No, this isn’t an optical illusion or AI — NYC has its first-ever 2D dining experience that feels like eating inside a sketchbook
It’s an optical illusion you can eat in.
With NYC restaurants increasingly going high-tech, one enterprising omakase restaurant is reverting back to the drawing board — by allowing customers to “dine in 2D.”
Up is down and black is white at Shirokuro, the Big Apple’s first full-service “two-dimensional” restaurant in the East Village, which evokes eating inside a pop-up graphic novel.
And they don’t need tech to achieve it. The interior of the restaurant — its name means “black and white” in Japanese — is meticulously hand-illustrated with various patterns, including pinwheel-like flourishes on the floor, stylized wall portraits and shelf, seat and table depictions drawn to look 3D.
Conversely, the actual seats and tables are white with black trim, making it hard to tell where the 2D and 3D worlds collide — if customers aren’t careful, they’ll walk into a chair.
Designers even placed specially crafted paper flowers inside real vases to enhance the effect.
“[Shirokuro is] where you are able to immerse yourself in the art,” co-owner James Lim, 49, told The Post.
This illusion was made possible by art director Mirim Yoo, a veteran of the luxury makeup industry who reportedly took three months to draw the space into existence, as demonstrated in multiple videos on Shirokuro’s TikTok account.
Yoo, who brokers real estate part time with Compass, said she wanted to make patrons feel like they “fell into a sketchbook.”
Lim opened Shirokuro in March with co-founder Alex Kim, both originally inspired by a trip to Asia.
“When I was in Korea 10 years ago, it was super popular,” said the restaurateur, who also helmed the Korean restaurant and lounge Noflex in NYC’s Koreatown. “I saw that first concept and I was like, ‘We need something like that in New York City.'”
The 2D craze is said to have originated in Seoul in 2017 at the now-shuttered Café Yeonnam-dong 239-20 — whereupon the phenomenon took Asia by storm.
Then, like every Far East cultural fad from Pokémon to K-pop, this “sketchy” trend moved West with restaurants opening in Paris, Dallas, Chicago and countless other cities, each with differing motifs.
“Trends from Asia take a while to get here,” Lim said.
Of course, it took months to open since everything is hand-sketched, but Lim said they opted for custom illustrations for a “personal touch.”
“We didn’t want it to be like wallpaper,” he said. “We wanted to have the artist’s hands in every aspect of the restaurant, from the walls to the floors to the tables and chairs. That way it’s not mass-produced.”
Another way Shirokuro hopes to stand out? The food, which is far from monochrome.
Shirokuro offers a kaleidoscopic array of sushi, which, when contrasted with the spartan surroundings, makes 2D diners feel like Dorothy stepping from sepia tone into technicolor in the “Wizard of Oz.”
Along with standard nigiri classics such as amberjack and fatty tuna, offerings include remixes like minced tuna topped with caviar and Chawanmushi (Japanese egg custard) and sea urchin that melts in your mouth like marine baby food.
The menu and prices haven’t been finalized, but right now, diners can choose between a 10-course omakase meal for $50 or a 16-course option currently listed at $80.
A la carte options, meanwhile, include a solid deal of three rolls for $25.
Lim’s hope is that the memory of the flavor lingers long after the environment’s novelty wears off.
Shirokuro, open 12 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. 103 Second Ave., East Village; shirokuronyc.com
