Momofuku Saam Bar was the highly anticipated follow-up for chef David Chang. He has won James Beard awards and basically has become the darling chef of the New York. I was curious about the hype and visited in the day, when the lunch menu included the saam, which is basically an awesome Asian burrito. After consumption of said burrito, I could only agree with Midtown lunch, a branch of the saam bar would be great all over the city, especially in midtown.

For about $10 dollars, the Momofuku saam was not cheap by absolute measures. However, their burrito was probably one of the most unique burritos I have ever had. The ingredients list was as follows: rice, hoisin, edamame, roasted onions, kimchee puree, pickled shitake mushrooms, and pork. In addition to the uniqueness, the saam was also ginormous. (Yes, that's a real word). Given all the factors considered, since it would be impossible to find the same burrito at Chipotle, it was an average deal.

The other star on the menu? The pork buns. My problem really started there. First off, those were probably the most delicious pork buns of my life. At $8 for two buns, the problem was that I paid $4 dollars per bun. How retarded was I? No pork bun could be worth $4 dollars unless inflation quadrupled over night. Everyone loves Momofuku pork buns. You know what Alan Greenspan would call this outrage and fervor for David Chang's buns? Irrational exuberance. Sure, it was delicious, but you gotta be outta your mind to pay that much for a bun. A BUN. You could go into a night market in China, Taiwan, or Singapore and find a bun for a quarter. Four dollars! Gah!

I would probably revisit Momofuku Saam Bar again for the awesome burrito since it is a relative bargain. The buns? Yea, maybe for a special occasion.

Momofuku Ssam Bar
207 2nd Avenue.
New York, NY 10003
212-254-3500

Posted by Danny on October 23, 2007 at 2:20 pm

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• David Chang's pork buns are awesome but sometimes I wonder if he is overrated.

  Ang
  October 23, 2007 10:53 pm

• The thing is, if his food did not cost so much, then he would probably run out of food every night due to demand. You have to want to get to the overrated status though, because how else are you going to make money? Chang is making bank.

  Danny
  October 24, 2007 12:30 am

• hmm. i want a piece.

  Jonathan
  October 24, 2007 3:35 pm

• it is worth trying next time you is in da' citay.

  Danny
  October 24, 2007 11:06 pm

• Do you know what kind of ingredient is inside of the momofuku thing? I really want to try to make it at home.

  anonymous
  October 25, 2007 12:56 pm

• On their menu they listed: rice, hoisin, edamame, roasted onions, kimchee puree, pickled shitake mushrooms, and pork. You can get an idea of the proportions from the cross section shot up at the top. Hope that helps a bit.

  Danny
  October 25, 2007 2:56 pm

• thanks a lot.

  anna
  October 31, 2007 2:39 pm

• Hi Anna,

  I don't know what happened, but I did noticed that you attempted to make a comment but nothing got committed and it showed up as blank. This blog is still a work in progress, so I apologize if you typed up something and then it all got ate up. Hopefully it'll be resolved soon! Sorry!

  Danny
  November 1, 2007 1:43 am