A Ten-Course Tasting Where Dessert Is the Whole Point

"The question of what to eat before dessert is not, usually, top of my mind. You eat a meal before dessert; you eat dessert after a meal-it's not one of life's persistent mysteries. But what do you eat before arriving at a dessert-focussed restaurant to experience a three-hour, ten-course tasting of almost entirely sweets? I considered a sad little salad at home, or a street-cart hot dog; in the end, I chugged half a protein shake and set out for Flatiron, where I had a reservation to experience the Journey with Lysée."

"If you have a sweet tooth and you live within view of the Empire State Building, you've probably heard of Lysée, the chef Eunji Lee's brilliant pâtisserie on Twenty-first Street, and you've more than likely had one of her inspired creations, such as her extravagantly-and justly-famous corn mousse cake, which is shaped and tinted to look like a plump ear of corn. For four years, since its opening in 2022, Lysée has been mostly a daytime shop."

"You can enter the serene gallerylike space to pick up a box of pastries to go, or book a table in the lower-level seating area, where you can linger over a seasonal fruit tart and a coffee. (The menu is mostly à la carte, but real sugar-heads know that booking the prix-fixe "signature reservation," which comes with four bakery items, is the only way to guarantee receipt of a corn cake and one of Lee's sticky-flaky kouign amanns, both of which tend to sell out early in the day upstairs.)"

"The Journey, which Lee debuted earlier this year, on Thursday evenings only, is something of a return to form for the chef. Before opening her bakery, she worked in high-end restaurants, including Alain Ducasse's gilded Le Meurice, in Paris, where she trained under the superstar pastry chef Cédric Grolet; in New Yo"

Lysée, a small Manhattan pâtisserie by Eunji Lee, serves sweets as appetizers, entrées, and everything else. A weekly Thursday-evening experience called “The Journey” offers a three-hour, ten-course tasting focused almost entirely on sweets. The problem of what to eat beforehand becomes less important when the meal itself is dessert-centered. Lysée is known for creations such as a corn mousse cake shaped like an ear of corn and sticky-flaky kouign amanns. The shop has mostly been daytime, with options for pastries to go or a lower-level seating area for items like seasonal fruit tart and coffee. A prix-fixe “signature reservation” helps guarantee access to sold-out specialties.

Read at The New Yorker