Joo Ok Interior

What It Takes for a Korean Restaurant to Earn MICHELIN Stars in New York

10 Minute read

18 May 2026

Devorah Lev-Tov

Journalist

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Chef Chang-ho Shin moved Joo Ok from Seoul to Manhattan and rebuilt the restaurant from the ground up without losing the philosophy that earned it MICHELIN acclaim.

When Chef Chang-ho Shin decided to move his critically acclaimed, award-winning restaurant Joo Ok from Seoul to New York City, it raised a lot of questions. Would New Yorkers embrace the nuanced Korean cooking he had become known for? Where would he source the farm-fresh Korean vegetables central to his menu? Which members of his carefully built team would join him in Manhattan? And would he earn back the two MICHELIN stars that took him six years to achieve?

Shin first opened Joo Ok in Seoul in 2016, with a focus on growing and harvesting produce himself. As he tells it, he had dreamed of earning MICHELIN stars ever since he began cooking in 1998. In 2018, Joo Ok earned its first MICHELIN star. In 2022, it received a second. By the end of 2023, Shin had set his sights on New York City.

Shin and his core team, including general manager Jooyong Kim and sous chef Ben Park, quickly determined that operating two locations would make it difficult to maintain their standards in both places. They closed the restaurant in Seoul, and the three of them moved to New York alongside several other team members. In September 2024, Joo Ok opened inside an office building in Manhattan’s Koreatown.

“When I left Seoul and began Joo Ok in New York, it did not feel like simply opening a new restaurant,” said Shin through a translator over email. “There was a strong sense of responsibility. I had come here with a team, and there were many people who believed in what we were building.”

The transition wasn’t easy.

“I tried to approach each day with the same discipline I had in Korea,” Shin explained. “But there were many things to adapt to: a different environment, language, ingredients, and climate.”

As Shin and the team adjusted to life in New York, they also had to navigate opening a restaurant in an unfamiliar place while figuring out how to stand out in the crowded New York dining scene.

“I spent a lot of time thinking about what would make Joo Ok distinct here. That led me back to the fundamentals: working closely with the farm, growing ingredients, focusing on seasonality, and building dishes around carefully prepared jang,” said Shin. Jang refers to the fermented soybean pastes and sauces at the center of Korean cuisine.

Building a Korean Farm System in New York

For Shin and the team, the ingredients were the most important element and also one of the biggest challenges. In South Korea, they had their own farm, fermented their own jang, and could source everything else they needed relatively easily. In New York, it was a different story.

“Even when something looked familiar, the flavor and texture were often different,” said Shin. “In Seoul, I had built an intuitive understanding of ingredients over many years, but in New York that intuition did not always apply. I had to slow down, taste everything again, and adjust step by step. In many ways, it felt like starting over, but at the same time, it became a process of learning the ingredients more deeply.”

Soon, Shin and the team realized the best way to secure the ingredients they needed at the right quality was to operate their own farm in New York. With the help of Hand Hospitality, their New York partners behind Atoboy, Her Name is Han, Lysée, and other restaurants, they secured a two-acre plot in Bloomingburg, New York, about 1.5 hours north of Manhattan.

“We couldn’t find the right quality of perilla seeds here, and we had been getting them from South Korea by mail, so there was a significant cost, and customs delays were constant,” said Kim. “So, we planted them here, and we had a really good experience last year. We’re also working on growing daikon for kimchi and Korean herbs.”

Now, the team presses perilla oil weekly and ferments its own jang using soybeans and vegetables grown on the farm.

“My cooking philosophy is simple: use good ingredients, understand them deeply, and treat them with care,” said Shin. “I focus on fermentation, seasonality, and creating food that is both healthy and honest.”

Of course, a high-level restaurant needs more than excellent ingredients, recipes, and technique to stand out. Joo Ok also operates with a guiding philosophy that has served the team well.

“The Korean idea of jeong seong is devotion, sincerity, respect, and time. In service, in making food, and in the way we interact with guests, we always put in 100 percent jeong seong,” says Kim. “I think that was a big difference between us and other restaurants.”

More Than a Tasting Menu

For diners at Joo Ok, this devotion is apparent as soon as they enter the ground floor of an office building, likely wondering if they’re in the right place. Soon, someone appears to escort guests upstairs in what is said to be the oldest still-functioning elevator in New York City, operated by hand crank. It sets the stage for a night where care and attention are evident in every detail.

Upon entering the restaurant on the 16th floor, diners are transported to a space that evokes a temple, gallery, and observatory all at once. The 12-course meal unfolds with a series of snacks and small bites featuring three principal jangs: gochujang, ganjang, and doenjang. This introduction serves as the foundation for the courses that follow, which change seasonally, although signature dishes like makgeolli bread, a toasted rice wine bread topped with seared Chilean sea bass, soy jelly, and crispy scallions, usually make an appearance. Beyond the precision and flavor of the food, the service and overall experience are what make Joo Ok stand out. There are small surprises along the way, which we won’t spoil, and diners leave feeling like they’ve learned something about Korean culture and foodways by the end of the meal. That’s by design.

“We came here to spread our Korean culture. That was the goal that we set,” says Kim.

By the end of 2024, just a few months after opening in New York, Joo Ok earned its first MICHELIN star in the city. Shin and Kim attribute the quick recognition to bringing the core team over from South Korea before opening, even though earning stars was not necessarily the immediate goal.

“I think the [recognition] came from the time and experience we built together as a team. Because that foundation was already in place, we were able to achieve results more quickly in New York,” says Shin. “When I came to New York, my priority was to build Joo Ok properly in this environment, understand the ingredients, build the team, and create a consistent experience. Rather than aiming directly for the stars, I tried to approach each day with the same discipline I had in Korea.”

While the first star may not have been surprising, the second, awarded a year later, was.

“To be honest, I did not have strong expectations, so I was very surprised,” said Shin. “More than anything, I felt grateful. Rather than feeling satisfied with the result, it reminded me to stay focused on the fundamentals and continue doing the work properly.”

This dedication to precision and consistency continues to drive Shin, Kim, and the entire team.

“We do not run the kitchen with the goal of maintaining two stars. Fine dining is about creating a complete experience through food,” said Shin. “Everything, from ingredients and cooking to timing and flow, must be connected. In the end, it is about how much care and thought you put into every detail.”