Eleven Madison Park

Chef Daniel Humm is a Swiss chef who is most well known for the restaurant Eleven Madison Park. I had visited this restaurant in the mid 2010s, when it served proteins such as duck, clams, and fish on their tasting menus. In 2021, the restaurant converted from an omnivore tasting into a plant-based restaurant, a first of its kind to also receive 3 Michelin Stars for it as well. This was extremely controversial because they were charging high prices for a sole plant-based meal. In October 2025, the restaurant pivoted from a plant-based only menu and offered seafood and animal protein choices for a few of its courses. This shift encouraged me to try this restaurant again to see how it’s evolved. We were able to make a reservation for 2 for 5:30 PM on a Monday evening without any issues in advance.

Ambiance & Service

The restaurant’s ambiance is dimly lit, and with its high ceilings, it felt extravagant and calm. When we arrived initially, it was very quiet, and the noise levels were acceptable. However as the night went on and larger tables came in, the noise level increased dramatically. I would not say it’s the best environment for an intimate night out as you can hear a bit of your other table’s conversations at some points.

The service was interesting and very harmonious. As I was observing the staff walking around, you can tell they were trained to walk in unison or as if they are on a guided train track. The wait staff walked in circles together scanning to remove and/or replace dishes and utensils. Unlike other restaurants I’ve been to, the sommelier didn’t always explain much about the wines they provided during the wine tasting. You do get a little bit of a pretentious atmosphere, but that did not bother us that much.

For the bill because it went through Resy, it did not account for tips, so you should make sure to remember to add tip based on both the Resy reservation and whatever you ordered during dining service.

Food

The food was $365 per person, with wine pairing for $195. Our meal lasted just shy of 2.5 hours.

The Apple Blossom ($18) non-alcoholic cocktail came with Everleaf Mountain, Seedlip Notas de Agave, Blue Malva, dragonfruit, aquafaba (water from legumes), and lemon. This was super tasty and not too sweet. It’s interesting how the price of a well-made non-alcoholic cocktail is very close to an alcoholic cocktail.

For the first pairing, they gave the Zuccardi, Chardonnay, Cuvee Especial Blanc de Blancs, Tupungato from Uco Valley, Mendoza, Argentina. This was a sparkling wine with a nice sweet characteristic to it.

The Roasted Onion Broth was meant to be a savory palette cleanser with flavors of leek, ginger, garlic, and lemongrass, steeped in toasted brown rice, Thai chili wine, and butter. This onion broth was definitely salty but very flavorful with a lot of balanced and complementary flavors.

The Laminated Bread came with Onion Butter. The bread is woven with caramelized onions, and its texture is similar to a croissant. The onion butter was slightly salted as expected with how onion flavored ingredients are generally characterized.

The Leek came as a marinated salad with green chili and coriander. The leeks were crispy and fresh, and the dressing definitely had some familiar flavor profiles to something I’ve had before.

There was also a Steamed Collard Green Dumpling with bamboo, mushrooms, pickled shallots, and caramelized onions. When I ate this, I forgot that there was no meat in this. It had this dense texture filled with things, and it was very aromatic. There was a soy sauce like broth that it sat in.

For the second wine pairing, this was the Weingut am Stein, Silvaner, Wurzburg Stein from Franken, Germany 2023. This was a surprisingly very mild yet deliciously easy-to-drink white wine. I have not had silvaner grapes before, and it reminded me of a very mild chardonnay.

The Radish in Variations came with apple, horseradish, daikon sauce, and yuzu vinaigrette. The radish came from their farms up north. The radish was pretty basic, and the salad was overall fairly basic in flavors. The horseradish was very mild.

The Scallop came with golden beet and segments of grapefruit. The scallop was decent, but the overall flavor composition in this was not very memorable. The scallop’s sweetness could not shine with some of these ingredients, so if anything, it only provided a contrasting texture quality.

The Plum ($27) cocktail came with French vodka, Quebranta pisco, Salers aperitif, elderflower, umeboshi, and lemon. My partner enjoyed this because they like pisco and vodka.

For the third wine pairing, this was the Quintodecimo, Greco, Giallo d’Arles, Tufo from Campania, Italy 2024. This wine was a very wholesome white with notes of peach, apricot, quince, and almond. I do not think this would be a sipping wine, especially since it’s known for having the most ‘red’ of white wines.

The Soba came with white truffles from Piedmont, Italy and bok choy. Underneath the top was 100% buckwheat soba noodles. When the dish came, the lid was removed, and the staff shaved the white truffles on top of the noodles. Then they place the lid back on, and ask that you wait 30 seconds to let the truffle wilt. The white truffles were not particularly strong in smells or in taste. The soba noodles were cooked al dente, and the broth was very umami as a whole. Because the soba broth was so savory and flavorful, the Quintodecimo wine was a good contrast to it.

For the fourth wine pairing, this was Pursued by Bear, Chardonnay, Bear Cub White Wine from Columbia Valley, Washington 2024. This chardonnay was balanced, but also creamy and buttery.

The Lobster came butter-poached with squash and kale. They poured a lobster bisque in the center. The bisque was very potent of lobster flavors, and the lobster meat was pretty tender though not the best I’ve had. Overall, I felt this dish was just OK compared to other restaurants like Le Bernardin’s Lobster course.

The Red Kuri Squash came confit with lemongrass and Thai chili. The Thai chili jam was sandwiched in between. They poured a coconut lemongrass curry sauce. This was basically mushy squash flavors and texture with Thai flavors. I think the ingredients were good, but the flavors seem accessible and familiar.

For the fifth wine pairing, this was the Cume do Avia, Caiño Longo-Souson, Colleita 10, Ribeiro from Galicia, Spain 2022. This very delicious light red wine has very fruit forward flavors. The instant the wine hits your tongue, it was very sharp with an warm, elegant ruby notes. This is also a very good sipping red wine that I would be interested in.

The Potato came smoked with land caviar and alyssum bloom. There was a hasselback-styled potato with pomme puree. the potatoes themselves have been slightly fried and then smoked in cherry wood. The hasselback style is notable by the thin slits, and there is some garlic aioli between each slit. Along with this, they served land caviar, which is the seed of the Japanese summer cypress tree. The white cream is seaweed cream, whose base is made from lentil.

The overall direction of this course was to be vegan based, and it was surprisingly pretty good. The downside was that the land caviar tasted nothing like normal caviar, so you don’t really get the nice umami sensations when you bite into it. If anything, it tasted like rubbery bumps that had no liquids in it. The potato was cooked nicely, though it was oversalted.

For the sixth wine pairing, this was the Kappa Winery, Xinomavro, Kokkymelo, Imathia from Macedonia, Greece 2022. This is often compared to Nebbiolo wines because it’s full body with a lot of plump red fruits and some deep tannins. I felt like there were some notes of licorice in there that would make it a great complement to duck. It’s definitely not my favorite red wine, but I’ve read that Eleven Madison Park is a huge buyer for this.

The Maitake Mushroom came grilled with seitan and spinach. The mushrooms were covered in a maple glaze and dusted with thyme and juniper pine. It was served alongside a shiso sauce, some New Zealand spinach, and a mushroom puree. The mushroom puree was very mushroom forward, so I gave that to my partner in its entirety. The maitake itself was not bad. It was like eating thinly sliced chicken hearts, without the blood flavors. You get a bit of that crunchiness and earthiness. The glaze gave it a nice crust.

The Honey-Lavender Duck came with daikon and apple. The duck was dry-aged for 14 days and glazed with honey, lavender, and sichuan peppercorns. It’s accompanied by an apple jam topped with daikon ribbons and duck jus. The skin was very crispy, and the meat was very dense like eating roast duck breast. If you’re not on a diet and are an omnivore, this is probably the better item to get if you’re limited to just one choice. The duck was cooked beautifully, and we were comparing it to the duck at Ariete in Miami. This duck was a different style and seemed larger, but it was also very flavorful. I think I still prefer the duck at Ariete though.

For the dessert wine, this was the Jorge Ordonez, Moscatel, No2 Victoria, Malaga from Andalusia, Spain 2024. This Muscat was deliciously ripe and juicy, with plenty of peach and orange notes to the taste and smell. It’s very easy to drink, and it works great with the desserts we had this night.

The Coconut came frozen inside a real coconut shell. It had toasted coconut ice cream with sticky rice. There is a bit of lemon flavored granita on top to give it that citrus zest to it. The coconut ice cream was very refreshing and good. It seemed this dessert had some of that Thai influence added to it.

The Passionfruit Donut served hot beignet-style filled with passionfruit jam and sprinkled with hibiscus sugar. The donuts were pretty good, though the hibiscus sugar was not noticeable. If you love passionfruit, this was very fruit forward.

The Sesame was a dark sesame chocolate pretzel. The pretzel wasn’t crunchy at all, and it chewed more like a soft cookie.

This is their housemade Vermouth with house-made wine and brandy.

The housemade Granola came with 2 variants: one being citrus and cranberry and the other being birthday cake variety of carrot cake. We tried these at home, and they were very tasty.

Overall Impression

Eleven Madison Park, unfortunately rides on its name more than its food. The honey-lavender duck was good, but it did not hit the bar compared to some other places I’ve been to. The strive for sustainability is worthy of recognition, but if I were to base it solely on the taste, I do not think this restaurant really sticks to mind well. When it comes to their seafood courses, Le Bernardin does it much better.

With EMP, some of the seasoning was a bit off on some courses, and their attempt at introducing some Asian (read: Thai and Japanese) flavors are worth mentioning. Overall, I found the food to be decent at best, especially compared to other restaurants. If you are looking for a celebratory night out, you cannot really go wrong with picking Eleven Madison Park. However if you’re looking for some stellar food tastes at the star categories, I’d level set your expectations coming here if you’ve been to many 2 to 3-star Michelin restaurants already.

Yelp & Google Jabs

P.S., frozen coconut is not a winter dessert.

Little did this Elitist realize that you can eat ice cream in the winter time, let alone frozen coconut ice cream. In fact, you can eat ice cream any time.

And finally, we could have gone anywhere for our Anniversary. The fact that they acknowledged it, and were excited for us, but couldn’t offer us a glass of complimentary champagne ?!?! That was bad form, and needs to be addressed. I saw a big ice bucket in the dining room with at least 4 opened bottles of bubbly.

Unfortunately most high-end restaurants will not serve you complimentary champagne. Their champagne isn’t exactly cheap, and they already have narrow margins.

What happened?? I’ve dined her 3-4 times and always blown away. While the food was good it was seriously lacking. I can’t place my finger on it but just seemed a bit thrown together. Almost like the person planning the menu is burned out? I opted for plant based so cannot speak to the new re offering of meat. Will I return? absolutely. I’ve been a long time fan of Daniel Humm. Hoping for better next time.

Maybe the plant-trend for this restaurant has overstayed.

The fifth course was butter poached lobster, served with kale, squash and a lobster reduction. The lobster was cooked nicely yet once again the only flavor of this dish was lobster.

For this Elitist, if any lobster dish did not have prominent lobster flavors, I’d be pretty upset. But yes, the lobster dish is fairly one-dimensional.

Revisions

1. Dec 29, 2025 - Initial revision.