Murray Hill just got a whole lot more interesting at the dinner table. On May 5, chef Hasung Lee quietly opened Oyatte at 125 East 39th Street — his first solo restaurant, and one of the most thoughtfully conceived fine-dining debuts Manhattan has seen this spring. If you live or work in the neighborhood, or you’re the kind of New Yorker who tracks where the city’s best chefs land next, this one is worth your attention.

Who Is Chef Hasung Lee?

Lee’s résumé reads like a tour of the world’s most obsessive kitchens. He started at Gramercy Tavern in 2014, spent time at the three-Michelin-starred Geranium in Copenhagen, served as Chef de Cuisine at Atomix (helping it earn two Michelin stars), and put in two years as Sous Chef at The French Laundry under Thomas Keller. Earlier this year, international attention found him when he competed as “Culinary Monster” on Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars, finishing runner-up and introducing his refined style to a global audience. Oyatte is what comes next.

What to Expect at Oyatte

The restaurant is built around a singular commitment: almost everything on the plate comes from or through Crown Daisy Farm in upstate New York, run by Brett Ellis, who was previously head farmer at The French Laundry. The result is an eight-course tasting menu where fermentation and preservation techniques appear in nearly every dish.

The dining experience itself is physically structured around the menu’s progression. You begin on the ground floor — designed to feel like an upstate farmhouse cottage, with salvaged wood paneling sourced directly from Crown Daisy Farm — for vegetable-forward canapés. Midway through the meal, you’re led upstairs to two intimate dining rooms with herringbone floors and mid-century Portuguese furniture, where the menu shifts into seafood and meat courses.

Spring highlights include a charred scallop in sweet mirin with fishcake-wrapped savoy cabbage, a poached Nova Scotia halibut with Bangs Island mussels and smoked potato, and a choice of roasted lamb saddle or smoked quail from Wolfe Ranch in Sonoma. Desserts lean fruit-forward — preserved Cara Cara orange with marshmallow ice cream, mugwort flan with blackberry chutney, and a closing plate of mignardises.

The tasting menu is priced at $210 per person, with a wine pairing at $170 and a reserve pairing at $450. General Manager Cécile Chastanet, who has worked with Alain Ducasse and the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, oversees the beverage program, which leans toward European producers with a focused Champagne grower selection.

The Design Detail That Sets the Tone

Running between the two floors is a 13-foot cascading installation made of clear quartz by Korean artist Bahk Seon Ghi — visible from both levels. It’s a quietly remarkable piece of art in a city where most restaurants treat their walls as an afterthought. At Oyatte, the design choices feel like an extension of the cooking philosophy: nothing here is accidental.

How to Get a Table

Oyatte is open Tuesday through Sunday, with first seating at 5:30 PM and final seating at 9:00 PM. Reservations are available via SevenRooms at oyattenyc.com. Given the neighborhood buzz and Lee’s profile, booking ahead is strongly recommended — this is not a walk-in kind of place.

Murray Hill has historically been known more for its happy hour bars and cheap Indian food on Curry Hill than for destination dining. Oyatte changes that conversation. It’s the kind of opening that gives a neighborhood a new identity — and for residents tired of explaining where they live to skeptical Brooklynites, that’s genuinely good news.

For more on what’s happening across Manhattan’s dining scene, see our NYC Restaurant Openings & Closings roundup from May 19 and our Manhattan Weekend Preview.

What You Need to Know

• Where: Oyatte, 125 East 39th Street, Murray Hill, Manhattan
• Open: Tuesday–Sunday, seatings from 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM
• Price: $210 tasting menu; $170 wine pairing; $450 reserve pairing
• Chef: Hasung Lee — alumnus of The French Laundry, Atomix, Geranium, and Gramercy Tavern
• The concept: Eight-course farm-driven tasting menu built around a single upstate New York farm (Crown Daisy Farm)
• Reservations: Via SevenRooms at oyattenyc.com — book in advance
• Bonus: The two-floor dining experience is a journey in itself — you move between rooms as the courses progress

Source: Murray Hill Neighborhood Association, verified May 2026.