Coqodaq – the cathedral where fried chicken wears caviar

Coqodaq sits on a quiet stretch of East 22nd Street in Flatiron, a few doors from Cote, the Korean steakhouse that gave its owner, Simon Kim, his first MICHELIN Star. Four and a half years in the making, Kim set the plan in motion when the right space appeared on the same block as Cote, and the restaurant opened in mid-January 2024 with a VIP party that included a performance by Busta Rhymes and a ribbon-cutting with New York's mayor. The idea, as its architects put it, was to build a modern cathedral for all things fried chicken — serious enough for caviar and Champagne, loose enough for a hand-washing station stocked with Hermès soap before you eat with your fingers. It holds a Bib Gourmand in the MICHELIN Guide, the distinction for cooking of real quality at a moderate price, given to a restaurant that turned an everyday Korean snack into one of New York's most argued-about reservations.

01The room and the setting

Rockwell Group designed the space, infusing the dark, luxurious dining room with touches of art nouveau, abstracted interpretations of traditional Korean patterns, custom furniture and dynamic, highly strategic lighting throughout. Guests meet it first at the door: a green soapstone handwashing station with a leathered finish and bronze Italian fixtures, lit by an inset bronze mirror shaped around the restaurant's ovoid logo. Inside, muted forest-green banquettes run in a symmetrical line that ends at a mirrored wall, creating a dramatic infinity effect, while plaster wall panels carry a crackled finish that nods to crisp fried-chicken skin. The room seats up to 190, its runway-like circulation marked by a series of 'ghost' arches made of lit cast glass and bronze metal connections — architecture rendered in light rather than stone.

The brand behind the room came from Pentagram's Emily Oberman, who built the identity around an egg-shaped logotype: echoing the identity of Cote, the wordmark's 'O' contains a Korean character — 닭, meaning 'chicken' — doubling as the restaurant's symbol. The lighting design, by L'Observatoire International, was shortlisted in the architectural lighting category of the 2024 Dezeen Awards, recognition for a scheme built to carry the room from lunchtime daylight into late-night glow without ever changing a bulb by hand.

02The chef

The kitchen is led by Seung Kyu Kim, known to everyone as SK, who was director of culinary affairs at Gracious Hospitality Management before taking the executive chef's position at Coqodaq. Before joining Cote in 2019, he spent ten years at Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Upper West Side flagship, Jean-Georges — a training ground that shows in the restaurant's precision rather than its bravado. Simon Kim has credited the restaurant's long gestation to that partnership, saying that over the four years of development, he, SK Kim and president Dexter Zimet had been obsessing over bringing the concept to life.

Insider tip

Notoriously hard to book; phone lines open 11am–11pm, email outside those hours.

03What to order

The dish to order is the Bucket List, executive chef SK Kim's signature feast: two styles of fried chicken, the Original and a choice of Soy Sauce Garlic Glaze or Gochujang Glaze, opening with a warm Pasture-Raised Chicken Consommé and a selection of banchan, and closing with Cold Perilla Soy Sauce Noodles and a creamy Frozen Yogurt with Blueberry Sauce. Alongside it sits the dish that made Coqodaq famous beyond its own dining room: the Golden Nugget, a fried chicken nugget topped with a diner's choice of caviar, offered in ascending tiers — an 18 Karat version with ocean trout roe, a 24 Karat version with Golden Daurenki caviar, and a limited Black Gold nugget finished with seasonal truffle. The idea travelled: outside Arthur Ashe Stadium at the 2025 US Open, Coqodaq sold a to-go box of six caviar-topped nuggets for $100, a stunt that turned into one of the tournament's most photographed food stands.

04Wine and drinks

Coqodaq's stated ambition was to build the largest Champagne program in the United States, and the number backs the claim: the list runs to 400 different Champagnes, built for both solo diners and the large parties the room was designed to hold, including a stacked selection of magnums. The program carries a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, and was shaped by GHM's director of beverage, Victoria James — author of the memoir Wine Girl — working directly with Simon Kim and chef SK Kim to translate the Korean habit of pairing bubbles with fried chicken into a full American wine list. For anyone not drinking Champagne by the glass or bottle, the bar also runs a list of playful 'coqtails'.

05The neighbourhood, when to go and booking

Coqodaq occupies the same Flatiron block as Cote, in the stretch of Manhattan between Madison Square Park and the shopping streets south of 23rd Street, a neighbourhood already used to Simon Kim's crowds. The Infatuation named it among New York's toughest reservations within months of opening in 2024, and that reputation has not eased: by the restaurant's second summer, its nightly waitlist could reach 1,500 names, leaving a 10pm bar seat as the most realistic walk-in option. According to the restaurant's own site, in October 2026 the dining room runs Monday to Friday from noon to 3pm and 5pm to 11pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 11.30am to 3pm and 5pm to 11pm, with phone reservationists on from 11am to 11pm daily and email booking outside those hours. The appetite for spectacle travels, too: after appearing on Gordon Ramsay's Netflix series Knife's Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars, Coqodaq took its caviar nuggets to London, popping up for two weeks at Ramsay's Lucky Cat in Mayfair during Wimbledon.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.