Má Pêche: The “Peach” Empire comes to Midtown, while Food Bloggers come together.
Dear Food Diary:
For our first Food Blogger get together, Andrea(high/low/food/drink) organized a nice lunch at David Chang’s newest “Peach” addition, Ma Peche at the chic and modern Chamber Hotel. Ever since the Foodbuzz Festival, Andrea and I’ve been talking about a dinner, but this came as a nice preview, thanks to birthday girl Jen(tiny urban kitchen) who was in town!
Lunch menu was simple and affordable (hard to imagine that with anything Momofuku), but $10 for entree and drink is really not bad, considering my $12.50 salad from Chopt the day before. Andrea had the Banh mi maison (three terrine sandwich, daikon, cilantro) and Christine (fresh local and best) had the Banh mi au poulet (chicken, lemongrass, lettuce, mint), both came warm and the girls enjoy it. I had AnChoi the night before, so I was all Banh mi-ed out.
Here are Christine, Andrea, Michelle (taste as you go), and Jen in action. Aside from the Festival, this is the first time I’m eating out and everyone around the table whips out a camera, it’s quite amusing. Look at the concentration. Jen’s husband waited patiently. We shared how by now, all our friends and loved ones are use to this.
The Goi Calamari – Squid salad, had a generous amount of fish sauce, thai basil, some greens, cucumber strips and peanuts. It was good but not wow, more like a papaya salad, sans papaya. Refreshing and a light starter, not sure if it would be enough as an entree, then again, my appetite is above average.
The Bun du riz – Rice Noodles was a winner. First of all, it smelled amazing as we were taking pictures, I was salivating pressing the macro button. The texture of the rice noodles were nice, soft with a little pull. The pork ragout is seasoned well, there’s sprinkles of crispy shallots, and strands of saw leaf herb or ngo gai, is similar to cilantro, giving the dish a nice fresh finish. The Sriracha-ish chili sauce on the table was the perfect pair.
For $1.85 I got a glimpse of Momofuku Milk Bar with the Peanut Butter Cookie. Big enough to share, it’s nice and crunchy around the edges, love that, and soft and super peanut buttery in the center. Very satisfying and a sweet way to end a lovely lunch with these fun ladies.
I was resisting Milk Bar for the longest time, but I can’t hold off any longer, it deserves a visit. Urghhhhh this love/hate dilemma I have with David Chang is an endless vicious cycle of deliciousness.
All this is just a tease of what’s to come, the restaurant will have a criss cross wooden communal table with looks interesting and might bring diners a different interaction experience perhaps. I want a seat when it opens! For now, before the prices go hmmmm… more momofuku-ish, you should def check it out.
Chamber Hotel (mezzanine for now)
15 W 56th st
212.757.5878
I went to Ma Peche for lunch Monday, had the banh mi and terrine and enjoyed both.
Post to come on my blog as part of momofuku overload: I had the fried chicken lunch last week at noodle bar. Pretty ridic.
When we eating again?
The salad looks so yum although it didn't wow you, haha.
So nice having lunch with you! I loved the Banh Mi Maison (Terrine) but your noodles did smell really good! If you haven't done so, check out my post of our lunch:
http://highlowfooddrink.blogspot.com/2009/11/ny-blogger-lunch-at-ma-peche-actually.html
Here's my blog post about my Ma Peche experience. http://ramblingsandgamblings.blogspot.com/2009/11/momofuku-overload-part-1-food.html
The fried chicken post will come as soon as I get the pics.
C,
Great recap and lovely to meet you. We'll have to do this again!
Best,
Christine
How fun and how yum! Wish I had awesome bloggers to meet for lunch here….
Pretender,
Can't wait to see ur fried chicken post!
Kenny,
looks can be deceiving LOL
HighLow, Fresh local best
looking fwd to our next meal, you gals are super fun to eat with
Mardi,
hopefully we'll see you in the Big apple soon
Great post! It was so much fun meeting you and getting to know more about you and your blog over lunch. I hope we can do it again soon!
Oohh…fancy Vietnamese dishes. I can get banh mi for a few bucks here in San Jose but the ingredients aren't as fresh or generous as your meal out. Looked like eveyrone had so much fun.
I've been too busy to catch up on blog reading and didn't realize it was Jen's bday. Gotta swing other now…
Now I'm jealous. I want to eat at that restaurant and meet all of you. Sigh. When would that happen? 😀
Divina,
We're not that far?! hehe… a plane ride away =) come visit NYC…
I think I've read everyone else's recap of Peche, but yours was the only one I've seen that included the halfway shot of the cookie. It looked like a big flat, hard disc in the other photo, but seeing how thick it is in the center has me totally craving it now.
Yay! I'm so glad you could make it out. 🙂 Can't wait until the next meet up!
Haha I read another version on Fresh Local and Best!!