Doughnut Plant and Momofuko NYC

The Doughnut Plant, 220 379 Grand Street, New York

I have been spending a lot of time in Manhattan lately, due to Rick opening an office on 51st. Street. Ashley comes with me as often as she can and we love discovering all the fantastic restaurants.

I had seen this doughnut shop on a series of "Food Paradise" and it had my mouth watering! It is owned by a cool guy called Mark Israel, who has invented a ton of original flavors and had the idea of putting seasonal fresh fruits in the glazes. To see a great post with pictures of all the current doughnuts, check out http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2009/08/the-whole-shebang-doughnut-plant-menu-lower-east-side-manhattan.html

So we made our way down to Chinatown one morning and swooned at the delicious doughnuts on display. Luckily it was a weekday and there was no line and we could choose at our leisure. It was breakfast after all, so we decided on four - to share!

These beauties were coconut and strawberry, they were both filled with a pastry cream, even the square one - how do they do that! Unfortunately, the coconut was little flat and doughy, as seen from the photo, not light and airy like the strawberry.

This was the creme brûlée doughnut, it was a small little morsel of goodness, filled with a vanilla pastry cream. The 'piece de resistance' was the crisp bruleed sugar glaze ontop - OMG, it was soooo good!

We saved the best of our selection for last. This was the Blackout! Yes, it was as good as it looks, but I think it would have been better as dessert. Chocolatey, rich, moist and decadent, it was the best chocolate doughnut I had ever tasted. We saved this half for Rick, but I will make sure to take him the next time we visit.

Momofuko Ssam Bar, 207 2nd Ave, New York

So, what was next, lunch of course! I have dreamed of David Chang's pork buns for years and have even tried copying his recipe on my blog - Momofuko steamed pork buns. This had to be our next destination, but only after Ashley got to visit a vintage store called Buffalo Exchange. We chose the Momofuko Noodle Bar because a bowl of soup sounded like a nice accompaniment to the buns.

However, horror of horrors, when we arrived at the restaurant, it was CLOSED!! Luckily, on the door they had posted the address of their sister location Momofuko Ssam Bar which was just around the corner. So we made our way over there. This location also serves the famous pork buns, so we were happy, there was no soup, so we chose a broccoli salad with smoked bluefish dressing. This sounded wierd and it really was a strange combination - sorry David.

The pork buns, however, lived up to their reputation. Two buns are the serving per person and this was just enough for lunch. The steamed buns were soft and fluffy, the pork belly was so juicy and fatty that the juice literally ran down my chin (TMI) and the schmear of hoisin sealed the deal.

The restaurant design was very cool and modern and perched up at the bar on stools, we had a perfect spot for people/food watching. After studying the menu, I decided that we would have to return one day for the Bo Ssam, a whole slow cooked pork shoulder cooked in the Korean style. It's a dish recommended for 6 - 10 guests, or maybe 3 - 5 greedy ones!