After over six months of closure, New York’s restaurants now face a make-or-break moment as indoor dining resumed at 25% capacity on 30th September. Following months of preparations, Junghyun and Ellia Park of Korean restaurant Atomix – which debuted on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants extended list in 2019 – welcomed guests back into their dining room earlier this week.
But indoor dining during the coronavirus pandemic comes with pressure on restaurant owners. Housed in the lower level of a Manhattan townhouse, pre-Covid Atomix delivered a tasting menu of Korean fine dining at its 14-seat counter. Ellia Park – the restaurant’s co-owner and manager – reveals how the team has adapted the space and dining experience, creating a new hospitality concept in the process
What is your hospitality philosophy and how has it changed?
In Atomix, there was always an organic, warm atmosphere, created not by our cuisine or our curation of wines, but by the people who graced our space. When guests would come to Atomix, there were often handshakes, hugs, sharing of wine... The joy we derived from these moments and our dedication to them was the foundation of our hospitality and it created the connections between the guests and our team.
Today’s hospitality must not be only about creating and sharing joy and good memories, but also about a deep consideration for the guests’ health and safety. We aren’t simply receiving reservations and orders and routinely fulfilling them; we are figuring out the most comfortable and safe solutions for our guests, including non-contact ordering and distanced-yet-intimate and enjoyable dining. Hospitality in today’s context is considering the guests’ safety and wellbeing, and this includes how we conduct ourselves, from wearing masks to implementing the best practices around sanitation and hygiene, both in and out of service.
The foundation of hospitality is care and compassion. When all our guests can enjoy a meal in comfort and peace, despite the lack of visible or close contact as before, is when we have established hospitality that will allow us to carry through these times.
Two dishes from Atomix's pre-Covid menu: abalone and nuruk; king crab, spinach and miyeok
What can we expect from Atomix’s recalibrated dining experience?
The structure of our tasting menu or the level of detail in each dish is the same as before, but the flow of the experience has changed. In pre-Covid Atomix, guests would have a diverse spatial experience: they would arrive, pass through or enjoy a drink at our bar, descend down the stairs into the skylit lounge, and begin their meal at the intimate chef’s table. Now, we are minimising this flow to safeguard our guests’ health.
While we are offering cocktail service in our dining room, we will not be opening our bar until there is a proper government mandate that allows it. In our dining room, we are ensuring a 6ft distance between each party and are only accepting up to eight guests per seating. We are currently converting our lounge area, which was utilised as a pre-dinner space for our guests to enjoy drinks and snacks, into a separate dining room with two tables where we will offer our tasting menu.
Our cuisine and food have remained true to our inherent style, but we have made many changes – small and large – that will ensure our guests have peace of mind for their safety during their dining experience.
Husband-and-wife team Ellia and Junghyun Park
Why is restaurant hospitality important right now?
As a restaurant owner, these recent months have been filled with concern and often fear, as we were unable to operate for a long time. But in our world today, it is clear that the health and safety of all is the undisputable priority.
In most countries and cities, restaurants were the last businesses allowed to reopen. This highlights the importance of masks, the most basic yet essential tool we have to prevent the spread of the virus. As you must take the mask off to eat or drink, the restaurant is a space where people may be put at risk.
As we reopen our restaurants, the most important responsibility of the restaurant industry is respect, understanding, and support of not only our industry and teams, but also of the guests who have trusted us enough to visit our restaurants despite the current climate. Food and restaurant culture is a large, important part of our lives. In order to safeguard our cuisine, our restaurant’s culture, and of course the health of all our staff and guests, as well as to earn and solidify the public’s trust, the biggest responsibility of any restaurant owner is to ensure that the operations of their restaurant are safe to the highest of standards.
During the closure, the restaurant delivered 'Atomix at Home' kits (image: Ben Hon)
How has the service experience changed?
We have added the option to add on beverage pairings during the reservation process, so that the guest will not have additional touchpoints when they arrive at the restaurant. At the chef’s table, we have ensured a 6ft distance between each party. Within our space, we are therefore only accepting maximum eight guests per sitting at the counter.
Before, we would explain special seasonal ingredients or available supplements to our guests, often with tableside presentation. In our reopening, we have minimised these additional contact points. Our banchan pairing [traditional Korean side dishes that accompany the meal] also changed; previously, our servers would present each one to the guests along with a detailed explanation, but now we have prepared new dishware so that the guest can enjoy the dishes directly.
A signature of Atomix since opening was its menu cards. These cards became a great source of help during this new normal, when we are minimising verbal interactions with the guests. While the menu cards always contained a great amount of information – from the ingredients list to the back story of each dish – we paid even more attention to the storytelling aspect of this season’s cards. We also updated our wine menu to include more detailed descriptions of the wine as well as some visual cues to minimise direct exchanges with the guest, while still providing the same amount of information and detail as we would have before.
A snapshot of a full pre-Covid tasting menu at Atomix, inspired by Korean traditions and techniques
What has it been like to reopen Atomix?
It truly feels like opening a new restaurant. Atomix doesn’t have any outdoor space; therefore, for the last six months, it was an empty space without any visitors. Preparing for the reopening, we deep cleaned every nook and cranny of the restaurant, we revisited and revised every aspect of the service, and we reset our mindset, realigning our passion and intentions, to begin again.
We wrote this in our menu card as well: the last six months of closure were of course difficult times, but rather than the uncertainty shaking us, we were deeply grounded by the daily show of love and support from our community. So many of our guests supported us in so many ways: through donating to our employee fund, ordering delivery on a regular basis, sending us heartfelt messages… Now, it is our turn to return the kindness by preparing for our reopening with earnest, to return the joy and happiness they have gifted us through our cuisine and hospitality.
In designing our reopening menu, our biggest focus was on the health of all. The menu is structured with the wellbeing of our guests as a top priority; our artwork for the menu cards this season is based on Sip-Jang-Saeng, which are 10 traditional Korean symbols of good health and prosperity found in nature. It represents our hope for everyone’s health, wellbeing and longevity during these times.
We hope that the guests who join us at Atomix this season will gain positive, healthy energy in both body and heart from their meal with us. We hope that we can become a source of positive energy to help them see the current challenges through, together.
Header: Atomix's chef's counter (image: Evan Sung) and Ellia Park
‘50/50 is the new 50’ is a content series created by 50 Best and supported by S.Pellegrino with the shared aim of promoting equality, inclusivity and balance in the hospitality sector and beyond.
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