My lunch, yesterday, of Rotisserie Duck in Rice with chive pancake at Momofuku Ssam Bar (East Village, NYC) was an absolute delight. Available during lunch only, or during dinner with required reservation for a whole duck, Momofuku’s version deviates from the regular Chinatown hanging-by-restaurant-window ones with its dark generously seasoned/basted flavorful skin and deliciously tender flesh that didn’t have the thick layer of cloying fat that’s usually found in the Chinatown ones. Momofuku Ssam does not seem to get much credit for their rice, but I have to give theirs the utmost compliment for the always tasty and nicely-textured fat-grained rice. My only rant would be the $2 supplement tag on the pancake (the lettuce supplement was at $1). This is a dish that, I think, should just come with the pancake. The almost wafer-thin pancake, with just the right chewiness and slight crispy texture, was an excellent wrap for the duck and the condiments. I was told that peanut oil was involved in making the chive pancakes.
This was a great treat and now I can’t wait after having just scored a reservation for the whole duck in couple of weeks.
My wine was a glass of 2010 Gramona “Gessami” from the Penedes in Spain. Clear and very light straw in appearance, light-bodied, compact, refreshing acidity from ripe lemon and oranges, and a pleasurable easy drink without needing to be very cerebral. Food friendly with slight spritz. A blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Muscat. B
I’m the biggest fan, that I know of, of the regular (and outstanding) Pork bun at Momofuku Ssam.
I’ve had the Rotisserie Duck rice twice, never the duck bun, but now I’m definitely psyched about the Duck bun. How does it compare to the pork bun?
Its bigger for one. But most importantly the duck is incredibly moist and super smoky(in a good way). I think I may like it better then the wonderful pork buns but I have to eat 87 more to decide(to even the playing field with the number of pork buns I have had).
I had both the Duck Sandwich and Pork Buns with lunch last week. They are different dishes altogether, but for purposes of comparison, I’ll echo what others here had already said. That the Duck Sandwich slightly trumps the already-excellent Pork Bun.
If you haven’t done the entire Duck dinner yet, I highly recommend it. I popped in for the Duck lunch bowl and thought it blew, while the fresh to order dinner version was out of sight.
I made reservations, twice, to do it with buddies and both times I had to bail last-minute. They all quacked in agreement about how good the full rotisserie ducks were. Third time’s going to be a charm and I’ll definitely make it to my own reservation.
Duck-rice dish was good when I also had it last week. Went very well with the assorted condiments and the chive pancake.
Yeah, to be fair I didn’t do the lunch up properly with the pancake and fixins. On top of that, there was an AC unit blowing down the back of my neck, and I was drinking ice water instead of Rivers-Marie Pinot!
It’s my go-to lunch place in the city. While I most love the pork buns, the (recent) emphasis on duck has been nice (I just order duck buns).
FYi - forgetting what I had now but I met a friend for lunch at Ma Peche a few weeks ago. While I liked it, and would go again for dinner, it was a bit disappointing for lunch. Food good but not especially better than Ssam and not as good a deal.