Kāwi

Summary

We stopped by for lunch for David Chang’s newest Momofuku restaurant and is located in the mall across the street from The Vessel. It’s on the 5th floor near the Bouchon Bakery. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too filled, but then again it’s terribly hot and humid outside.

The trading card cocktail consists of plantation pineapple, cruzan blackstrap, smith & cross rums, trader vic’s macadamia liqueur, curry, and yogurt. I did not like this at all as it was very sweet.

The kim pop was actually pretty good if you’re into spritz type of drinks. It has bridge lane sauvignon blanc, green chili, and passionfruit soda. The drink itself tastes very distinctly of a spicy cocktail, but it was not spicy in terms of heat. I wish it had a little more passion fruit flavors in it, but overall I much prefer this over the tiki style drink above this one.

The hamachi had daikon, soy, and orange on it. Overall, I thought this was rather pricey, but tasted pretty good and fresh. The hamachi thankfully was fairly thick.

The fried cod and yuzu was actually fantastic. The cod was piping hot with a very crispy batter. The server sprayed some type of yuzu thing on it, but it wasn’t very pronounced. You only noticed the yuzu flavors if you tasted the drippings separately. Regardless, the cod was very flaky, fresh, and moist.

The kawibap is awesomely delicious if you are open to splurging. The kawibap has candied anchovy and omelet inside. They also give you a tray of uni along with a can of salmon roe, so that you can put it on top. Separately, everything tastes pretty good. The kawibap has a lot of crunchy anchovies in it and tasted like a typical kimbap that a Korean mother could make. But with the saltiness of the trout eggs and the sweetness of the uni on top, it really juggles your palette for the better. The kawibap is a decent sized portion as well, but I guess most of the price is going towards the tray of uni and small jar of trout eggs.

The stinky soybean stew had pork belly, jalapeno, and a crispy vegetable nest. It’s probably meant for one person, but we shared the portions. The broth itself wasn’t as stinky as the name implied, but the broth itself was rich albeit overly salty. The pork belly was very tender. With the rice, it was a good pairing. The crispy vegetable nest and some of the sides they served were also delicious too. However, please note, that unlike kimchi jigae, this has way more salt. Between this one and other dishes, I definitely would opt for other options unless you really want to try this.

The wagyu ragu is a long gigantic rice cake (Korean tteok) with garlic chive and sweet soy. The rice cake had to be cut with scissors. This is fantastic. The meat on the side was very rich in sweet and salt flavors of soy. Eating this reminded me of what my mother made for hot days. You would mince meat with heavy amount of soy / sweet flavors and then throw in cold noodles. The rice cake was texturally very chewy (which is a good thing) and had the right bounce in it causing you to want to continue eating. I would consider this a MUST get.

The last thing we got was the dry aged striploin served with bitter green salad and beef fat rice. The dry aged striploin was pretty tender. It was slightly on the saltier side, but luckily the meat was also cooked medium rare and had a nice crust to it. The bitter green salad was ok, and I can see why they had this to kind of counter balance the heavy meat flavors of this entree. The beef fat rice was sublime. It had chunks of meat in it as well, but I’d consider anything cook in meat fats in lieu of traditional oils to be a plus in my taste book. The vegetable “tempura” on the side was also really good too.

The service was fantastic. Everyone had their waters filled without much asking, and the pace of the dishes was good for me. Our server was also good in helping us gauge how much food to order and what to order based on some of our questions.

If you can’t finish your food, you can have it boxed. They give you a little ticket number that you bring to the front desk when you leave.

Final Verdict

Overall, I thought Kāwi was much better than Ssam bar. Generally, I’m not super fanatical about Momofuku restaurants (except for the excellent Ko), but this one ranks high in my book. I felt there were a few standout dishes to order:

• The wagyu ragu is a MUST order. It’s very homely which very distinct and rich flavors.
• The fried cod and yuzu is a really good appetizer.
• The dry aged striploin is an excellent single set if you are open to its pricepoint.
• The kawibap is also very good if you’re open to a semi interesting / decadent spin on kimbap.

Yelp Jabs

Although the first scallop being raw kinda scared us but the hot food later were satisfying

I guess this Elitist has never had raw scallops before at a sushi restaurant.

Average entrees are easily 20-40. Is it worth the experience? It’s fine dining enough to go for business or a nice commemorative occasion.

It depends what is classified as fine dining. For the meal I had, the total cost for 4 people was around $240 ($60 pp) which is tolerable by today’s standards. Definitely not as expensive as other fine dining places in the city.

The crab dish was a little confusing to me. It was served as a whole crab with the body hollowed out and rice on top. I only found rice in this dish. Still not sure where the crab was.

This is pretty funny. I wonder if it had occurred to this Elitist at some point that they are supposed to suck the meat from the crab’s claws and legs.