A month ago, Eleven Madison Park, a restaurant known as "one of the best restaurants in the world," was always full of high-end guests. Even if the per capita consumption was more than $300, it was still challenging to reserve a seat. Now, it is not expected that, at the request of founder and chef Daniel Humm, this Michelin-starred restaurant takes the initiative to transform itself into a Soup Kitchen and start a lunch box that costs six bucks for all medical team and impoverished people. These color-matched meals are well-packed and will be delivered to the first-line medical staff in Manhattan and some impoverished citizens at the fastest speed in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic.

the medical staff received their meals, pic by Eleven Madison Park's Instagram

"Although Eleven Madison Park is the ruler of high-end catering in New York, under the pandemic, it is still necessary to shut down according to the regulations. That is, we began to think about what we can do for the frontline medical staff", said Humm, "After discussing with the former chef of the restaurant, Matt Jozwiak, the current head of the charitable non-profit organization, we found that we can use Eleven Madison Park's open and bright central kitchen with a full range of cooking equipment, and quality supply of chefs, we can deliver the meals to medical staffs. "

in Eleven Madison Park's kitchen, staffs are preparing the meal boxes

On April 8, Daniel Humm recalled 12 restaurant chefs who were temporarily suspended from work to form a special meal preparation team. From the dawn of the day, they prepared meals based on the donated ingredients and remaining inventory.
Daniel Humm will join them to prepare meals. Although his chopper is no longer processing the top ingredients such as sea urchin and foie gras, the food he made has a more important meaning.

the meal boxes

On only one day, the chef of Eleven Madison Park prepared 1,000 "Michelin Lunch Boxes" and expected to increase the daily supply to 3,000.

"The price of these lunch boxes is only $5. Considering artificial water and electricity, the entire restaurant has no profit at all. But the most rewarding thing for them is that medical staff no longer have to worry about meals," said Humm.  

pic by CNN

Throughout the city of New York, the restaurant that cooks for the medical and vulnerable groups in the community is far more than the Eleven Madison Park family.

Thank you notes on the meal boxes

For example, Little Tong Noodle Shop in East Village, with Rethink's $20,000 funding, has prepared 300 signature noodles every day at a low cost or even free of charge to people who need food.

Taiwan Tea Restaurant 886, in cooperation with Ho Foods and Raku, has sent 4095 lunches to dozens of nearby hospitals;
Mimi Cheng's Dumplings decided not to provide takeaway services, and only focused on delivering food for medical staff, and the restaurant raised money from Gofundme, which will all be used as a food fund. At present, they have sent 1,600 Asian-style meals from their medical staff in the East Village and Nolita District.

Along with the delivery, there were also restaurant staff and customers who gathered thousands of words and wrote a thank-you letter to the medical staff.

Soho's new Chinese restaurant, Pinch Chinese, also sent steaming meals to the intensive care unit of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, which carries heavy medical tasks.

The Junzi canteen, familiar to Manhattan students and white-collar workers, also launched a fundraising event called Share A Meal, which sent Chinese food to many hospitals, including New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

According to Eater New York statistics, covering Chinese, Japanese, gourmet, Italian, and other cuisines, nearly 40 restaurants and institutions have launched fundraising activities for medical staff. All donations are used to provide free food.