Her Name is Han
Her Name is Han hands you a 28-page menu of photographs. Kihyun Lee, who owns the room, studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology. The bibimbap is built on farro. The room has been on East 31st Street since 2015.
Why go
The bulgogi is a minced short-rib patty, seared on a scorching cast-iron pan and sweet with sugar, sesame and soy.1
The house dish is yangnyeom gejang, raw blue crab buried in red spice paste. NamHyung Woo was the head chef in 2018. Drink the heat down with the tofu under black sesame sauce and fried onions.1
Budae jjigae boils at the table. Spam, canned beans, hot dogs and processed yellow cheese go into a kimchi-infused beef broth. The cheese is gone within seconds.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the fried chicken, salted and dipped in the sweet-and-sour sauce.
- Order: yangnyeom gejang, and get the meat out of the shell before the heat lands.
- Order: the deconstructed banana split, a bruleed plantain with vanilla ice cream and caramel ginger.
- Avoid: the bo ssam, unless boiled pork belly is what you came for. Eater called it middle-of-the-road.1
What locals & experts say
- Ryan Sutton, reviewing it for Eater in April 2018: the fried chicken
lacks any of the garlic or chile sauces so frequently associated with Korean-style fries. It's just plain fried chicken that's sufficiently juicy, crispy, and brined, with a touch of sweetness, and a wallop of concentrated poultry flavor.
1 - Matt Rodbard, who wrote Koreatown: A Cookbook, picking it for The World's 50 Best in 2016:
The vibe feels like you walked into a hip little restaurant in Hongdae in Seoul.
2
Good to know
Verdict
should-visit — Book for four, because the crab and the stews are built for a table. Put one plain thing and one fiery thing on the same order, and let the crab be the fiery one.