Some Knowledge

Momofuku Ko is apparently the hottest restaurant in Manhattan.  They describe their cuisine as American food.  The name of the restaurant means “son of Momofuku”  as this is part of an operation that includes a noodle bar and a ssam bar.  Apparently it’s not the food that draws people to this place, but the rather exclusive system of reservations.

To read a good description of the process of making a reservation at Momofuku Ko try this site.  The restaurant has a limited number of seats available.  They make exclusive reservations over the Internet.  There are a lot of people who want to eat at this restaurant.  So, a lot of people are out of luck because they can’t get a reservation.

It would seem that if you had a lot more customers than you could serve, you would build a bigger place, or another place, and capitalize.  Perhaps they want to keep their exclusive status and stay small.

Chef David Chang must have a lot of skill in the kitchen if he can pull in such a crowd.  Then again there have been a lot of reviews and reports on this restaurant in the press.  It must be really good food if the tasting menu goes for $85.  When the reservation system first went online it was crashed by hackers.  There were some incidents of reservation scalpers.  People must have really wanted to eat at this small place.

If you like a challenge and are lucky enough to get your reservation in the few minutes after ten AM when seats are available each day, head on over to 163 1st Ave, New York, New York and have a nice expensive meal.  Wine is $50 a bottle, and I hear they have a nice grilled rice cake and foie gras.  The menu changes every day, so you might end up being surprised.