MOMOFUKU SYDNEY

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!!!!! Momofuku launched in Sydney I think around December 2011, it's fairly new to the Sydney scene. We have been trying to get a table since it launched - and yes there online booking system sucks chunks, chatting to the team last night it seems we are not alone with our distain of this system - anyway - we finally got a table for 4 to celebrate the gorgeous Kitsa's 30th (so I guess the timing was actually perfect in the end)


Momofuku is a group of award-winning restaurants owned by chef David Chang. The restaurants are: Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ssäm Bar, Má Pêche, Momofuku Ko, Milk Bar and Momofuku Seiōbo. Locations are primarily in New York City except for Momofuku Seiōbo, located in our local hood Sydney, Australia, and two new restaurants planned to open in Toronto, Canada in 2012. "Momofuku" could be translated from Japanese as "lucky peach", though Chef David Chang has written that the name is "an indirect nod" to Momofuku Ando, the Taiwanese-Japanese inventor of instant ramen.

Momofuku Seiobo is located at THE STAR 80 Pyrmont Street, Level G / Sydney. Seiōbo (which means "Japanese Goddess of the West"; her sign is the peach tree) is Momofuku's first restaurant outside of New York City. They serve a constantly-changing tasting menu by using Native Australian ingredients.

I'm not sure what we were expecting but it was such a surprise. The decor so beautiful but industrial (lots of steel and concrete), the music (really loud) mix of rock and hip hop, the staff - so incredibly friendly, relaxed and very talented. We loved that the people serving us the meals were the people actually creating them in the kitchen. The highlight for us other than the dining experience was the alcohol list. We read in a review not to go the matching wines as it was 'too much' - we totally disagree. The entire experience is topped off with the matching alcohol and every beverage from the sake to the dessert wine was unlike anything we had tasted before. Especially the Sake! The Sommelier has been awarded several times already and rightly so. We plan to go back just for drinks and the steamed buns :)

I think we were expecting Testsyua's but got the complete opposite in terms of experience. Still 5 star and excellent quality but I would describe it as a 'degustation rock concert', it was energetic, very intense at times and left you completed exhausted but wanting more...


It's a 14 course degustation with a surprise meal at the end... we won't spoil that one. We had 1 dietary requirement (veggie eats seafood) which they really looked after very well. At no point did you feel like you were missing out and at times you felt like you were 'winning'. It starts with a 'snack' mix of shitake chips, nori, mochi with a very tasty Korean kimchi style sauce and my favourite smoked potato.


Everyone seemed to be obsessed with their steamed buns... and now I know why. I agree with Terry Durack and had similar comments at our table something about "take 20 of those to go now thanks" ;)


Perfectly steamed, melt-in-your-mouth bite size pieces of absolute goodness!!!! We hear due to public demand the very few seats at the bar (5) now serves the steamed buns. Dish #3 was Sea Mullet with nectarine and szechuan pepper, followed by Marron with fennel & dill, Radish salad and a confusing Smoked Eel dish (we struggled to work out eel from artichoke but hey we had a few wines by this point)


Another highlight dish #7 Spanner Crab, old bay sauce and yorkshire pudding. The flavours were amazing and although I've never eaten yorkshire pudding, one would assume I will never have one like this again.


Followed by dish #8 simply titled 'Egg', we spent a lot of time discussing how could this possibly be just egg??? served with toasted rice and brown butter it had the texture of custard/creme caramel but we were told it was simply egg cooked to perfection with a tiny amount of tapioca flour.... it was sublime. After this we had the Pea Agnolotti amazing, Mulloway, Lamb Neck for those crazy kids who love their meat and for me beautifully cooked fresh John Dory and then....


Dessert!!! C2 is the 12th dish on the menu and possibly my favourite. Shaved cheese served with honey licorice and bee pollen - sounds simple but combining those flavours send you to food heaven. After this there was another two dessert dish including the last one called Miso which was Miso icecream with cherries and black sesame crumble!!!! Now dont forget there will be a surprise last dish.... but I'm not telling you what that is.


Like this image above of David Chang, we left very happy and thought "Phew... we made it through" then started planning when we could meet at the bar to drink and eat those divine steamed buns :) Details for reservation at http://www.momofuku.com/restaurants/seiobo/ Good luck getting a spot you'll need it!