MA PECHE RESTAURANT A MOMOFUKU SNEAK PEAK


The chef that brought you Momofuku Noodle Bar, Ssam Bar, Ko and Milk Bar, will be opening a new restaurant in  midtown Manhattan, Ma Peche, next door to the modern and sleek Chambers Hotel on 56th between 5th and 6th Avenue.


While the date for the restaurant opening has not been released just yet, it is expected to be up and running sometime in the first quarter of next year. For now, a small preview of the cuisine is being offered in a limited lunch menu in the Chambers Hotel's mezzanine. For a bargain price of $10, you can have a sample of Momofuku cuisine accompanied by a drink.


When Jen of Tiny Urban Kitchen and her husband Bryan, came down from Boston to visit New York this week, Andrea of High/Low organized a lunch at Ma Peche for a sneak peak. In addition to yours truly, fellow bloggers Cindy of Chubby Chinese Girl, and Michelle of Taste As You Go came along to get a taste of David Chang's new restaurant.


Since there were six of us around the table, we were able to cover each one of the four dishes on the lunch specials menu.


Jenn and Michelle ordered the bun du riz, rice noodles with pork ragout and saw leaf herb, which they enjoyed. This entree looked intriguing with a wonderful union of various textures: pillowy soft and silky rice noodles, crispy fried shallots, nibbles of pork and fresh herbs which were incorporated with a drizzle of a savory fish sauce dressing. A clear winner on the lunch menu.


Andrea ordered the banh mi maison which is a three terrine sandwich, stuffed with pickled daikon and carrots, and topped with cilantro on a perfectly crisped baguette. An excellent choice for pate lovers.


I chose the banh mi au poulet, which was a house-made lemon grass chicken sausage topped with lettuce, mint and pickled daikon and carrots on a crisp baguette. Good, although I'm not sure if it was as good as the three terrine sandwich.

 

Cindy ordered the goi calamare, squid salad with crisp cucumbers, topped with chopped peanuts, sprigs of cilantro, slivers of Thai basil and dressed with a fish sauce. Cindy thought it was good, but not stellar. While I did not taste the entree, my initial impression was that the squid salad was not sufficient for a lunch entree. But what was I to expect for $10? But perhaps to leave hungrier than when I arrived. If that's the case, I can probably also blame the tantalizing nature of these small dishes for my desire to want more.


For dessert, each of us had the Momofuku milk bar peanut butter cookies, which were rich, decadent, and gooey, integrated with beautiful candy-like nuggets of caramel crunch.


If you've never been to a meet up with food bloggers, I hope this snapshot captures what you can expect: the experience of laughing, chatting, and sharing amidst a passionate flurry of photo clicking.


Good food aside, it was great to meet a group of enthusiastic and sweet food lovers.  This certainly won't be the last time I hang out with these ladies.

Ma Peche at the Chambers Hotel mezzanine
15 W 56th Street (b/n 5th and 6th Ave)
New York, NY 10019
Lunch hours: 11am - 3pm. Weekdays only.
No reservations.

62 comments:

Chubby Chinese Girl said...

Christine,
It was awesome meeting you too! Love ur pics ! =)
def won't be the last time =) dinner to come

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Wow, that'll for sure be a stellar restaurant once it's officially open!!

Love the food blogger shot, haha :)

Mardi Michels said...

Oh I am sooooo jealous of your lunch! Glad you all got to meet and had a great time.

Fresh Local and Best said...

Cindy- Great to meet you too!

Veggie Girl - Isn't that blogger shot hilarious! I have a photo of Jen's husband who had a classic expression on his face that said, "Alright this is kind of ridiculous." Unfortunately it was way too blurry to post. :(

Mardi - We'll have to host a meet-up when you're in town!

The Diva on a Diet said...

You had me at "silky rice noodles" ... swoon! It all looks and sounds magnificent. Thanks for another great recommendation, FLB!

Count me among those loving that blogger shot. It *is* hilarious and so very true. Love it!

The Diva on a Diet said...

You had me at "silky rice noodles" ... swoon! It all looks and sounds magnificent. Thanks for another great recommendation, FLB!

And, count me among those loving that blogger shot. It *is* hilarious and exactly true! Love it!

lululu said...

everything looks so tempting!
too bad i'm not in ny. gonna mark it down for my next ny trip. :D

Ravenous Couple said...

oh how fun! some of our favorite east coast food bloggers...enjoying what seems to be a "modern" Vietnamese menu!! M. Bao better watch out now!

Fresh Local and Best said...

Diva - I hope to see a review from you. We should have a meet up sometime soon!

Lululu - Let me know the next time you are in town, hopefully I can help with recommendations.

Ravenous - Meeting with kind like-minded souls is my favorite part of food blogging!

Dolce said...

I love the last pic - this is so true of food bloggers! Incidently, whenever there are non food bloggers, people hate to wait until we snap pictures before they can devour their meal, right?

Overall, would you be going back? The cookies look extremely tempting!

Michelle said...

OH MY...what a wonderful restaurant. Love the looks of the banh mi maison, it's my kind of sandwich!

KennyT said...

How about me how about me?

Fresh Local and Best said...

Dolce - Yes, it was good and reasonably priced, so I would go back.

Michelle - Those sandwiches are delicious!

Kenny - You too! Let me know when you in are in town!

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh so fun! I totally miss being around other food bloggers!

3 hungry tummies said...

Good food good company blessed!! I like the photo of all the ladies with their cameras out busily snapping away ;)

food with style said...

love seeing you all click together, so cute!

Kelsey B. said...

This looks awesome!

chow and chatter said...

oh loving the bloggers meet ups wow great price still up for breakfast the first fri in dec?

Fresh Local and Best said...

Chow Chatter - Yes, I they will still be open on the first week of December Mon-Fri between 11am-3pm. Be sure to arrive early, it gets crowded by noon. It's a beautiful setting.

Diana Bauman said...

Christine, I am so jealous! What a lovely group! How much fun to have so many new and exciting restaurants. I think I would have ordered the calamari like Cindy. Everything looked so yum!

El said...

It looks like you guys had great fun and the food looks pretty tasty too. It must have been funny to see the reactions when all of you pulled out cameras to shoot the food!

Reeni said...

How fun! It's so cute seeing everyone with their cameras. The food looks really delicious!

Pam said...

What fun! The goi calamare looks so tasty.

Sarah said...

Wish I lived closer to NY. The restaurant looks delicious!

Esi said...

Sounds like a great time. Meeting up with other food bloggers is so much fun!

Unknown said...

So fun meeting you in person Christine! We definitely should get together again for another meal!

The Cooking Photographer said...

Christine,

You have one amazing life. I have to say. I am only a wee bit jealous. Wee large big.. You know...

Laura

theUngourmet said...

Looks like a fun place! I love the front doors! So cool!

Anonymous said...

Hanging out with foodies is really cool! Lucky girl;-}

XoXo

Simply Life said...

I love how intriguing the picture of the doors is!

kat said...

bahn mi & bun, yum two of my favorite things

KMS said...

lovely photos! david chang is taking over the world.

Laurie said...

How wonderful that you got to get together and share a meal with other food bloggers! The photo with everyone holding their cameras is priceless. So true, so true.

I wish I could have seen the hubby shot! My family rolls their eyes at me, but they are getting used to seeing a camera on our dinner table and even remind me when I don't take a pic.

Your lunch looks like it was delicious.

HoustonWok said...

That last photo is absolutely priceless.,everyone w/their cameras out, it's not their blackberrys, its not their mirror, camera's food paparazzi!

Velva said...

Christine, remind me when I ask you for recommendations again for NYC that this is the place to be!

Fresh Local and Best said...

Houston - OMG! Food paparazzi, that's hilarious and so accurate!

Velva - will do!

Gera@SweetsFoodsBlog said...

Hope that this new restaurant will open international branches…sound excellent :)

Cheers,

Gera

The Blonde Duck said...

LOL! I love your picture of the food bloggers hovering around the food, snapping away!

Stacy said...

How fun! And I also love the picture of everyone around the plate of cookies with their cameras ready!

Juliana said...

Oh! It must have been a fun meeting...and what a trendy restaurant...the food look awesome :-)

shannon said...

you all are so cute! looks like a great time and wonderful food.

Heather S-G said...

How cool :) All of the foods looks really delicious...and I love that last shot!

Anonymous said...

What a fun meet-up and the new restaurant sounds fantastic!

zenchef said...

Hey, how come i didn't get invited? :P
I'm in the neighborhood. I'll try it one of these days.
Isn't Michelle the cutest thing ever? :)

Fresh Local and Best said...

Zenchef - We should have invited you! I'll keep you in mind for future events!

White Hot Oven said...

It looks absolutely stunning! Gorgeous pics as always; cannot wait to check it out

Michelle from Taste As You Go said...

Great post! It was so much fun meeting you and getting to know more about you and your blog over lunch. I hope we can do it again soon!

Chubby Chinese Girl said...

hahahaha I kept looking at the pic of the door thinking... it looks familiar and it reminded me of something... i finally got it! it looks like a pie =P

Fresh Local and Best said...

Cindy - OMG! You're hilarious! Spoken like a true foodie!

Joanne said...

Sounds like you guys had a ton of fun and some delicious food. I am definitely going to be hitting up that restaurant when it opens. I may have to make a pitstop there for lunch soon. All of the food looks so good!

I love the blogger picture-taking photo. We must look so strange to other people...

The Diva on a Diet said...

Yes, let's absolutely have a meet up soon! Perhaps once the holiday season is behind us. Ok? :)

Phyllis said...

I can just imagine the photo-taking, like food paparazzi, LOL. So cool you got to meet up with all those fab bloggers. Dishes look awesome, can't wait to check this place out :)

Julia said...

How cool is that?? Drool, drool.

NKP said...

What fun! Such a great experience, especially to share with like-minded gals.
Thanks for sharing with us!

Divina Pe said...

I would surely love to visit this restaurant and have lunch or dinner with you and other food bloggers. Of course, I would bring my camera. :D

Fresh Local and Best said...

Divina - Let me know when you may be in town, I'd love to meet up with you too.

Deb in Hawaii said...

The lunch looks great and such fun to hook up with other food bloggers. I want one of the cookies! ;-)

Unknown said...

Very cool blog post, as this is one of the hottest places to go at the moment. Thanks for showing us what its like. So glad you got a chance to go.
Haven't really met any bloggers in person yet, so i envy your experience :D
Just one thing: you did bring me home a cookie right???
have a wonderful weekend. *kisses* HH

Unknown said...

It was great meeting you! Thanks for showing me around Chelsea Market area too. :) Can't wait until our next meet-up!

we are never full said...

the husband went last week and said it was good... bahn mi for ten bucks is a bit ridiculous but 1) it's midtown and 2) it's david chang and the many seems to do no wrong these days!

thanks for sharing the great pictures.

Dhale B. said...

I used to live in southern California right near Little Saigon so I pretty much grew up eating Vietnamese sandwiches. Can't wait to give this place a try!

Belinda @zomppa said...

Wait!! Can I come with you??? Thanks for the insider view...Dhale B., I was just listening to Good Food on NPR about Little Saigon. WOW.