Georgina Recommends – Hanuri Korean Restaurant Calahonda
We visited Hanuri restaurant in Calahonda recently and it was an absolute revelation! I love Asian food, but had never tried Korean before and as soon as I started enjoying the taste and the experience I wondered why this great food hasn’t become more widely known. I could taste flavours I recognised from Chinese food, and a concept and approach I recognised from Japanese cuisine, but this really brought together the best of both.
There was the fresh, healthy, clean feeling of Japanese food with the reverence they show for the finest ingredients, enhanced with flavourings and marinades, rather than swamped with sauce. This was enriched by a strong flavour, spices and herbs which you know from Chinese cooking, which made the food more interesting than Japanese food can be.
We had a set menu including a range of starters, a Korean Barbeque and a traditional rice dish, followed by a delicious pudding. As well as the most delicious and unusual tastes, there was the brilliant theatre and fun of cooking your own food on a coal bbq in your own table, the only one in Spain the owner told us. Its amazing design hardly emits any smoke, doesn’t make the place boiling, and it’s so much fun!
But before I jump ahead, let’s talk about the starters, which really got my taste buds tingling.
There was the unusual, but delicious seafood pajeon, a kind of pancake/omelette with succulent and delicately spiced seafood in a fried batter, the traditional kimchi a firey hot Korean cabbage dish made into a kind of layered cake which (I was told in the nick of time) you are not meant to cut, but instead peel off the layers. I found this too hot and a bit too astringent on its own, but combined with the pajeon it was yummy. We also had a little platter with different vegetables, each delicately flavoured with vinegar, ginger, sesame oil and other delicacies for lots of fresh delicious flavour. These were all served with a delicious soy sauce which was made by the owners’ grandmother and brought over to Spain. Peter has brought 10 varieties of soy sauce, which are blended depending on their age, quality of the year and strength (like sherry or fine wine) and he uses these in the marinades, cooking and also to serve as dipping sauce.
These starters were a really interesting way to begin the meal and made us ready for the main course which was the famous Korean Barbeque, which according to the owner are ubiquitous all over Korea, but very difficult to bring to Spain due to the red tape and health and safety regulations. Thankfully for us, the owner fought for over a year, with different designs for the barbeques and finally got the permissions to have it and the results are stunning.
Each table as a hole in it and when you’re ready to eat, they bring over two baskets of red hot coals and insert it skilfully into the table, covering with the specially designed griddle. They then bring a beautiful selection of marinated and seasoned meat, of the finest quality (we had chicken thigh, pork and beef), plus huge prawns, mushrooms and sweetcorn, along with dipping sauces, vegetable side dishes, sesame oil and salt and white pepper. The helpful team take you through what you have and instruct you how to cook it, whilst they get you started by laying the first bits on for you and then they leave you to enjoy.
All of the meat was packed with flavour and so tender, but interestingly the seasoning and marinades (plus the quality of the ingredients) really enhanced and brought out the delicious flavours of the ingredients rather than masking them with loads of sauce. Also because they are all cooked individually and quite slowly over the very well regulated coals they remain tender and taste beautifully of what they are. The side dishes of a sweet onion salad and dressed leaves (muchim) and buttery sweetcorn compliment it perfectly and the dipping sauce (ssamjang)was a revelation – we have asked and you can buy it there, so that will be a must for our next trip.
After the meat had been quickly polished off and we had really enjoyed the experience of the BBQ, we were served a mixed rice dish (dolsot bimbip), served in a super-hot stone bowl which had a selection of vegetables laid on rice, served with a raw egg yolk. This was mixed at the table with a spicy chilli sauce by our waiter and the ingredients lightly cooked in the hot bowl, creating a really flavoursome but very fresh and healthy vegetarian rice dish which balanced really well with the meaty feast we’d just enjoyed.
Finally we finished off this culinary masterpiece with a homemade cotton soft cheese cake, an amazing cake with the texture of super-light sponge crossed with candy floss but the unmistakable taste of cheese cake – delicious. This is accompanied with a yummy ice cream which tasted like a mix of vanilla with a light lemon taste and green tea ice cream, which I am not a big fan of, but did add a bitter note to a very sweet dish. I find desserts to be the weakest part of Asian food, so they did a good job with this fusion pudding.
As if all this wasn’t enough, they have also created an amazing lounge bar, with 10 different beers on draft and an amazing Korean feel with a bridge, waterfall and a traditional Korean thatched roof. They had live music the night we were there and would have been a brilliant place to while away many happy hours, if we didn’t have to get back for the babysitter! The only thing I would have changed were the very flashy Christmas lights in the window which made me feel on the verge of a seizure! This room would make a great venue for events and private parties as well.
Overview –
The location– Hanuri is located just of the N340 in Calahonda, near to the Mercadona. It’s not the most picturesque of locations, but very easy to get to with parking and you don’t need the views when there’s so much going on.
The food– Simply stunning, fresh, flavoursome unusual Korean food with the wow factor – I can’t wait to try some other dishes.
The service – Second to none! The owner Peter and the manager Steve greeted us and made us feel very special, taking the time to explain everything and educate us about the food, but also about their personal story and the interesting elements such as the soy sauce made by the family in Korea. They went around every table with the same ease, care and attention and everyone was loving it, a great example of a passionate owner doing all the right things to make a restaurant work and empowering his staff to do the same.
The decor/atmosphere – The large restaurant felt a little cold as we walked in, simply because of its size, but the décor takes you on a journey to Korea and the pictures of their family’s land where they produce the soy sauce is a very nice touch. It quickly became busy, and the theatre of the barbeque and the excitement about the food gave a really lovely atmosphere. The bar was very quiet (as you’d expect on a cold November evening) but I can see it has great potential and the décor has to be seen to be believed – it’s bonkers but great fun.
The price – This is a real experience with the finest ingredients and the price reflects that. The menu we had was 59€ for two people, but you get a lot of food for that not to mention entertainment. There are cheaper options if you order off the menu, such as the rice dish for under 9€ which was really filling and ramen noodles for 6.90€ which I think is good value. I was also interested to see their group BBQ menus for a minimum of 4 people, which is 25€ per head for two starters to share, BBQ with side dishes, the bibimbap rice and desert.
Contact – http://www.hanuri.es/
Centro Comercial, Los Jarales No.6, Calahonda, Mijas-Costa (Málaga) – Beside Los Jarales Campsite
Tel: 952 932 011
Closed on Mondays