Chef
Michael Jong Lim
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- New York City, New York, United States
i. Biography
In New York City, rice, tuna, scallion, citrus and toasted furikake form the working ground of Michael Jong Lim’s kitchens. As Executive Chef of Chikarashi Isso in New York City, he interprets kappo-style cuisine; as Executive Chef & Co-Owner of Chikarashi, he has built a disciplined vocabulary around chef-driven poké bowls with no substitutions, a fusion of Japanese chirashi and Hawaiian poke.
The Estate
The terrain is urban, but the materials are handled with the patience of a small cellar: whole tuna sliced in house, sauces made from scratch, rice seasoned with care, scallions cut uniformly, citrus grated fresh, furikake toasted in-house and made from scratch. At Chikarashi, the bowl is not treated as a blank form for the diner to revise; it arrives as the chef designed it. Lim put the rule plainly: "At Chikarashi we don’t allow customization." The point is not austerity for its own sake, but trust in proportion — fish against rice, sauce against heat, garnish against fat, each element held to its place. That same attention to order carries into Chikarashi Isso, where kappo-style cooking gives him another format for pacing, texture and sequence. The work described across both kitchens is built less on ornament than on exact preparation: slicing, seasoning, grating, toasting, saucing.
In the Cellar
Before these New York City roles, Lim was chef de cuisine at Neta in New York City in 2012. That position places a clear date in his career and connects his path to a kitchen known by name here without needing to dress the line with extra claims. His earlier work included membership on the management team for the opening of Aureole in 2007. He also worked at Aldea and at Masa BarMasa, two named stops that sit in the background of his later focus on Japanese-inflected fish, rice and sauce work. The arc is spare but legible: opening-team discipline, kitchen experience across named venues, a chef de cuisine role in 2012, and then the paired responsibilities of Chikarashi and Chikarashi Isso. In the present chapter, his titles are specific: Executive Chef & Co-Owner at Chikarashi, and Executive Chef at Chikarashi Isso.
The Bottlings
The clearest release from Chikarashi is its chef-driven poké bowl: no substitutions, no diner-built checklist, and a stated fusion of Japanese chirashi and Hawaiian poke. The ingredients are handled in-house where specified — whole tuna sliced by the kitchen, sauces made from scratch, furikake toasted and made from scratch — so the bowl reads as a composed preparation rather than an assembly line. The menu’s details matter because they are the texture of the work: intricate sauces, perfectly seasoned rice, uniformly sliced scallions, freshly grated citrus. These are small cuts and calibrations, but they determine how a bowl eats from first bite to last. There is also a sweet counterpoint: a take on Dole Whip, the pineapple ice cream generally associated with Disney. At Chikarashi Isso, the format stretches into a seasonal tasting menu that includes yellowtail, wagyu beef with wasabi crème, tempura, uni risotto and other dishes. Taken together, the named dishes show two sides of Lim’s practice in New York City: the fixed, chef-designed bowl and the kappo-style sequence. Both depend on control of material, restraint in choice and confidence that the guest will follow the kitchen’s line.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Michael
What style or method defines Michael Jong Lim's work?
Michael Jong Lim’s work is defined by chef-driven poké bowls with no substitutions at Chikarashi and kappo-style cuisine at Chikarashi Isso.
What are Michael Jong Lim's signature releases or dishes?
His named signatures include Chikarashi’s take on Dole Whip and Chikarashi Isso’s seasonal tasting menu with yellowtail, wagyu beef with wasabi crème, tempura and uni risotto.
What is Michael Jong Lim known for making?
He is known for a fusion of Japanese chirashi and Hawaiian poke built with in-house sliced whole tuna, scratch-made sauces, seasoned rice, cut scallions, fresh citrus and house-toasted furikake.
