Yes, the titles of my posts will get cornier and cornier.  Deal. with. it.

This weekend I had lunch at Momofuku Ssam, a place I’ve been dying to eat at for some time.  With a no reservations policy and seemingly endless waiting times during the evenings, I’ve always been reluctant to try out Daniel Chang’s infamous pork at any of the Momofuku restaurants.  Finally, I decided to quell my fears and head there for a late lunch to avoid the packed dinner hours.  To my delight, I arrived at an almost empty Momofuku Ssam but by the time I left, was packed.  Note to interested eaters: get there before 3pm on Saturdays to eat without hassle.

As an appetizer, I tried the Chicken and Egg Pate en Croute with ramp marmalade. The pate was firm but delicious and the ramp spread on top of it gave it a sweet and garlicky taste.

For my meal I ordered the Momo Lunch Box. You have three choices for the lunch boxes and they all come with a side of pickles, one side and a soda! I of course had to try the steamed pork buns, the infamous tiny pork sandwiches that make Momofuku so good.

They come in pairs and the pork is wrapped in this pita shaped “bun” that tastes buttery and airy. The focus is diverted to the pork, which thankfully delivers on its praises. The pork was fatty but not overwhelmingly chewy. It had some barbecue sauce and housemade pickles lightly on top of it and the accompanying hot sauce gave the pork buns a nice zing.

The side of pickles comes with mushrooms, carrots and onions, all of which were coated lightly with a dressing that gave them a sweet taste. Everything is from local, sustainable farms and it shows. The two sides me and my friend ordered were the Kewpie Slaw topped with black sesame seeds and the Bean Sprout Salad which was doused in Chinese BBQ sauce and sesame oil. The sesame oil was a little too generously coated on my bean sprouts and made it more syrupy than it could have been but the Kewpie Slaw was nice and had a great spicy kick at the end of it.

I would definitely head back to Momofuku Ssam and even try my hand at dinner there.  The pork buns would have to be ordered again of course, but thankfully they’re an appetizer during dinner hours so I may be able to order something else if I can pull myself away from them.