Love on the Menu Teaser Puts Ha Seok Jin and Hani Back at the Center of a Complicated Romance

KBS 2TV’s upcoming drama Love on the Menu is sharpening its romantic pitch ahead of premiere week, releasing a new teaser that places Ha Seok Jin and EXID’s Hani at the center of a reunion story shaped by affection, regret, and family responsibility.

The drama follows Kim Moo Jin, played by Ha Seok Jin, and Han Gyu Rim, played by Hani, as former lovers who meet again eight years after a painful breakup. Rather than presenting their reunion as a simple second chance, the new preview frames it as a relationship still carrying the weight of choices each character made when love and survival seemed to pull them in opposite directions.

According to the newly released teaser, Moo Jin is described as someone who once gave up everything for love, while Gyu Rim is positioned as someone who gave up love for the sake of her family. That contrast gives the drama a clear emotional engine: one character appears ready to move toward romance again, while the other is still measuring every decision against the practical demands around her.

The teaser opens with Han Seo Hyun, played by Lee Joo Yeon, questioning what makes Gyu Rim so special to Moo Jin. The answer comes not through a speech, but through action. Gyu Rim rushes from a bus to help Park Soo Nam, played by Kang Ae Shim, after a collapse, while Moo Jin watches from a distance. It is a small moment, but it works as a character introduction, showing why Moo Jin might still see Gyu Rim as someone whose instinctive kindness is difficult to forget.

A Romance Built Around Work, Timing, and Old Feelings

As the preview continues, Moo Jin and Gyu Rim end up working part-time at the same place, a setup that gives the story room for awkward closeness and slow emotional movement. Their shared workplace becomes more than a convenient rom-com setting; it places them in the everyday rhythm of each other’s lives after years apart.

Moo Jin’s feelings are presented with a lighter touch in several moments. He wonders whether revealing his wealth, and specifically his status as a chaebol heir, might help him win Gyu Rim’s attention. The teaser also shows him reacting with jealousy when Gyu Rim treats others warmly, asking whether she can reserve some of that kindness for him alone. Those scenes suggest the drama will use his emotional openness for comedy, but also to underline how completely he has fallen back into old feelings.

Gyu Rim, by contrast, appears to be guarding herself. The preview emphasizes that she is juggling part-time jobs and trying to make ends meet, leaving little room for dating or emotional risk. When she says she lacks both the time and the means to pursue romance, the line grounds the story in a familiar K-drama tension: love may be sincere, but life rarely becomes simple just because two people still care about each other.

That difference between Moo Jin’s persistence and Gyu Rim’s restraint gives the teaser its main push. Moo Jin tells her that all she needs to do is keep feeling butterflies around him, even if she is not ready to admit it. It is a boldly romantic line, but the preview keeps it from becoming too glossy by placing it against Gyu Rim’s exhaustion and hesitation.

Family Pressure Raises the Stakes

The later beats of the teaser suggest that Love on the Menu will not rely only on workplace banter and rekindled attraction. Cracks begin forming around the couple because of outside circumstances, and Gyu Rim tries to push Moo Jin away with a warning that he should run before he is dragged into her difficulties. Her wording makes clear that she sees her life not as a romantic obstacle to be solved easily, but as something that could hurt the person trying to stand beside her.

That is where the drama’s broader premise comes into focus. The official description says Moo Jin and Gyu Rim will piece together the fragments of broken families and create what is described as the warmest table of life together. The title’s food-centered imagery points toward healing, domestic warmth, and shared care, but the teaser suggests that getting there will require both characters to confront wounds that have not fully closed.

The preview ends on a softer image: Moo Jin asks whether he can hug Gyu Rim before pulling her into his arms. It is a simple romantic gesture, but within the context of the teaser, it reads as a promise that the drama will balance emotional comfort with conflict. For viewers interested in melodrama-tinged romance, the pairing of Ha Seok Jin’s earnest lead character and Hani’s burdened, guarded heroine may be the main draw.

Love on the Menu is scheduled to premiere on July 25 at 8 p.m. KST. With the latest teaser, KBS 2TV is positioning the series as a warm but complicated reunion romance, one where love returns not as a fantasy escape, but as a question both leads must decide whether they are brave enough to answer.