NYC Restaurant: Momofuku Ma Peche

the dessert cart

crack pie
and
candy bar pie (in the background)

Ever since I learned about David Chang and his Momofuku empire, I've wanted to dine at one of his restaurants, and I got the chance to do so on Saturday.  Momofuku Ma Peche is Chang's largest and newest restaurant -- and allows reservations via OpenTable.  (Note:  Ma Peche means "mother peach.")

Interestingly, the service is like dim sum -- carts come around with small plates and then you also have the ability to order larger plates to share.  With just two of us, we ordered 1 large shared plate, the fried chicken habanero-style.  It was the best, most tender (and fresh-tasting) fried chicken I've ever had.

My only 2 complaints of the evening:  we asked the server to box up our fried chicken which she didn't (must've forgotten), and the dim sum cart with cold plates never came to our table.  We ended up eating a lot of fried food from the hot small plates that evening.

Also, I'd heard MUCH fanfare about the crack pie which was just ok.

Here is what we ordered:

Cocktails

• seven spice sour - sake, lime, yuzu, togarashi
• mountainside - japanese whiskey, fennel, bitters

Dim Sum Cart

• pork bun
• trout bun
• cod fritters
• shrimp balls
• spicy rice cakes

Chef's Specials

• fried chicken - habanero

Dessert

• crack pie
• candy bar pie
• decaf coffee

All good food. However, I don't have a need to go back to ma peche; next time I would like to try Chang's noodle bar or ssam bar.