me, fried chicken without the southern fixins aint fried chicken. just trying to get my mind into the korean fried chicken mind set. im sure it will be good.

[trickdos]

I went to have the fried chicken dinner last night. The dinner started with a complimentary fried skate bun which was awesome. We were only 4 people, so we didn't order anything else besides the chicken. The chicken came about 15 minutes later and after the first bite I was hooked. It was impossible to stop eating the chicken. Both chicken types were equally as good for different reasons. I personally enjoyed the buttermilk old bay battered chicken better. The Asian style wings were incredibly tasty though. The crunch of the chicken was great. The chicken was perfectly done and everyone loved it. Some people tore off the chicken and made lettuce wraps, some used moo shu pancakes, and I ate it plain off the bone. We ended up taking some of it home and I can't wait to eat it cold.

All in all, it was definitely worth it. The chicken was as good or better than you would expect. Highly recommended. It was a lot for 4 people. 6 people would be perfect.

[NellyNel]

Which Momofuko please?

[trickdos]

Momofuku noodle bar is serving a fried chicken dinner. You need to make reservations online at their website.

[NellyNel]

Thanks so much trick!
Sounds wonderful!

[steakrules85]

NellyNel you thinking what I'm thinking? LOL!

[sedela]

it's def worth it. it's inexpensive, and can easily feed 6. the buttermilk one is tastier than the korean one, but a bit too salty (still good - very juicy/!). the korean one we thought was a bit undercooked and sent back. they cooked the legs again just in case (but they thought it was a vein we hit though i am not sure, since it was kind of bloody). they also aren't super spicy like bon bon/chon. they were nice about it though and gave us some frozen sorbet afterwards. super nice fresh veggies too. we mostly skipped the mooshoo pancakes though. not necessary, except to help hold the sauces. really like the Sriracha type sauce. aside from that and the hoisin, the rest were too liquid to incorporate in the various wraps we made.

[trickdos]

Awesome. I am really excited now (as if I wasn't before). We are going with 4 people, so it will be plentiful. I tried to add two people to the reservation, but they wouldn't allow me to do that. More for me, or even cold fried chicken the next day...

Thanks for all your posts.

[AimeeD]

How much are they charging for the fried chicken dinner?

[kelea]

It's $100 for the table regardless of people. 4-8 is the range

[formofjon]

I tried not to buy into all the chicken hype, but after going on Saturday for lunch, I still can't stop talking about it. Painfully jealous that you're going in less than 48 hours...the crunch-factor, the bowl of fresh herbs, the tangy sauces, the love.

[kelea]

We're going in August. I can't wait!