Momofuku Milk Bar

How can one dine at Momofuku Ko for dinner and not stop by the Milk Bar afterwards?

I was stuffed. Really really stuffed. Yet Bryan somehow convinced me that we had to go, with the exact reasoning stated above.

Oh, and his other classic line he uses all the time (to get me to order a dessert):

“You SHOULD . . . for the sake of the blog . . .”

So even though I had just enjoyed a 2+ hour 10 course tasting menu (and it was already past midnight), we stopped in Momofuku Milk Bar to get some after-dinner sweets.


One of the signature soft serve flavors they serve is “cereal milk“.  I sampled a taste and I loved it! It really does taste like the sweet, malty milk at the bottom of a cereal bowl. My stomach was about to explode so I didn’t order a whole one, though I really wished I could have.

Little did we know at the time, but Momofuku Milk Bar had just recently obtained a full liquor license. What does that mean? Alcoholic milkshakes! Torn between the White Russian Cereal Milk and the Butterscotch Crackpot, Bryan eventually opted for the crazier sounding one – the crackpot, of course.

WOW! What an intense butterscotch flavor! The drink was rich, sweet, creamy, and just all around really good. The addition of alcohol added an element of bitterness that I actually liked.  It cut the intense sweetness of the drink. Even though I was stuffed, I definitely stole quite a bit of Bryan’s drink! I also wistfully stared at the crack pie and the cool looking franken pie (pictured above), wishing I could take some with me for later. Unfortunately, the pies don’t keep that well without refrigeration (we asked), so instead we just opted for some take-away cookies.

David Chang thinks underseasoning is a crime, and his philosophy shows in these intensely flavored cookies as well.  My favorite cookies (which I tried last year when Bryan brought home a dozen!) are probably the corn, chocolate-chocolate, and the cornflake-chocolate chip marshmallow.

I love corn flavored anything, and the corn flavor in this buttery corn cookie is really really strong! It’s several levels stronger than ordinary cornbread. Similarly, the chocolate-chocolate cookie is intensely dark and rich – my kind of chocolate cookie!

The compost cookie (pretzels, potato chips, coffee, oats, butterscotch, chocolate chips) is the most famous, although I personally think it’s a tad too sweet and prefer some of the other ones.

I would love to go back and get myself a full serving of the cereal milk soft serve – it was so good! If I’m in the mood for something rich and intense, I would consider the buttermilk crackpot milkshake, although I would definitely split it with someone.

Have you been to the Milk Bar before? Do you have any favorites?

Other posts in this series

Marea (lunch)