New York Finally Has a Three-Michelin Starred Korean Restaurant!
Jungsik now has three stars. César, Brooklyn Fare, and Sushi Sho all received two stars in the 2025 Michelin Guide to New York. Eight new spots received a single star.
The world finally has another three Michelin-starred Korean spot.
Except this time, the restaurant isn’t in Seoul. It’s in New York. It’s called Jungsik. And true to form for Michelin, it’s a very expensive place to eat.
This shouldn’t really surprise anyone.
Over the past decade, one of the biggest changes to the city’s fine dining scene has been the boom in restaurants taking their culinary inspiration from the Korean Peninsula.
New York easily ranks with Seoul as one of the world’s hotbeds for cutting-edge and expensive Korean cuisine. Michelin, the world’s oldest and most recognizable restaurant guide, has been documenting this local trend for a while now, but tonight the anonymous inspectors made a big move with the promotion of Jungsik. The three-star honor is one held by just 140 or so restaurants. Thirteen of them are in the U.S.
Just one or two Korean restaurants hold three stars anywhere in the world. Chef Anh Sung-jae’s Mosu in Seoul earned three stars in 2023, but it closed earlier this year and is no longer listed on Michelin’s website.
Jungsik in Tribeca is foundational to New York’s Modern Korean scene. It opened in 2011, and since then, it has served as a staging ground for chefs like Hoyoung Kim of Jua, Eunji Lee of Lysée, and Junghyun Park of Atomix (which was arguably next in line for three stars).
Dinner at Jungsik costs $295 per person. The restaurant is the first New York restaurant to receive Michelin’s highest honor since 2012, when Eleven Madison Park and Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare were elevated to three stars.
There is something distinctly weird about there being no three Michelin-starred Korean restaurants in the Republic of Korea at the moment.
Other Big Developments: Stars for César, Brooklyn Fare, Corima, Sho
César, the long-awaited chef’s counter competitor to the Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare — run by a chef who used to lead The Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare (say that three times fast) — earned two stars. César Ramirez’s Tribeca restaurant offers a tasting of French and Japanese seafood — including uni toast and white truffles — for $365.
Brooklyn Fare also received two stars in its first year of eligibility under new chefs Max Natmessnig and Marco Prins. The tasting menu, which might include Hokkaido uni on a crisp waffle, starts at $345.
The New York outpost of Sushi Sho, where chef Keiji Nakazawa alternates between sashimi, sushi, and precise small plates in a manner that can feel unpredictable and spontaneous, received two stars. The menu runs $450, service-included, though supplemental “extra pieces” at the end of the meal can easily add $300 or more to one’s bill. You can read our full review of Sushi Sho here.
And here’s one of the biggest surprises of the evening: Mexican tasting menu spot Corima managed to snag a single star in its first year of operation. The restaurant, by Sofia Ostos and chef Fidel Caballero, tips its hat to the culinary traditions of Chihuahua and Sonora, but also to Japan and China. In place of a bread course, patrons are served a bouncy flour tortilla with recado negro butter. Read our review here.
The other new single-starred selections were:
Bar Miller, a sustainably-minded sushi spot that focuses on wild-caught fish from the waters of North America. Dinner is $250 per person.
Cafe Boulud, chef Daniel Boulud’s relocated fine dining spot on the Upper East Side
Joo Ok, a Modern Korean tasting menu restaurant on the 16th floor of Midtown building.
La Bastide by Andrea Calstier, a French spot in Westchester
Noksu, chef Dae Kim’s Korean tasting spot inside the Herald Square subway station
Shota Omakase, a $195 sushi spot in Williamsburg
Yingtao, so-called “East-meets-West” Chinese tasting menu restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen
Daniel Boulud’s eponymous Daniel on the Upper East Side, which once held the guide’s highest rating, was demoted from two stars to one, the same rating as his more casual (but still fancy) Cafe Boulud.
One more thing: Saga, the global tasting menu restaurant at the top of 70 Pine, kept its two stars after Chef Charlie Mitchell took over the kitchen this summer. The original chef, Jamal James Kent, died in June. Mitchell’s first menu will go live in January, Resy reports.
The original purpose of the Michelin guide was to help the namesake French company sell tires, which explains why the language behind the stars still boasts a travel-focused mindset.
One star denotes “high quality-cooking, worth a stop.” Two stars means “excellent cooking,” worth a detour.” And three stars signifies “exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey.”
I’ve levied some tough criticisms at Michelin over the years, but the following is indisputable: the three-starred club remains one of the world’s most exclusive clubs.
Thirteen of those venues, again, are in the U.S. Five of them are in New York. Those restaurants are Per Se, Masa, Eleven Madison Park, Le Bernardin, and Jungsik.
By the way: Corey Lee’s Benu in San Francisco also has three Michelin stars, and while that venue highlights Korean ingredients and preparations, including a fancy take on Korean barbecue. That said, I’m not sure I’d pigeonhole that dynamic American and Asian restaurant — which tips its hat to China and France — as Korean.
Michelin, for what it’s worth, considers Jungsik the only three-starred Korean spot in North America.
The Full List of 2023 Starred Selections for NYC and Westchester
New Three Star Restaurants
Jungsik
Returning Three Star Restaurants
Eleven Madison Park
Le Bernardin
Masa
Per Se
New Two Star Restaurants
César
Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare
Sushi Sho
Returning Two Star Restaurants
Aquavit
Aska
Atera
Atomix
Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Gabriel Kreuther
Jean-Georges
The Modern
Odo
Saga
Sushi Noz
New One Star Restaurants
Bar Miller
Cafe Boulud
Corima
Joo Ok
La Bastide by Andrea Calstier
Noksu
Shota Omakase
Yingtao
Returning One Star Restaurants
63 Clinton
Bōm
Casa Mono
Clover Hill
Cote
Crown Shy
Daniel
Dirt Candy
Essential by Christophe
Estela
Family Meal at Blue Hill
The Four Horsemen
Francie
Frevo
Gramercy Tavern
Icca
Jeju Noodle Bar
Joji
Jua
Kochi
Kosaka
L’Abeille
Le Coucou
Le Pavillon
Mari
Meju
The Musket Room
Noz 17
Oiji Mi
One White Street
Oxomoco
Red Paper Clip
Restaurant Yuu
Rezdora
Semma
Shion 69 Leonard Street
Shmoné
Sushi Amane
Sushi Ichimura
Sushi Nakazawa
Tempura Matsui
Torien
Torrisi
Tsukimi
Tuome
Yoshino
This is a developing story. See The Lo Times website for the latest updates
While I understand the criticisms often leveled at Michelin, and it may seem to be a dinosaur from yesteryear, what is incredibly under-appreciated about Michelin is this: the mind-boggling roster of culinary talent who begin their careers working in Michelin 2 and 3 star restaurants, then go on to open exciting places of their own, often having nothing to do with 2 or 3 star aspirations. But all of them will tell you that the training they got in those kitchens was priceless. The chefs who've passed through Daniel Boulud's kitchens alone are practically a Who's Who of celebrity chefs now. So even if you don't think that Michelin multi-star dining is for you, or that the whole star system is nonsense, its positive impact on the restaurant scene overall can't be overstated.
Thrilled to see Bar Miller get it - they're exquisite!