Lysée is a pastry boutique that truly brings out the best of the art of patisserie in a wonderfully contemporary way. The brainchild of pastry chef Eunji Lee, Lysée combines the chef’s Korean heritage, French pastry training and New York City luxury. The name Lysée is a play on musée, and it definitely lives up to its name. If the shop is a museum, the pastries are the art. Every single one is crafted with meticulous finesse, intricate designs matched with delicate flavors, worthy of being exalted as art.

The modern and minimalist space is divided into two levels, a small dine-in cafe at the lower level, and a pastry gallery and takeaway cafe upstairs. The upstairs gallery has the full catalogue of pastries on display for visitors to marvel, with signs evoking art museum labels. In the NYC food scene, seeing the iconic Corn or namesake Lysée pastry is like seeing a famous work of art. Except better, because you can buy one and eat it. It is well worth stopping by the gallery if you’re in the neighborhood, but also very worth planning a day around a cafe reservation to splurge on the tasting menu.