January 25, 2011

Momofuku Ko

To check out my more formal review of Momofuku Ko on Yelp, please navigate to:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/momofuku-ko-new-york#hrid:scRfPety2oYciYeMYSQ34Q

What I did not do in my Yelp review was post the menu, which is what I wanted to do here for anyone interested. I believe the below items cover everything we ate. They aren't in exactly the correct order we received them in, but I think I got it pretty close.

Amuse

Potato Souffle - a tiny, crispy, paper-thin fried potato shell filled with potato mousse and hackleback caviar. Served chilled.

Grapefruit gelee with chamomile.

Fish belly - a small bite, not sure if it was fried or roasted but it was crisp on the outside and very meaty and nicely chewy. It sort of kept releasing flavor as you chewed on it.

Oyster - a tiny but plump oyster with purple sweet potato vinegar.


Crudo Plate - the first real course was a tasting of four different fish. One was topped with very finely minced chive, and one with toasted rice. There was a Spanish mackerel with beet, and a scallop with a spicy creamy sauce.

Soup - the broth was an oxtail consumme. In it floated several little open faced "tortellini" made out of daikon. The "tortellini" were filled with a paste of caramelized onion and topped with fresh herbs and mung beans.

Surf & Turf - the "surf" was an mazing piece of Uni sitting atop braised mustard greens. The "turf" was a piece of Wagyu beef with almost a very finely minced ratatouille on top.

Bento Box - this course was composed of four small plates: a delicious meatball cooked in cherry sauce, a small bowl of clam broth with a single clam floating at the bottom, a little pile of fried Brussels sprouts with some sort of fishy flavoring (probably anchovy or fish sauce), and a warm rice ball with salt and melted pork fat.

Fish - skate crusted with almond. Served over roasted cauliflower with an almond froth on top.

Egg - a single delicate "puffed" egg (the egg looked like it had been scrambled and then puffed up with air while it was cooked). Served in a bacon consumme with konbu.

Pasta - handmade orecchiette in a sharp white cheddar sauce. Dollops of broccoli puree dotted the plate, and there were slices of crisp broccoli stem mixed in. Topped with truffle and dehydrated ham.

Charcuterie - offal heart sausage, some sort of meat block with grain mustard, and a thin slice of what they called "pig face" with citrus dressing.

Poultry - sous-vide squab breast, roast squab leg, peeled grapes, and something crispy - I think it was potato?

Cheese - a small bowl of Gruyère broth (note that it was most definitely a light broth, not a thick cheese soup) with a brioche crouton. On top of the crouton was a very fine dice of something I forget - I think it was akin to the Wagyu beef in the earlier course.

Foie Gras - shaved Hudson valley foie gras over Riesling gelee. Again I know there was something crisp in the dish but can't remember what it was.


Dessert 1 - diced apple, caramel sauce, oatmeal ice cream, dehydrated sponge cake

Dessert 2 - cannelle of chocolate pudding with rice pearls.


To take home we were each given a homemade rice ball stuffed with kimchi.