Jungsik – New York's first three-star Korean kitchen

In Tribeca, at the corner of Harrison and Hudson streets, Jungsik occupies the room that once held David Waltuck's Chanterelle, and since September 2011 it has reset what Korean cooking can do at the top table of American fine dining. Chef Yim Jung-sik had already proven the idea two years earlier in Seoul, and he built the New York room on the same conviction: that Korean dishes and techniques, carried through the discipline of a Western tasting menu, could stand beside anything in the city. The restaurant earned its first MICHELIN star within a year of opening, added a second in 2013, and then, in December 2024, a third – making Jungsik the first Korean restaurant in the United States to hold Three MICHELIN Stars, and New York's first new three-star address since Eleven Madison Park in 2012. In June 2025, Yim was named Outstanding Chef at the James Beard Awards. It holds Three MICHELIN Stars.

01The room and the setting

David Waltuck's Chanterelle filled this room until 2009, and Jungsik's design answers that pedigree without raising its voice. The ceiling rises as it goes east, the banquettes curve up at the corners, and every table runs along the walls, so the space reads as one continuous room rather than a grid of covers. One visiting critic noted a picture window, a slatted polished wood wall, and cream-coloured banquettes set with double tablecloths for each kind of wine. The room seats around 32 for dinner, with a separate private dining room beside the bar for an additional 18 guests.

02The chef

Yim Jung-sik trained at the Culinary Institute of America before working his way through Aquavit and Bouley in New York, then Zuberoa and Akelarre in Spain. His first restaurant, Jungsik Dang, debuted in Seoul in 2009, and two years later he opened the New York room, reimagining traditional Korean dishes as what the house calls "New Korean" cuisine. Yim now describes his own role across the two restaurants as that of a "creative director" rather than a line cook. Day to day, the New York kitchen is led by executive chef Daeik Kim, who joined the brigade as a sous after graduating in 2018 and was promoted to the position in September 2021.

Insider tip

Book well ahead; the $335 Signature Menu is ordered by the whole table, with no à la carte option.

03The cooking

Jungsik serves a single tasting menu – the Signature Menu, $335 – and asks that the whole table order it together; there is no à la carte alternative. Dinner opens with banchan: Baek Kimchi, Yukhwe, Yun-dubu, Saewoo Jang, Joomukbap and a Baesook tartlet, six small classics reset as a single opening course. Pairings range from a Signature Chef's Wine Pairing at $225 to the Jungsik Premium Wine Pairing at $600, alongside a "Ban-Ban" mixed pairing at $175 and a non-alcoholic pairing at $145.

04What to order

Striped Jack dressed with Oscietre caviar and smoked fish sauce opens the fish courses; Octopus arrives with a gochujang aioli, and Mandoo – dumplings filled with wagyu beef, gomtang and foie gras – give the menu its richest bite. Arctic Char is cured and dry-aged, finished with a perilla emulsion, while Black Cod sits in doenjang with shishito pepper and clam foam. Sea Urchin Bibimbap comes with seaweed rice, kimchi and crispy quinoa as a supplement course. The Yellowtail Kimbap, wrapped in crispy seaweed around truffle rice, can be upgraded to a Modeum Kimbap, and Galbi is served with mustard salad and white kimchi. Dessert is Strawberry with an oat yuja bingsu, followed by Dolhareubang, a petit four of black bean, rice and sesame.

05The neighbourhood

A few doors from Jungsik's front window, Harrison Street carries a row of nine landmarked Federal-style houses, a rare group of survivors from the early 1800s. The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated them individually in 1969 and later funded moving three of them around the corner onto Harrison Street to save them from the Washington Market urban renewal project. It makes for an improbable backdrop: one of the city's oldest surviving residential streets, steps from a dining room now rated among its most important.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.