One of the world's best restaurants and celebrity favorite Eleven Madison Park - which has three Michelin stars - may not reopen after the pandemic

  • Chef owner Daniel Humm said a 'question mark' hangs over the joint's future
  • He said it 'will take millions of dollars' to reopen and 'needs to make sense'
  • Eleven Madison Park is a favorite with celebrities and boasts three Michelin stars; it earned the No 1 spot on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list in 2017
  • In January Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik celebrated the singer's 27th birthday there 
  • Its kitchen is currently being used make 3,000 meals a day to feed the hungry

By Lauren Fruen For Dailymail.com

Published: | Updated:

One of the world's best restaurants, Eleven Madison Park, may not reopen after the pandemic, its chef owner has admitted. 

Daniel Humm said a 'question mark' hangs over the future of his three Michelin starred joint, telling Bloomberg reopening 'will take millions of dollars'. 

He added: 'You have to bring back staff. I work with fancy equipment in a big space. It needs to make sense.'

Eleven Madison Park is a favorite with celebrities and in 2017 earned the No 1 spot on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list. As recently as January Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik celebrated the singer's 27th birthday  there. 

Announcing their closure at the outbreak of the pandemic, the restaurant had said in a statement: 'In this unprecedented crisis, the health and well-being of our staff and our guests is of primary importance; in keeping with NYC and NY State requirements, Eleven Madison Park will be closed beginning Monday, March 16.

'We hope to open our doors soon when all of this has passed, and look forward to seeing you then.'

One of the world's best restaurants and celebrity favorite Eleven Madison Park, pictured - which has three Michelin stars - may not reopen after the pandemic

One of the world's best restaurants and celebrity favorite Eleven Madison Park, pictured - which has three Michelin stars - may not reopen after the pandemic

Daniel Humm said a 'question mark' hangs over the future of his three Michelin starred joint, telling Bloomberg reopening 'will take millions of dollars'

Daniel Humm said a 'question mark' hangs over the future of his three Michelin starred joint, telling Bloomberg reopening 'will take millions of dollars'

Humm said he had considered a delivery service but decided he 'didn’t feel' that 'the world needed Eleven Madison Park food in fancy boxes'. 

Other top Manhattan restaurants, including Carbone and Peter Luger, had opted to offer take out. The latter has now closed indefinitely. 

Humm said: 'I knew it wouldn’t make so much money. Anyway, I didn’t want people to be exposed; delivery isn’t what we do.

'At EMP, we’re in a bubble sometimes, but we were literally full, up until the end.' 

Since then Humm, who moved to the US from Switzerland in 2003, has used the kitchen at EMP to make 3,000 meals a day to feed the hungry in NYC. 

Zayn Malik (L) and Gigi Hadid are seen outside Eleven Madison Park on January 12, 2020

Zayn Malik (L) and Gigi Hadid are seen outside Eleven Madison Park on January 12, 2020

Humm's fine-dining and hospitality empire, which he cobbled together with his long-time business partner and friend Will Guidara, also includes NoMad New York, NoMad Los Angeles and Made Nice. 

He added: 'Restaurants are going to need to charge more money. It will be slow, and there won’t be jobs for everybody. But I am hopeful we will come back.

'It will also be an opportunity to continue to feed people who don’t have anything. I don’t need to only feed the 1 per cent anymore.'  

In July last year a source told Page Six that Steve Jobs' widow Laurene Powell Jobs, 55, had been on dates with Humm. 

The couple had been seen dining at Humm's flagship three Michelin-starred restaurant in Midtown Manhattan.  

Zayn MalikGigi Hadid

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