A month or so ago, we went to Momofuku Noodle Bar with our friend Lee for a couple bowls of ramen. He sent us an email last week asking us if we want to go for Momofuku's fried chicken dinner. Boy howdy, did I!
Let me explain why I was so excited:
- You need to create an account to make a fried chicken reservation on their website.
- You can't just show up and order the fried chicken; it's not on the regular menu.
- The fried chicken reservation will only accommodate parties of 4 and no more than 8 persons.
- They release time slots every day at 10a, for a date four weeks out.
- There is no wait list.
- Sometimes people cancel, but not very often. If they do, that reservation goes back in the pool.
- There aren't very many reservations available. I don't know the exact number but I rarely see people eating fried chicken. When I do, everyone in the restaurant - including myself - has fried chicken envy.
- As with any David Chang restaurant, good luck getting a reservation.
If you created an account and looked at the schedule, you can see there is zero availability for dinner or lunch. This is why we quickly said yes to Lee's reservation. We all arrived before our designated time (four of us) but waited for about 10 minutes before they sat us. Why? Most of the tables at Momofuku Noodle Bar are share tables - seating 6-10 persons but they gave us our own little table. Probably so we wouldn't have a random table mate drooling over our shoulder, trying to snag a piece when no one was looking.
The platter comes with two fried chickens, regardless of your party size: one chicken is Southern style (buttermilk and Old Bay seasoned), the other's Korean style (triple fried and glazed with "bibim"). The dipping sauces were, from bottom clockwise: "bibim" - aka gochujang: a hot pepper, brown sugar and vinegar mix; scallion ginger with sesame oil; a jalapeño soy mixture and hoisin sauce: kinda like an Asian style, steak sauce. There were also mu shu pancakes, Bibb lettuce, radishes, baby carrots, Thai basil, and mint.
We all tried the Southern style one first, minus any sauce or garnish. Pretty tasty: The coating was thin, crisp, and very well seasoned but wouldn't stay on. Once you took a bite, the crispy shell popped right off the meat. The Korean style fried chicken's skin was very crisp under the baked, lacquered layer of gochujong. The gochujong was a tad too sweet for my taste, I preferred the Southern style chicken but since we were all sharing, I "had" to eat my share of the Korean chicken.
Working with the lettuce, pancakes and sauces was interesting but kind of painful. Traditionally in Korean barbecue, lettuce is used as a wrapper, like a tortilla or nori, the meat is thin and there is rice. I'm guessing Chef Chang was riffing off of the wrapping idea but pulling meat off its bones with our fingers to assemble our mini burritos wasn't a lot of fun. Other than the gochujong, the sauces were thin so when trying to use them, they'd run right through our little roll ups and make one big flavor puddle on our plate. Perhaps if there was some rice for the sauces to adhere to, we could actually taste the sauces more.
Final Verdict:
The Southern fried chicken was indeed delicious. I didn't mind eating the coating separately, kind of like eating chicharrón. Our fourth dining companion thought her chicken thigh was a little underdone (it was a little more than pink but it was probably safe to eat). The Korean fried chicken was a little too sweet for me and the pieces were a little unwieldy to use the lettuce leaves and mu shu wraps without making a sticky mess. I'd forgo the wraps and sauces - just tuck into the chicken, it's plenty seasoned. Was it worth the hype? Yes, and no but you decide, if you can get a reservation.
(Images from top to bottom: The Platter - Southern style on the left, Korean style on the right; hard boiled soy sauce eggs with slivered fried garlic and leeks; our enormous can of beer; Lee joking around; schedules with nothing available; dipping sauces; the lone piece of fried chicken remaining)