NYC: Genesis House – Much more than a restaurant

Genesis House is a Korean restaurant/car show room/tea salon/library, all under one roof, in a beautiful building in the heart of Meatpacking District. In case you don’t know, Genesis is the name of Hyundai’s line of luxury cars, and yes, you can go and see the newest car models in the building’s main floor showroom. We went for a quick peek before we gravitated towards the restaurant, which was the main reason why we were there.

The Genesis House restaurant is the first international expansion of Onijum, which is a 1-Michelin-star (2024) restaurant in Seoul, inspired by royal Korean cuisine and known for their new take on traditional Korean recipes. We started out with cocktails that I’ve forgotten the name of. Mine had egg white and tasted good, but that’s all I can remember, and I haven’t been able to identify it on the cocktail list online, so maybe it’s not on the menu anymore.

We both had the tasting menu, which was a beautiful line-up of some of the most popular a la carte dishes along with a couple of surprise items from the kitchen. Everything we had was quite amazing and I loved how they played around with the textures and the flavors while still staying true to the soul of traditional Korean cuisine. If forced to pick one favorite dish, it would be the Suranchae, which was a delicious mix of sliced abalone, scallops, crab, and octopus, all united with a divine pine nut sauce, and topped with a perfect, poached egg.

The price for the tasting menu has gone up quite a bit since we were there, (it’s now $185, July 2024), but I would still recommend getting the tasting menu to truly immerse yourself in the full experience from the very capable kitchen at Genesis House.

Genesis House, 40A 10th Ave, New York