HANU: The Spirit of Korea
Palm Jumeirah
@hanu_dubai
Palm Jumeirah
@hanu_dubai
You know you’re somewhere different the moment you slip through HANU’s carved wooden doors, high above the city’s bustle. The space is moody and intimate – pine branches and dark walnut everywhere, with just enough glow from the open kitchen to hint at what’s to come.
Chef Kyung Soo Moon delivers exactly what the room promises: Korean cooking that’s both assured and restless, rooted in tradition but eager to explore. Plates arrive in quick succession – raw red prawns on ice, kimchi arancini crowned with quail egg, gyoza stuffed with A5 wagyu and shiitake. You’ll find bluefin tuna with Korean pear, or tender chicken ‘nuggets’ topped with crème fraîche and just enough caviar to remind you where you are.
At HANU’s core is the grill, and the experience lives up to the theatre. The ‘Meat Me at the Grill’ set brings beautifully marbled wagyu and Black Angus front and center, grilled right at your table. Each bite gets wrapped in crisp lettuce, swiped through fermented condiments, and flanked by a dozen side dishes: pickled vegetables, seaweed salad, quick kimchi. It’s convivial, deeply satisfying, and somehow still light enough to keep the conversation going.
Save room for dessert, even after all that beef: airy yuja spheres, pear ice cream with tonka bean, or mango coconut bingsu that feels like a summer ritual. The drinks list is as clever as the food: think yuzu highballs and teas spiked with fermented fruit. For all its craft, HANU lands somewhere between comfort and adventure, and leaves you already plotting a return.
