The Place
The first floor of craft cocktail lounge Ars & Delecto has been transformed into modern Korean bistro, Halu – the second outpost of this K-Town favorite. Situated along the leafy Jinxian Lu amidst many local restaurants, the space feels familiar and welcoming, even for first time visitors.
Quaint and cozy, there is seating for roughly 25 people downstairs, between the dark wooden tables and bar seats – coveted spots that fill up quickly, even on an ordinary Tuesday.
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
Ars & Delecto founder and owner Jeff Kao had been working on a bar popup partnership with Seoul’s Leo Kim (more on this below) when the opportunity to open a second location of Halu – bringing more affordable Korean bistro fare to the downtown area – arose.
In collaboration with Halu owner Joonsam Park and Chef Rosie, the team culled down the menu to a simple one-pager of Korean fried chicken, stews, kimchis, fried jeon (savory pancakes), seafood dishes and street fare like tteokboki and gimbap, that are best experienced with a post-dinner nightcap of Korean seasonal-inspired sippers on the second floor.
The Food
While Korean BBQ spots downtown are a dime a dozen, the more approachable Korean bistro – featuring a mix of street eats, popular nibbles and casual eatery fare – isn’t as easy to stumble upon, especially in the expat hub of Jing’an and Xuhui.
Similarly, when pairing natural wine with food, French and Italian cafes are in abundance, but seek out that same concept combined with Korean bites and you’re hard pressed to find a match.
Enter Halu. Simply put, it’s good wine, good drinks, good food and good fun.
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Let’s get down to brass tacks. Kimchi. Halu has a lot of it. In oh-so-many varieties, each one better than the last. First, there’s the Pear Kimchi (RMB48), a fresher, less fermented rendition of what most think of when eating kimchi, laden with crisp panes of summer pear.
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Then there’s the Bulgogi & Radish Kimchi (RMB128). Ultra-thin ribbons of marinated meat are charred and served with a crunchy daikon sliver kimchi and a verdant forest of leafy greens and fresh herbs to choose from.
We suggest going the lettuce wrap route, stuffing a piece of greenery with all the bulgogi and kimchi it can hold, rolling it up and eating it like an over-loaded taco, leaving shmears of tangy gochujang across your cheek.
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For a pungent alternative – that funky kimchi that you really crave when eating Korean – go for the Fried Noodles with Beef and Kimchi (RMB78). Like a rose, peel away each ‘petal’ of cabbage as a palate cleanser for the umami bomb bites of QQ springy fried noodles.
Sautéed in a savory soy-based sauce with truffle and marinated chunks of beef, the noodles are crowned with a soft-poached egg that, when pierced, adds to the plate’s richness.
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
Messily toss together the aptly named Octopus Super Spicy Chewy Noodles (RMB98) – almost like a Malaysian/Singaporean yee sang prosperity salad in appearance – so that the punchy gochujang sauce coats everything, from the chewy rice noodles to the bean sprouts, cucumbers, octopus pieces, pear jags and fresh herbs.
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A simple marinade of pear juice, salt and pepper allows the dark crimson shreds of dewy meat in the Beef Tenderloin Tartar (RMB128) to shine, both literally and figuratively. The trembly egg yolk resting on top forms a sticky glue, holding the beef inside the paper-thin slices of summer pear that swaddles said meat and a few slender segments of creamy avocado.
Pair this dish – or any item on the menu; they are all conducive to drinking – with conventional Korean spirits like Makgeoli or Soju. Or go the alternative route, mixing and matching whites, reds and sparkling from Chile, Italy, France and the USA.
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Other Korean bar snack mainstays grace the menu, like savory jeon pancakes in flavor options from Seafood Green Onion Jeon (RMB68) to Kimchi Mung Beans Pork Jeon (RMB68) to the more fusion-forward Cheese Potato Bacon Jeon (RMB68).
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Gimbap & Tteokbokki (RMB68) are served together so diners can dip the former in the sauce of the latter, a superb flavor combination we wish we started doing years ago.
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And finally, it’s hard to call yourself a Korean bistro without the immovable pillar of Korean street food that is fried chicken, and Halu offers many.
For the less adventurous, there’s Fried Chicken (RMB78) and Sweet & Sour Sauce Chicken (RMB68). For those looking for a little extra chew, the Fried Chicken Gizzard (RMB68) offers diners an excellent texture contrast, with bouncy gizzard coated in a thick, crunchy batter.
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If a Korean feast isn’t enough, Ars & Delecto’s second floor is now home to one of the first international cocktail popups since COVID started, with Leo Kim from Seoul’s award-winning Alice Cheongdam bar bringing his entire menu to Shanghai through mid-October for RMB130 per drinks.
It is all about exploring Korea’s four seasons through different sips in the Seoul bar’s signature Alice in Wonderland whimsical style.
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The menu houses 16 cocktails, four for each season, with spring being lighter, summer sweeter, autumn highlighting higher ABV and winter showcasing Korean inspired flavors.
Each drink also has its own imaginative element, from a Vikings hat served with the Not a Beer – a hot IPA foam-topped cold vodka, yuzu, grapefruit and orgeat drink that plays with both flavor and texture contrasts – or a liquid nitrogen frozen sherry ice cream cone served on top of the clarified Like A Grasshopper – a balance of sweet and sour with refreshing mint, chocolate candy and pandan aroma.
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
Image by Sophie Steiner/That's
The Birds and Bees arrives tableside in a bird’s nest – a fake robin perched next to it, along with chocolate candy eggs – while the Bamboo Forest is a sour alternative to a Bloody Mary, with leek tequila, celery vinegar and a preserved king mushroom coated in shaved parmesan.
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The libations also reimagine everyday cocktails, elevating them with unique substitutions. A twist on a gibson or martini, the Snow Crystal sees the addition of white kimchi, known as dongchimi, instead of olive or pickle juice, plus a spritz of absinthe.
The Apoptosis, meanwhile, replaces the Campari customarily found in a Negroni with grapefruit cordial and Cocchi Rosa, plus smoky mezcal and kaffir lime tequila rather than piney gin.
Upstairs, guests can also sample a reduced version of the Halu menu as bar fare, like gimbap or fried chicken.
The Vibe
The old school Korean rap and hip hop that reverberates from the speakers, coupled with brimming bowls of boiling pork and seafood soups, dishes of assorted kimchi and gochujang-laced plates, adds to the eccentric ramen and soju lined walls.
The juxtaposition between trendy, casual Korean bistro and art deco-inspired cocktail lounge somehow works. The two seemingly opposite components amalgamate into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Plus, the calorie to kuai conversion rate is on point, if you ask us.
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Price: RMB80-180 for food, RMB50-130 per drink
Who’s Going: Hip Chinese, gochujang fiends, lovers of all things Korean
Good For: Fast Korean feasts, soju and Cass consumption, Seoul bar visits without leaving Shanghai, kimchi-fueled dates
See a listing for Halu and Ars & Delecto. Read more Shanghai Restaurant Reviews.
[Cover Image by Sophie Steiner/That's]
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