TLDR: Sa'Moto is one of the quicker vendors at Citizens but definitely pricey and not particularly tasty. I will make a note however, the spicy wontons are actually very good. That's the main reason why I went a second time.
I was super excited when I heard there was a concept at Citizens from Chef Morimoto. I imagined something like Momosan when they first launched in Midtown but unfortunately, this was not the case.
The first time I tried the spicy wontons and the Cloudy Pork ramen.
The Spicy Wontons are very tasty. Super thin wrappers, plump little meat balls of chicken inside with a nice texture when you chew. These are small but they are quite flavorful and they're tossed in a sesame chili oil. They're still quite pricey at $15 but again - very satisfying.
Cloudy Pork Ramen. While it is a richer pork broth, very fatty. So much oil in it and flavor-wise, it just missed it for me completely. Relatively bland, very greasy, the pork belly was melt in your mouth but all I tasted was fat. I actually stopped midway and ended up getting something else.
Fast forward maybe a year later, I decided to try it again. Wontons again and I figured let's try this Curry Laksa Tan-Tan Men.
Wontons were still good but the Laksa? Missed it for me again. This was just overall too sweet and not very interesting to me. There was ground pork that was cooked down with miso and pepper threads with green onion and cilantro. Props for keeping it separate from the broth but once mixed it - it just become this mish mosh of noodles and gravy. I wouldn't even really call it broth, the coconut milk in combination with the sesame paste - too heavy. I did finish it at least this time.
There's an assortment of some fried stuff they sell but I've never tried. There's now a bao combo with fries for $18. If it's a standard steamed bao, that is quite expensive. I think I will keep Sa'Moto to be the place when I want some bomb ass wontons. Maybe they'll change something in the future but for now - just will stick to that one item. read more