Momofuku Seiṑbo

So Momofuku Seiṑbo. The super-hyped, New York import that has Sydney siders harping away at Melbournites. David Chang blah blah, lucky peach blah blah, you can read that shite anywhere. I’m going to tell you about the food…

Going out for dinner is a ritual engrained in many cultures, each with their own variations, but for the most part it has a fairly predictable natural progression. The courses get richer as the meal progresses, alike dishes will all be plated in exactly the same manner and desert is the final course. Not so at Momofuku Seiobo. The team at this place do what they want, when they want, how they want, and now it is exactly what I want. This place has selected which rules they want to follow and have discarded the rest. There are no white table cloths, the dishes are served by the chefs, music circulates through rock’n’roll to chilled Radiohead to hip-hop, you do not know what you will be eating that evening until it lands on your table and you get to use your hands! I think the one change that shocked me most (and this is lame of me) is that the still and sparkling water are both filtered tap water, so you don’t have to pay shitloads to stay hydrated if you like some fizz. Sounds like utter chaos eh? Reality is they know what they are doing and invite you along to discover a new form of dining. One where all pretence is removed. Instead it is about the flavours and textures, and those hard working geniuses in the kitchen putting it all together for you.

Momofuku Seiṑbo is snuggled away behind closely-spaced dark beams opposite the glare of Adriano Zumbo’s patisserie at The Star; only a large silver peach indicates that there is something inside. The dining room is dark woods and deep blue, with a small spotlight over each table making the setting intimate. You must pre-book. The system is not difficult to navigate if you are organised, so quit whingeing about it. Once your bum is on a seat the food starts arriving. Now the menu here varies, with one or two dishes changing on a daily basis as ingredients are fresh, or new ideas arise. You should trust these guys.

All up there were 14 courses. And there is no way I am going to describe all of them to you. We started with smoked eel brandad, with apple gel. The crisp pastry hides salty, smoky mash cut through with the bitter sweet tang of green apple. Best part; you eat it with your fingers. Yes next up was a pork bun. These are world famous. This is what people line up for. And guess what? At Momofuku Seiṑbo they sell them per piece at the bar, so you can have a dinner consisting solely of buns. And booze. Next; striped trumpeter with celery and mustard oil (chopsticks for this one). The celery enhances the freshness of the dish, and the mustard oil provides the richness and tang the lifts the dish from being regular sashimi to something else. The most interesting dish was the wagyu beef with radish, black bean and watermelon. The beef is diced finely with watermelon, coated in blackbean and then hidden under finely shaved radish. The watermelon and astringent fresh radish cut through the black bean and beef creating a dish that takes a couple of mouthfuls for the flavour combination to get rolling, but once it does there is this wonderful whole-mouth feel to the dish (oh dear that sounds dirty).

I think my favourite dish was the ham congee with donuts and yolk, but then I am a huge fan of salt. A beautiful dollop of soft, briny rice porridge contrasts with the crisp little fried balls of savoury dough, coated with a thin egg yolk film. Just enough of each to get the perfect amount in each mouthful. I could eat this dish forever. Marron with broccoli and lemon was probably the most conventional dish served, and would have been at home in any of Sydney’s top restaurants. Squab with caramelised lettuce and pear comes as a breast and a leg (foot still attached – love it!). The breast is medium rare and a little on the tough side but the leg is fall-apart tender. The pear matches nicely and the ‘cooked’ lettuce provides the fresh flavours the dish needs to cut through all the richness.

Dessert is roasted pineapple with yogurt wafers, and vinaigrette sorbet. Yeah, vinaigrette sorbet. Oh man, so good. We all sat there for a long one trying to guess that one! The sorbet matches the slight bitter tang of the pineapple, rather than trying to smother it. The caramelisation of the pineapple the sweetness of the yogurt wafer round the dish out and prevent it being too punchy. Now for the final course, more a ‘petit fours’ according to the staff, a dish of 8 hour slow roasted, caramelised pork shoulder. Meat? After desert? Oh yes. And this pork is good! I don’t care when you serve it, I just want it. It is to be eaten with the hands. Get messy. 

Drinks wise there is the pairing (if you can handle 14 glasses), but there is also a fruitjuice degustation for teetotallers. I went with Pinot Noir from Bordeaux, forget the name. The wine selection is long enough to satisfy curiosity, but short enough not to get lost in.

This restaurant is not for everyone. If you are after the classic opulent special-occasion dinner where you can get a steak and potatoes this place is not for you. However if you want to explore food the likes of which you have never experienced before get yourself to a computer.