A Taste of Home

Chef-owner of the recently opened Nae:um, Louis Han explains how his grandmother’s tirades became part of his menu.

- Weets Goh

While born in Seoul and having cooked since the age of 14, the first time and place chef Louis Han ever cooked Korean cuisine was almost 8,000km away from home in Lebanon. Han had volunteered to be part of the United Nations Peacekeeping force and was serving in the Middle Eastern country as a military chef cooking for over 400 soldiers of every nationality.

“There were over 20 camps with different nationalities, and each country tried to introduce its own culture, so we mainly prepared Korean cuisine. That was a good chance for me to learn about it. I introduced things like japchae (stir-fried glass noodles) as Korean pasta, which people enjoyed,” says Han, 31.

“We would also organise private events and banquets for the generals and make our signature dishes like rice cakes, which we bought machines for.”