Genesis House – Three Bulgogis Above a Car Showroom Floor

Genesis House Restaurant occupies the second floor of 40 Tenth Avenue, the faceted glass tower in the Meatpacking District that Studio Gang built as its first New York commission; the building went by the working name Solar Carve during construction. Hyundai's Genesis brand took the entire 40,000 sq ft of ground-floor retail space in December 2017, and the finished complex of showroom, library, tea pavilion and restaurant opened to the public on 19 November 2021. The dining room has changed hands since: Genesis closed the kitchen in September 2026 to end its original restaurant partnership, and on 20 October 2026 it reopened under New York's Hand Hospitality, the group behind Jua, Joo Ok and Okdongsik, working alongside Seoul's Bar Cham for the cocktail bar's first restaurant partnership outside Korea. Genesis House Restaurant is one of the restaurants selected in the MICHELIN Guide New York.

01A glass tower built for Korean craft

Suh Architects of Seoul won the competition to design the interiors, with founder Eulho Suh telling Robb Report that the team simply wanted the space to feel alive rather than like a conventional car showroom. The finished complex spans three levels: a ground-floor showroom, a cellar auditorium known as the Cellar Stage whose LED panel stage is engineered to carry the weight of a car, and a second floor where open wood latticework divides a library from the restaurant and a tea pavilion. A single roofscape of stacked Korean oak beams runs over all three second-floor rooms, and the dining room leans on concrete, wood and copper – three materials chosen because each is a major Korean export.

Floor-to-ceiling glass frames the High Line, the Hudson River and the Lower Manhattan skyline, and in warmer months tables spread onto a roughly 9,500 sq ft terrace landscaped with white sand and gravel in the style of a traditional Korean garden.

02Hand Hospitality and Bar Cham

Genesis House's restaurant closed for its transition in September 2026, ending the partnership with Restaurant Associates that had run the kitchen since the 2021 opening. It reopened on 20 October 2026 under Hand Hospitality, the New York group founded by Kihyun Lee in 2011, whose other projects include Cho Dang Gol, Hojokban, Seoul Salon and Her Name Is Han alongside Jua, Joo Ok and Okdongsik.

Insider tip

Closed Mondays; reservations via Resy; lunch resumes 10 November 2026.

Joining as exclusive beverage partner is Bar Cham, founded in 2018 in Seochon, one of Seoul's oldest neighbourhoods – its first restaurant collaboration outside Korea. Genesis House's director of brand experience, Joe McHugh, and Bar Cham co-owner Byungjin Lim have both framed the partnership as a shared respect for craft and heritage, carried from Seoul into a new kitchen and bar on the Hudson.

03The cooking

The new menu is built around a signature bulgogi programme with three regional expressions – Seoul, Eonyang and Gwangyang – each prepared and seasoned to the style of its home province. Around it sits a sharing menu that runs from seafood jeon and yukhwe to Korean fried chicken and bingsoo, with rice, noodles and kimchi designed to be passed round the table rather than plated individually. Dinner also draws on galbijjim and other braised dishes, reflecting a kitchen more interested in regional variety than a single house style of Korean cooking.

04Wine and drinks

Bar Cham's programme reimagines the drinking traditions of six Korean regions, from the Cham Negroni to the Jeju Tea Punch, alongside three of the bar's own long-running signatures, plus mocktails built from Korean ingredients for guests who want the story without the alcohol. The wider list pairs traditional Korean drinks – makgeolli, sweet potato soju – with Champagne, wine by the glass and bottle, and craft beer.

By day the kitchen pours tea in three registers: Korean Hues, single-origin teas that change with every infusion; Blended, teas layered with fruit, herbs and flowers; and Layered, lattes and affogatos built on tea and grains, served with sweets from the New York pâtisserie Lysée.

05When to go and booking

The restaurant now runs daytime tea and dinner Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 9pm, closed on Mondays, with lunch service due to begin on 10 November 2026. Reservations are taken through Resy rather than a house phone line, and given the room's reputation as a date-night favourite with Hudson River views, booking ahead is worth doing for dinner and for a table on the terrace once the warmer months arrive.

06The neighbourhood

Genesis House stands between the High Line and Little Island along the Hudson River, across the cobblestones of West 14th Street from the heart of the Meatpacking District. The High Line's entrance nearby makes it easy to combine a meal with a walk along the raised park, while Little Island's floating gardens sit directly across the West Side Highway – one reason the restaurant's terrace and library windows were built to face the water.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.