[New York] Momokawa
Momokawa | www.momokawanyc.com | Yelp
Address: 157 E 28th St (Kips Bay), New York, NY 10016
Date visited: 2013.05
Total bill: $124 + tip and tax for four people
Will return: Yes
I don’t like hotpot and this is a hotpot restaurant (why am I even here). Boiled food always seemed a bit plain and has never appealed to me much. Even though I am Chinese, I avoid Chinese hotpot at all costs (Hai Di Lao is the bane of my existence).
But Japanese hotpot seems to offer something a little different. There are two options: shabu shabu or sukiyaki. Both styles of cooking use thinly sliced meat and vegetables but the difference is the broth. Shabu shabu uses more of a salty and savory broth whereas sukiyaki uses a thick and sweet soy sauce broth. My friends and I easily picked sukiyaki over shabu shabu and it was an excellent choice. For those who do not like hotpot, I have no hesitation recommending sukiyaki.
We got an order of Berkshire Pork Sukiyaki ($50) and Beef Sukiyaki ($48), which was quite enough for four people (note: there was more meat on the table than what is shown here). Vegetables and a choice of rice or udon are included with each order of meat.
Preparation:
Our server got us started by pouring some broth into the pot and added a few pieces of meat and vegetables. We were a bunch of noobs and didn’t know if the server was supposed to come back to cook the meat for us every time or if she was just showing us how to do it once. She never came over when we waited for her but she always came over as soon as we tried to do it ourselves. Since the meat is so thin, it just needs a few minutes to simmer in the broth and then it is ready to be eaten.
Side note: all the single ladies, this fine young man will be relocating from New York to Boston very soon. In his spare time, he enjoys bromancing his roommates and bossing his interns around at 2am (he run dis town). Here, he is displaying his world class culinary skills. Any interested ladies currently or will soon be in Boston, please inquiry within to be added to the wait list.
This is why our server didn’t trust us to do it on our own.
Consumption:
Each person got a raw egg to dip our cooked meat and vegetables in before eating. I am a fan of runny eggs so raw eggs are okay for me but this could be an issue for other people. This was a pretty foreign concept to everyone at the table but they all liked it. Give it a try and if you don’t like it, you can do without it because the meat and vegetables are already flavored by the sukiyaki broth.
