mokbar

This is review #300. I had saved it for a special place and mŏkbar fits that bill.

They say true genius often strikes in the pale moments between awake and asleep. I must have been sleepwalking all these years because I haven't truly had Korean-style ramen until today and the experience I had, by definition, was a culinary eye-opener. This brings us to why we feel mŏkbar is deserving of 4.8/5.0

mŏkbar, the brainchild of NJ-native Esther Choi, began operating in Chelsea Market in May of 2014, billed as the first Korean-style ramen in the city. (They're situated across from Los Tacos #1 which I'm not a fan of... you can read my review on that.) Riding on a wave of high acclaim from media outlets, Esther's Food Network appearance on Beat Bobby Flay (aired Sept 4, 2014, in case you're interested) catapulted the restaurant into the cross hairs of the masses for better or worse. Having cut her teeth with experience at ilili, and La Esquina also helped hone her craft from training at Institute of Culinary Education (ICE).

When I first visited one afternoon, months earlier, I had the classic ramen, my mistake- it didn't set my palate on fire. I returned to rectify this on a Thursday Chelsea gallery opening night, ordering dishes until I bursted with fruit-flavor.

FOOD
For small plates or as it should be called, anju, we ordered Ho'Cakes, Japchae dumplings, tteokbokki, and spicy Mok wings. Anju is typically accompanied by alcohol so we simply had to have the soju sampler (where each glass come flavored by a different fruit or inspiration- sorry, I can't remember them all)

The Ho'cakes, otherwise known as hotteok, are every bit as amazing as I've heard about these savory stuffed pancakes of pork. Every morsel with satisfying chew, it was probably not meant to be shared, because it will fall apart if you try to cut into one of the halves! hahaha. The japchae dumplings, although true to the dish that it draws inspiration from, I prefer my japchae served up on a plate, not so much in the form of a dumpling (just my preference), however the dumpling had a nice crisp to them and the glass noodles danced around inside my mouth with the accompanying sauce being spot-on. The tteokbokki was a nice surprise because I've made them at home with gochujang and so I know that the rice cakes are typically huge logs with satisfying chew. Their take is a fantastic departure in that they're the size of penne with crisp, chew, and heat all in the same bite! This would ideally go great with beer in any case. They were still crispy even while marinating in the sauces. Impressive! Finally, the Mok wings, which we ordered spicy were marinated in gochujang, the right amount of kick without overpowering the flavor of the wings. Simply fun to eat, much like the tteokbokki.

For my entree, I ordered the kimchi ramen along with porkbelly and extra noodles because you can never have enough. I enjoy these soups that're served hot, and also packing sufficient heat despite the summer months. The presentation is all there, Sun Noodles, as ever-present in commercially produced ramen, is also nice to see. The porky soup broth provides the requisite kick and flavor from the kimchi, as expected. The cabbage itself provides all the veggies I'd like to eat for the night. All-in-all, I love it without the egg. Definitely on-par with all the ramen heavy-hitters in the city.

SERVICE
Service is as quick and attentive as you'd expect from a standalone restaurant, making sure your table never runs out of water, getting small plates to the table first, getting entrees out altogether, checking on your experience- basically all the little things which always ends up mattering so much.

ETC
Vegan ramen is offered, and this means miso-based. (This is huge) A restaurant offering a menu set of this size is remarkable considering the space/kitchen they have to work with. They have seating by the kitchen counter and in the back, away from the prying eyes and those seat-vultures in Chelsea Market. (Yes, like you, I am one too) The only drawback I find with mŏkbar is that it's set within the busy energy that is Chelsea Market, amidst the hustle and bustle of shoppers, stragglers, lunch-goers, foodies, I've heard my fair share of ignoramus commentary while waiting a few minutes for my table like "What kind of Chinese is this??" and so I also don't especially welcome the prying eyes burning into the back of my skull, nor the onlookers with the look of bemusement, gazing at the "bizarre foods" that I'm savoring.

SUMMARY
mŏkbar is a solid, casual dining option among various non-competing choices in Chelsea Market, catering to both tourists and worker-bees alike from around the area (e.g. Google), the only Korean eatery within the Chelsea/MePa districts, offering ramen and gastropub (anju) fare. I can see Esther take the mŏkbar concept into it's own standalone restaurant, as it truly deserve a home to call it's own. 4.8/5.0

My husband and I were walking the neighborhood and decided to stop in and give the place a try.. it was around 4ish.. the place is small and was about 6 other people dining when we arrived. They had the booths blocked I guess in preparation for diner. The waitress was nice and friendly. We ordered the classic ramen and kimchi with fries and the fried chicken both spicy and sweet. But the edamame with the garlic sauce was to die for. The food was delish and the waiter was came back and forth to see if we needed anything else. I was so impressed with the classic ramen that I ordered one to go. It was hearty and delicious the broth was magnificent. I wish I would have taken another order of the edamame with the crispy garlic sauce. That belongs in a bottle. My next time to BK I will definitely return to get another ramen and about 4 of those edamame and crispy garlic sauce

It's hard for me to write a poor review, but I've not had such bad food in so long. I came in with high expectations given Esther Choi's TV reputation. We ordered the basics. Dumplings were flavorless and gummy. A 6 piece order is $10. I couldn't get past one dumpling and unfortunately had to throw away the rest. The kim chi ramen was both tasteless and a head scratcher. I felt like it had an identity crisis and didn't know what it wants to be when it grows up ($18).

As a tourist, I was so disappointed and need to warn folks. Other restaurants were bustling inside Chelsea and Mokbar was empty. Folks were using the Mok stand up eating bar area as a walkway given the adjacent taco stand was so crowded.

2/3 Food; 1/1 Service; 0/1 Value

My friend and I came to Mokbar while we were wandering the area and stepped into Chelsea Market. Having heard a lot about Esther Choi on various online platforms, I was excited to try it. The service was fast and friendly, and it was not busy so we were able to easily find seating at the front counter in front of the kitchen.

My friend had the tuna poke while I had the chicken bibimbap with rice and we shared the kimchi fries. We both liked our entrees, which were well seasoned and savory. However, my chicken was quite dry. The K-town fries fell really short being a small portion of thin shoestring fries with little toppings and the smallest drizzle of aioli that were insufficient to flavor the otherwise unseasoned potatoes.

Each dish was a pretty small portion given the prices (even for a tourist hot spot) for okay quality food. If you find yourself craving Korean food in Chelsea Market, then mokbar may hit the spot, but otherwise, it's probably something that can be missed.

My boyfriend wanted to check this place out after hearing about Esther Choi. The classic ramen was definitely a nice hearty meal. The classic features a gochujang pork broth which was pretty flavorful with tender braised pork as well as other vegetables and mushrooms. I loved how the noodles were al dente and remained that way despite being soaked in broth and as a take out. We added kimchi to ours and it was a nice level of tangy/sour. Taken together I liked the ratio of soup to ramen to toppings.
Food came out quick and there were some standing bar areas to eat at! Note that the soup comes separately and youll have to "assemble" your ramen. If you're in Chelsea market, would definitely recommend!

Perfect to satisfy that ramen craving! Located in the back of The Hue (modern food court). You order at the counter then bring your food to any open table to enjoy.

I tried the kimchi ramen. Noodle and soup were separately packaged which kept the noodle fresh. The soup is on the heavier/saltier side compared to most other ramen I have tried. Also tried the strawberry yuzu drink which was delicious.

We got the bulgolgi buns and the kimchi fries. Service was quick and kind,

The bulgolgi buns were REALLY good. Soft, pillowy, and very fresh. I really loved them. Unfortunately, that's where it ended. The bulgolgi was far too sweet and there was supposed to be a kimchi aioli but you couldn't really taste it. There was a lot of bulgolgi in the buns though so +1 because value.

The kimchi fries were not great. While the fries themselves were freshly fried, the toppings on top were really bland in flavor. There was not quite enough sauce or cheese to pull everything together so it just sat on top and made everything soggy. For the price, it definitely wasn't worth it.

Yummy

Got some lunch to go from here. Went for the chicken katsu curry with ramen base. The quality was great, ramen was fresh. chicken was tender and crispy. The curry itself came with a kick, spicy for sure. Quick and tasty lunch.

We were waiting in line to get dinner and we were the last people in the line and they put the closed sign up at 8:43 pm when we got to the register and told us we could not order. They let the other 6 people in our group order before us but turned my wife and I away instead of serving the last two people in the line 17 minutes before closing. The lady at the cash register just kept saying the kitchen will not take any more orders. I am just baffled that they refused to serve us after waiting in line and not give us any heads up they were not taking anyone after a certain place in line. The kitchen manager is running the show with no regard for customer service.

Came here on a Saturday afternoon and decided to try this place since we were hungry and we been wanting to try this place out. I got the classic ramen and found it disappointing. The soup came separately from the ramen which was nice. But I was disappointed when the soup was not even hot. Overall the Ramen was mediocre, kinda bland and was not the best. However, my friend got the chicken bimbimap with the rice and that was pretty good. The gochujang sauce paired really well with the bowl.
Service was really fast, the food was ready within 10 mins. We took this to go and found a place to sit in Chelsea market. Overall, if I come back I would skip on the ramen.

The tuna poke was really great! The sauce was very flavorful with the perfect amount of spice. The tuna was also really good, and I liked the mix of rice with greens.

There isn't anywhere to sit in the restaurant, so you'll have to find somewhere else to eat in Chelsea market. The food came out really quickly though which was nice.