I had lunch at the bar at Momofuku in the Cosmopolitan on a weekday. Sitting at the bar was nice as you get a good view of the kitchen. I’d been once to the original Momofuku Noodle Bar in the East Village a few years ago and remember enjoying the ramen a lot more than I thought I would, and also remember the pork buns being quite good. I also remember the ramen looking much like it does in your photo. Both the ramen and pork bun were on the lunch menu in Momofuku’s Vegas outpost. I wanted to try some new (to me) things though and had:
Hawaiian Kampachi ($26)
bacon ponzu, fresno chilies, sorrel
Fresh fish in a slightly acidic ponzu sauce that had a bit of smokiness. Good but kind of expensive.
Shrimp Bun ($7)
spicy mayo, pickled red onion, iceberg
Nice white flour bun. I overheard that they used to make the buns on-site but had to get them made elsewhere as they couldn’t keep up with demand since they sell thousands of them on weekends. Good crispy fried shrimp patty on top of shredded lettuce and mayo. Came with a bottle of their ssam sauce to squeeze on for some extra kick.
Chilled Spicy Noodles ($16)
Sichuan sausage, candied cashew, Thai basil
This was really good. There were thin noodles in kind of a spicy pesto like sauce, probably made with Thai basil rather than basil. Lots of sauce. I’m not sure what exactly Sichuan sausage is (was expecting something like lapcheong) - this was more like a loose cured pork sausage with I think some Sichuan peppercorn and chilies. I was thinking about adding pork belly for an extra $5 and I’m glad I didn’t - there was a lot of Sichuan sausage already. The cashew bits added a little crunchiness, and there were also some sliced pickled jalapeños in there that added some zing. There was I think some Sichuan peppercorn in the pesto as well as I experienced a bit of mala numbing. This was the best value of the dishes I had.
Signature Birthday Cake ($14)
I liked their birthday cake although it was expensive. Moist crumb with a not-too-sweet cream cheese frosting. There were also thin layers of crunchy crumbles in the frosting layers that added some crunch. The slice is large enough for two to share.
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