ATOMIX
Junghyun and Ellia Park cook a two-star Korean tasting menu in a Murray Hill brownstone, and every course lands with a card that names the dish's history, the potter who made the plate, or the spice you have not met.
Why go
The counter sits below ground and the bar sits above it, and the MICHELIN inspector reads the whole brownstone as one warm room.1 The cooking is where the two stars are: black banana under monkfish liver, puffed buckwheat and perilla leaves; langoustine from Norway grilled and set over truffle gel and honey nut squash foam. The card ritual is the part people repeat afterwards. The cards are wrapped into a package at the end for you to take home, which is Ruth Rogers' account of why the room is on her list before she has eaten in it.
Junghyun Park took a food science degree before he cooked, apprenticed his way through Finland, London and Australia to make up for the training he never had, then ran the kitchen at Jungsik in Seoul and helped open its New York room. He and Ellia Park opened Atoboy in 2016 and this room in 2018, and the first star landed the same year.10 Atomix took Outstanding Hospitality at the 2025 James Beard Awards, the award for how a room treats you.9 North America's 50 Best Restaurants placed the room seventh on the continent in 2026.8
Order this / avoid
- Order: there is one menu and the kitchen sets it. The Michelin inspector's two dishes are the black banana with monkfish liver and the grilled Norwegian langoustine, and the guide says the menu is always moving, so treat both as the shape of the cooking rather than a standing order.
- Order: the non-alcoholic and low-ABV pairing if you are not drinking. Zoe Becker found teas, fermented drinks and non-alcoholic wines on it, at $110 in January 2026.7
- Avoid: planning around a walk-in. The guide rates this among the most coveted reservations in the city.1
What locals & experts say
- Ruth Reichl, critic, 2024-03:
I was an early lover of Atomix (two Michelin stars), and I could not believe what they were doing. At that time, all we thought of as Korean food was meat on a grill with basically a lot of garlic. Atomix was an eye-opening experience about how exquisite and beautiful Korean cuisine could be.
3 - Ruth Rogers (The River Café, London), 2026-05, and she has not been:
Two-starred Atomix is on my list. I had heard that the food is phenomenal, but that the entire experience is what makes it special.
4 She is saying she wants to go, not what the food was like. - Pete Wells reviewed the opening year for the New York Times in October 2018 and gave it three stars:
Nothing at Atomix tastes confused or overburdened.
5 - Ligaya Mishan, the Times' co-chief restaurant critic, put it seventh on her hundred best restaurants in the city in May 2026, reading the menu as a set of meditations and Park as a chef
musing on the lost pleasure of anticipation in an on-demand world and the revelation of beauty seen only when you pause for a closer look.
6 - Zoe Becker ate at the counter for Eater in January 2026 and rated the floor above the plates:
the service is the best I've experienced in NYC.
7 - Junghyun Park, on what the room is for:
Atomix's beginnings were firmly rooted in our mission to deliver and translate Korean culture to our guests.
10 - MICHELIN Guide New York: two stars on the guide's 2025 New York roster.11 The inspector writes that
the team's commitment to Korean traditions prepared with finesse and flair is steadfast.
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Good to know
- Timing: dinner, at the counter, which seats 28 across a night.
- Booking: essential, and the guide says it is among the hardest tables in the city to get.
- Price: the tasting menu ran $385, and $450 through December, when Becker ate in January 2026.7
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Michelin 2* multiple recs for some of the best new food." The two stars now check out against the guide.
Verdict
must-visit — The reservation is the only obstacle, so start there and take whatever date they give you. Jeff saved it and starred it.