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One of America’s Best New Restaurants Joins Shoreditch Favourite for Summer Pop-Up

Junghyun Park, who runs Atomix with Ellia Park, will cook at Michelin-starred Lyle’s 30 — 31 July

by James Hansen Updated
Atomix Michelin star restaurant in New York will start a London restaurant pop-up at Lyles in Shoreditch in July
The menu tasting cards at Atomix are a key feature of the dining experience
Louise Palmberg/Eater NY

Atomix, one of New York City and America’s best new restaurants and recently awarded a Michelin star for its kaiseki-inspired approach to Korean dining, will join Shoreditch favourite Lyle’s for a two-night restaurant residency on 30 — 31 July, as part of Lyle’s ‘Guest Series’ programme. Chef Junghyun Park will join the Lyle’s team for a £69 set menu.

Atomix is run by Ellia Park and Junghyun Park, and has captured the imagination of the New York City restaurant scene with its deeply personal, highly detailed model of new fine dining that is never less than playful or elegant. Eater NY critic Ryan Sutton said the duo are in the business of “transcending borders and defying trends,” praising their highly detailed menu cards for bolstering and reinforcing the dining experience unobtrusively, rather than coming off too strong; like the New York Times critic Pete Wells, he awarded the restaurant three out of a possible four stars. Sutton writes:

Ellia Park, who runs Atomix with her partner, chef Junghyun Park, places a card in front of me. On the front is a depiction of fish scales in abstract form. On the opposite side is a list of ingredients and small essay. I ignore it.

[...]

But out of curiosity, I check the card, wondering what type of diesel-powered flavor motor was powering the sauce. Traditional dried anchovy. And what was that wonderfully thick texture from? Modernist flourishes like xanthan gum and agar agar, per a list of ingredients as long as that of a Snickers bar. And a month after the meal, I read that little essay, about how the sauce owes its complexity to an aged soy called jinjang — that’s been fermented for five years. So what was apparently just another delicious dish is actually, the diner understands, something more meaningful and contextual, a blending of the new and the old.

The Parks also run Atoboy, their first restaurant, which they have described as “a casual restaurant to reach out to everyone,” a forerunner to Atomix with its own identity. Tickets for the Lyle’s residency go on general sale Friday 19 July, at 4.p.m.

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