ehkay
Distinguished Member
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- Sep 5, 2008
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You're making the mistake of using the list how they want you to use/interpret it.
Ssam bar was for some time a pretty good restaurant when his old number 2 was running it (like an ex Craft/Cafe Boulud guy I think) for the time around when Bruni gave it three stars in the times. What made it popular/famous were the actual composed dishes, and not the bo ssam/pork buns/asian burritos. But it has seriously declined post-2009ish, and the prices have skyrocketed.
ETA: It's certainly not, and was not, the 40th best restaurant in the world.
TFL at 43 and Amber (Hong Kong) at 44, which I just went to recently - I find that strange. I haven't been to TFL but I imagine just the experience of driving out to wine country and eating in TK's little fine dining shack is more memorable than pushing an elevator button and eating anonymous pseudo-French in a Chinese luxury hotel.
I really don't understand how TFL went from #1 restaurant in (all of) the Americas to something like 40 on the list. Having dined there, I put it easily in my top 3. Is Per Se that much better?
You're making the mistake of using the list how they want you to use/interpret it.
I have very little experience with Chang and none beyond Ma Peche but isn't Ko supposed to be his flagship? So what is this Ssssam Bar or whatever that is on the list?
Ssam is wrapping stuff in lettuce like hand rolls; I think at Ssam bar he makes things like his Bo ssam (pork shoulder with lettuce wraps) and the $100 fried chicken.
At Ko he makes things like an amuse bouche of a pork rind sprinkled in the lowest quality S and B brand shichimi tougarashi, and a 'kimchi consomme' that is like the strained version of a broth that Korean $2 noodle shops serve.
Ssam bar was for some time a pretty good restaurant when his old number 2 was running it (like an ex Craft/Cafe Boulud guy I think) for the time around when Bruni gave it three stars in the times. What made it popular/famous were the actual composed dishes, and not the bo ssam/pork buns/asian burritos. But it has seriously declined post-2009ish, and the prices have skyrocketed.
ETA: It's certainly not, and was not, the 40th best restaurant in the world.
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