Hahn's Kitchen mirrors Seoul in Gurugram with its traditional cuisine

Cho's personal touch is seen everywhere, from the menu to the service and the decor

Lunch hour is the busiest time of the day at Gurugram’s One Horizon Centre. That’s when executives working in plush corporate offices, located on the Golf Course Road, get down to the serious business of eating. With restaurants such as Delhi Club House, Shophouse by Kylin and Cafe Tonnino housed within, One Horizon Centre is fast emerging as the food hub for working professionals in Gurgaon. The latest addition to the bevy of eateries is Hahn’s Kitchen, a sophisticated Korean restaurant, started by Peter and Cho Hahn in equal partnership with Lite Bite Foods. The idea is to present traditional Korean fare in a contemporary setting. 

Elegant is the best way to describe the space, with dainty copper tea pots and Korean paste bottles adding to the decor. One can see Cho’s personal touch everywhere, from the menu to the service and the decor. She shows me lattices and nets on the ceiling and the walls, which she commissioned to generate a sense of Korean architecture. With a seating capacity of 70, the eatery boasts of well defined wooden structures, separating the casual dining and traditional private dining rooms.

Cho flits from table to table, explaining the dishes and the proper way to eat them. For the uninitiated, having bulgogi for the first time, she demonstrates the right way to savour this signature Korean dish: spread the lettuce leaf on your hand, add a bit of the sticky rice and a piece of the barbequed meat, smear it with the pungent Ssamjang chilli sauce and top it off with bits of fried egg. Now roll this up and eat it like a wrap. The pork is succulent and carries just the right hint of spices. The Ssamjang enhances the subtle taste of the meat with its robust flavours. The bulgogi goes well with the Korean Blush, a refreshing drink with pomegranate.

Traditionally, seafood is an integral part of the cuisine and that is reflected in the menu at Hahn’s Kitchen as well. Some of the must-haves are the Nakji Someyon or spicy octopus with noodles and the Kansyo Saewoo with crispy battered prawns in a fiery sweet-and-sour sauce. The one dish that really stands out is the Dongrae Haemul Pajeon or a savoury seafood pancake with spring onion. The rice flour batter creates a thin, crisp coating for the green onions and soft, flaky fish underneath.

Come evening and the restaurant transforms into a Soju bar, channeling the vibe of the buzzing nightlife in Seoul. “In India, people drink first and then have dinner quite late in the night. In Korea, it’s the opposite. In Seoul, parties go on till the morning, with people going home for a quick shower before heading to work,” says Cho. Hahn’s Kitchen offers an array of dishes, which pair well with Soju. There’s the yangnyeom tongdak, or fried chicken, with bite-sized pieces coated with spices. This fusion food originated during the Korean War to suit the tastes of the American soldiers stationed there. One can see Chinese influence on the food as well through dishes such as the kanpungii, which is a fiery garlic and chilli chicken. A conscious effort has been to create vegetarian options as well. Mock meats have been crafted using tofu and mushroom to replace pork and chicken in signature dishes.
 

A meal for two at Hahn’s Kitchen (without alcohol) would cost Rs 1,800 plus taxes