David Chang is probably the hottest new star on the NYC culinary scene. His Momofuku noodle bar, Ssam bar and latest addition Ko are all doing extremely well. NY Times' Frank Bruni swears by him. Any foodies I talk to have nothing but thumbs up for it. Ko, with only 12 seats, is so hard to get in. The only way to book your table is on line starting at 10AM each day and you can only book it for that day. Obviously they are gone in seconds. It was said that a food critic was so desperate, he had a few interns hired just to stay on line @ 10am to click on the reservation button.
Ssam Bar doesn't take reservations, unless you reserve a $200 Bo Ssam meal served family style. It is a whole roasted pork shoulder, served with lettuce, dozen oysters, rice and 4 different types of sauce, ginger scallion, kimchee puree, kimchee and Spicy soybean paste, meant to serve 6-8 people. Bo Ssam is only served at 5pm and 10pm each day.
With only 6 in our group, we were concerned that we cannot finish the Bo Ssam meal, so we only ordered the seasonal pickles to start. It was wonderfully light and tasty. Then after a few beers, the Bo Ssam meal started to arrive. First came the lettuce and the sauces, A dozen oyster came on an ice tray. Then, there it is. The Bo Ssam.
A nice hunk of brownish roasted pork came on a 10" plate. One guy in our group commented, " Oh we can do this". We were concerned about 6 of us finishing the meal, hence the comment. But the waiter told us that 4 average build guys finished the meal just the other night. The roasted aroma of pork goodness fill the air. Each of us gets a mini tong to pull the pork off.
What you were suppose to do is to take a piece of lettuce, put in your choice of sauce, a piece of oyster, and pull some pork and put in the lettuce, fold it up and eat it like a wrap. The first pull off the Bo Ssam, I know I am in for a treat. The mini tong pierced the pork shoulder with no effort, the meat is so tender, they come off the bone so easily. I tried some without any sauce, and it was dreamy. I declared at that moment, this is the best pork dish I had ever had. It is moist, tender, flavorful. It is liquid pork. The 'mmm' and 'aah' goes around the table and everyone is happy with my choice of this place. The shoulder is slow roasted for 6-8 hours and all the fat and skin seem to just melt away and whats left on the lean meat is a layer of gelatinous texture. When wrapped in lettuce with some rice, oyster and some sauce, it is just pure downright pork goodness that is hard to resist. Lettuce baskets were refilled, the Bo Ssam is still barely 1/3 done. We started to realize it is going to a a challenge for us to finish this whole meal.
After quite a few lettuce wrapped pork 'sandwiched' we were all stuffed and couldn't go further. It is becoming a bit 'one-dimensional' meal, although a wonderfully rich and delicious one. Best approach is probably come with 8-10 people, so you can finish the Bo Ssam comfortably and try out some other dishes on the menu.
I highly recommend this place and would give it a 8.5/10 in my book!
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