momofuku ko - not too shabby

For the past 3 months, everyday at work I have reminder set for 9:58am on my calendar. Because at 10am I log on to Momofuku Ko's website and try to get a reservation at this most exclusive restaurant in the city. The reason it's so hard to get into is the reservation system. No one is given preference, not food critics, family, or friends. Everyone must vie for 32 spots, and they usually go about 2-3 seconds after 10am, so you can see the difficulty. Recently, they auctioned off 2 seats for dinner for a charity, they went for $2000. But after 3 months of trying...SUCCESS!!

We initially were hesitant to even go because of the price, but how often are we going to be able to eat at a 5 star restaurant (last time was our honeymoon).

There were 10 courses, and we also got the wine and sake pairing that goes with the meal (again might as well do it up right, since we don't eat super fancy food). So without further ado. Here's what we ate (and lets all be proud of Mrs. KTL for eating everything placed in front of her, even with her distaste in seafood and mushrooms)

(These are just some pics I've scavenged from the web (we're not lame enough to take pictures while we were there))

Pork rind with salty seasoning:
light and lightly seasoned with togarashi pepper. great starter.


English muffins soaked in pork fat:
Holy crap this was good. Homemade english muffins with whipped pork fat, then toasted and sea salt and chives


Pate with caviar:
This was a little blob of pate and caviar, bite-sized and good


Deep fried creamy(some kind of cheese maybe) something with quail egg on top:
This was the best of the appetizers. The cheese was coated with a light and crunchy shell, and a perfect over easy quail egg on top. This pic is close to what it looked like.


Mushroom and radish soup
Thinly sliced mushrooms and radishes, placed in a bowl and served, then a smokey broth poured over top. This was okay, I thought it was a little too smokey flavored because the mushrooms and radishes were very light.

Fluke sashimi with buttermilk and poppy seeds:
awesome



Poached chicken egg w/ caviar, tarty onions, and mini-potato chips:
My favorite dish of the night. (A little background) I watched this past season of Top Chef, and one of the judges always stressed the texture of food. I never agreed with him on this point, because I thought it should all be about how the food tastes, not how it feels. But after this entree, I totally understand. The silkiness of the poached egg, the way the caviar popped, and the crispness of the chips. Perfect.


Ravioli with a sweet corn and cochita cheese filling, chorizo , and pickled onions:
We got three raviolis, this was kinda out of sorts with the rest of the meal, but still amazingly delicious.

Shaved foie gras, lychee syrup, riesling jelly, and pinenut brittle:
Dammit this was good. The description says it all. You are less of a person for having heard about this and not have tasted it.


Roasted diver scallops - burnt onion, diced radish, pepperoncini puree:
Probably my least favorite dish. The scallops were great, but the radish and the puree was just too much.


Duck with cherries grapes, chinese string beans and water chestnuts:
They started cooking the duck when we arrived. I also realized that I do not use nearly enough salt when I cook meat, and according to CombatVet aka Culinary Ninja has backed up this assertion. Seared, baked, then rested. Perfect medium rare.


Pineapple sorbet on top of frozen apricot puree:
I love fruity deserts, so this was great. Simple and clean.


Yellow cake ice cream on top of peanut brittle served with small strawberries on a bed of some other kind of peanut butter stuff and a smear of raspberry sauce. Second best dish of the night.

The wine and sake pairings were well thought out. Except there was a beer thrown in there that didn't quite mesh well.

All-in-all, this was the best meal I've ever had. I'm glad we went, but I am not expecting to go back because it is price and effort prohibitive.