Visited in February 2025
Dinner
Rating: Three Michelin Macarons

It came as a surprise to many last December that a new Michelin restaurant with the highest accolades was announced in New York after a long time. Many may have had another restaurant with Korean cuisine on their radar.
It was clear to me that I would take the next opportunity to see what the inspectors had seen and, above all, tasted here.
I made a reservation at the bar. The bar offers an à la carte menu that is, cleverly put together, to reflect almost the entire signature menu of the dining room.
When you enter the restaurant, you are practically standing right in front of the bar with its five seats. I had the one on the far right and could see the young Korean chef at the pass through the swinging door from time to time. The lighting conditions were not ideal, which was also reflected in the quality of the photos. I had made a selection from the à la carte menu in advance and skipped the meat dishes and dessert that evening.
As for drinks, I chose two glasses of wine and a cocktail to finish.

First I ordered Banchan, which was an assortment of five snacks. Banchan are small side dishes served along with cooked rice in Korean cuisine. In detail, clockwise from bottom left, these were:
Yukhwe means raw meat in Korean language: Wagyu beef tatar, parmesan, truffle, brioche Hwe Muchim = spicy raw fish: Jet-Bang Uh = Amberjack tatar in a seaweed crustade, chogochujang, the Korean hot pepper paste with vinegar and roasted soy cream
Gyeranjjim = Korean soft steamed egg, Gamtae edible brown seaweed
Joomukbap = Korean rice ball: Praliné of squid ink rice, warm squid and shrimp
Baesook (= cooked pear) tartelet Foie gras, Asian pear, pine nut

This variety of snacks was very accurately produced, exhibited clear tastes and different textures and played with acidity, sweetness and spiciness.

The first course with its smoked fishbone sauce exhibited cool but not too cool temperature, freshness and acidity. It was not spicy at all and the caviar paired well with the fish of impeccable quality.

A pan-roasted scallop cut into three slices was presented on a bed of rice and seeds colored with squid ink in a very hot cocotte. A citrus emulsion that reminded of a sabayon was applied at the table. Nurungji is a traditional Korean delicacy made from the crispy, golden crust of rice that forms at the bottom of the pot.

The fantastic fish, with crispy skin but almost raw in the core, came on a quite but not too spicy curry sauce. I liked this reduced course very much.

A crispy seaweed roll was filled with truffle rice (kimbap), which exhibited a lot of Umami. The idea of this course was to place the green shiso garnished slices of the yellowtail using the provided tweezers onto the roll and then take a bite. Together with the fish of utmost quality, I saw this course clearly on Michelin three macaron level.

The last course held the level. The fish was treated with Doenjang, a Korean fermented soybean paste. It had a superb flaky texture and a buttery taste. The fish was placed on shishito relish, made from that East Asian pepper variety. A clam foam added to the well-balanced taste of this course, which was also a true highlight of the menu.

Instead of a dessert, I asked for a fruity cocktail. After confirmation that I like rum, this cocktail was served which I liked very much.

Summary

Everything was prepared with utmost care using some of the best products available. I like the reduced approach. Few compounds on the plate lead to maximum culinary enjoyment. A couple of servings were not very surprising. Especially for the snacks you can have similar amuses of the same quality elsewhere in New York. The food has clearly Korean influences but I would see this as Korean European fusion cuisine. Three macarons? Some of the courses clearly (yellowtail, cod), some almost.

Service was professional and dedicated and they are really interested in the guests opinion. Website des Restaurants: Korean Restaurant – Jungsik New York