Manhattan’s new Momofuku to focus on Caribbean cuisine

Manhattan is to get a new Momofuku restaurant headed by Paul Carmichael (pictured), the company’s Australia-based chef, who returns to New York City in June. The new restaurant will occupy the vacant site of David Chang's Momofuku Ko in the East Village.

Carmichael is due to take over the New York Momofuku restaurant initially but will later work in culinary development across the Momofuku group. The restaurant site has operated as a test kitchen since Chang closed Momofuku Ko in November 2023.

“There’s only two reasons to open a new restaurant. One is having a really great concept. The other, which is much rarer, is a talent like Paul that you can build around,” Momofuku CEO Marguerite Zabar Mariscal told The New York Times.

Reports state that Carmichael intends the new Momofuku restaurant to be focused on Caribbean cuisine, but details are not forthcoming, only that it will be rooted in something from the West Indies. The chef had great success cooking Caribbean cuisine at Momofuku Seiobo in Sydney, Australia, to popular and critical acclaim.

Indeed, Carmichael has a deep knowledge and passion for Caribbean cuisine, since attending the Culinary Institute of America, where he first began to research African culinary history; tracing the history of dishes and flavors, how they arrived in the Caribbean, and how they merged with other cultures and evolved through the work of chefs over time.

The Momofuku group will also open a new restaurant in Los Angeles in 2025, Eater reports.