Genesis House

We saw this restaurant’s opening relatively recently on an NYC openings blog. I wasn’t sure what exactly was the “Genesis House” or what “curated by Onjium” meant, but I figure post pandemic this was an excellent opportunity to make a reservation for something new to please my gourmand syndrome. The Genesis house is kind of interesting. The first floor is a showroom of Genesis vehicles where you can sit in the cars and talk to the different reps. The cars look nice, but this show room felt a little out of place for me. On the second floor is the library and restaurant, and on the lower level is an open meeting area. I learned that Onjium is a 1 Michelin Star out in Seoul. They curated the menu here with both modern and Korean techniques in iconic Korean recipes.

We made a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Sunday, so the crowds weren’t abundant considering the weather was also snowy and windy as well.

Ambiance

When you walk up the stairs, you will see the kitchen to the right and the host check-in to the left. The host will walk you around the short walls, and seat you at one of the tables. The surroundings felt very modern as if you were in a modern sleek Japanese or Korean restaurant.

There are tall glass windows that overlook the Hudson river. It’s almost directly across the street from the Little Island. I can imagine the views being very beautiful and astounding if it was lit under the sun. When we went, it was lightly snowing with some street lights lighting up the surrounding area. It was quite serene.

The service was very balanced for us. They always filled our waters, and the courses were spaced out appropriately. When you pay, they will bring the card reader to your table.

Food

We ordered the tasting menu which came with 7 courses for $150 per person.

The welcome drink tonic consists of tonic, honey, and amijo. This was really good and interesting in that it was sweet, tart, bubbly, and bold. I’m not really sure what amijo is, but the overall flavor of this little amuse bouche reminded me of a fizzy, refreshing berry like drink.

Both cocktails are soju based and were $18 a piece. Arguably, that runs on the pricey side.

The Ritual Spirit (left) came with won mae plum liqueur, crème de Mûre, and wild pear infused damsoul soju. The the pear and plum flavors were very prominent and blended well together.

The Sly Confessor (right) came with Genesis House “whiskey”, foxglove root, sulseam mir 40, balyho black, and sweet potato syrup. This was a play on an old fashioned but also being soju based. There was a noticeable pear like flavor. It reminded me of a very smooth old fashioned, and the alcohol itself was not as bold as whiskey. As you drink, you get a whiff of the orange peel which is very complementary to the taste of this.

The assorted bugak & po’s came with traditional Korean deep fried chips and jerky. At the far left is the yuk po which is beef jerky. Imagine very thinly sliced small strands of beef with a light sweet dried marinade. It reminded me a bit of a dried variant of Korean galbi sauce. The far right is deep fried chips which reminded me a bit of the chips that comes with peking duck. And at the front is (I think) seasoned prawn jerky. The texture on this was quite interesting in that it had that dried chewy texture with a lot of sea flavors coming out of it. All three were pretty good.

The suranchae came with chilled abalone, diver scallop, snow crab, octopus, poached egg, thin pear slices, and pine nut sauce. This was hands down very delicious. The pine nut cream was cold but had this citrusy nutty flavor to it that matched well with the seafood. The seafood especially the snow crab was very fresh and abundant of its respective meat flavors. The poached egg was beautifully cooked, albeit cold, and the yoke blended well with everything. It was truly unique and refreshing. This is a must order if this is not on the tasting menu.

The chamchi muchim came with big eye tuna, seasoned fish roe, and cilantro. The tuna was delicious and very tender and fresh. It was marinated with Korean chili seasoning, similar to what might go into soon tofu. For those that dislike cilantro, this was pretty mild and actually complemented the seasoning quite well. The cilantro counters the salty seasoning with some leaf flavors.

The prawns were not mentioned in the menu but consisted of raw Santa Barbara spot prawns, soy, garlic, gochu, ginger, sugar, syrup, and chestnut. If you are familiar with Korean seasoning, you can imagine the fresh spot prawns’ sweetness blending well with these flavors.

The seolyamyaeokjeok came with marinated and grilled wagyu sirloin, carrots, sunchokes, and chestnut. The wagyu sirloin was super tender, flavorful, and delectable. It had notes of char from very familiar Korean BBQ charcoal flavors. The tender side vegetables complemented the sirloin with a nice earthiness.

With the sirloin steak above, they also gave a side of perilla leaves and grated Korean pears. They ask you to wrap the sirloin in this. If you have ever had Korean pear slices, you would know that it’s very juicy and sweet. Believe it or not, this actually was a very delicious complement. The saltiness of the steak, the sweetness of the pears, and the unique flavor of the perilla leaves give this a very pleasant combination of flavors that are very refreshing and playful.

The namul dubu bap came with house made tofu, queens gold rice, local greens, and seasoned soy. On top of the rice sits a block of their homemade tofu. In the middle is the seasoned soy. They ask you to sample a little bit to see how it tastes then pour it over the rice and mix. And on the right is a soup made with mushrooms. The firm tofu was very tasty. The seasoned soy was very salty by itself, but when mixed with the rice and tofu it was really good. I had a sip of the mushroom soup, and I’m sure mushroom lovers would appreciate this. In the center above, there are 2 banchan side dishes: anchovies and sunroot. The anchovies were dry and very similar to what you would see at Korean restaurants. The sunroot was glazed with some sort of sweet sauce and were crispy.

The nappa kimchi was the only kimchi banchan that was served. I was expecting this to have stronger fermentation flavors (read: a little more sour), but it was rather mild. It’s not the best kimchi I’ve had, but it was pretty good.

The yuzu palette cleanser came with yuzu curry sorbet and jelly. There were strong hints of yuzu and curry throughout. This was meant to be a precursor to the dessert.

The ssanghwa pyeon came with pine nut custard and ssanghwa tea sauce. This was very similar to a flan except there’s no syrup on top. The ssanghwa tea sauce was pretty mild with a light tea flavor to it. It was the perfect amount of sweet.

The cookies came with black sesame (left) and honey ginger (right). The black sesame was not sweet at all, but it was very concentrated. If you’re a fan of black sesame regardless if it’s laced with sugar, you will like this because it is a lot of black sesame flavors and textures. The honey ginger was definitely more sweet than the black sesame. This had several layers to it almost like a pastry type of cookie.

Final Verdict

The Genesis House curated by Onjium was very delicious, and the service was outstanding. The flavors here are definitely a homage to Korean flavors in modern interpretations of Korean dishes. It’s a little on the pricey side, but no where as pricey as other fine dining Korean restaurants in the city. Because this restaurant is still trying to establish its reputation, right now would be a good time to try to grab a reservation if it’s still available. I could see this restaurant becoming very popular in the not so distant future.

Yelp Jabs

Did not live up to its hype. I expected much better food for the price of each dish. Plating was also subpar. Wagyu was cold.

I must’ve missed the memo on hype. I don’t recall any hype really about this. Reservations were pretty easy to get. The plating was definitely not your typical pretty.

Was very excited to try a Michelin restaurant from Korea for my b-day… but if you want good Korean food, this just isn’t the place at this price point. You are paying for the good service and the ambience rather than the food itself.

This Yelper made a huge mistake here. They set expectations that any Korean food is Korean food. This also isn’t a Michelin restaurant from Korea. This restaurant has its dishes curated by a Michelin restaurant from Korea. You don’t go to these types of higher end restaurants for good Korean food. That’s simply not what it’s about. If you want good Korean food, it’s true that you can go to a lot of other restaurants for less price. However if you want a different take on Korean with a twist of high quality ingredients and creativity in NYC, then that is what you would come here for.