Hani Frames Love on the Menu as a Warm Weekend Drama About Resilience

Hani is positioning her next acting project as more than a simple reunion romance. In new remarks about Love on the Menu, the singer and actress described the upcoming family drama as a story built around endurance, care, and the difficult work of continuing to love after life has already left marks.

The drama follows Kim Moo Jin, played by Ha Seok Jin, and Han Gyu Rim, played by Hani, former lovers who meet again eight years after a painful breakup. Their renewed connection is framed through family wounds as much as romance, with the story following two people who try to rebuild something warm from households and relationships that have not healed cleanly.

For Hani, the role carries a particular milestone: it marks her first appearance in a weekend drama. That format matters in Korea because weekend dramas are often watched across generations at home, giving them a different rhythm and responsibility from shorter, trend-driven series. Hani said she felt excitement about entering that space, but also pressure because the audience is likely to include families watching together.

Her description of Han Gyu Rim suggests a character written less as an idealized romantic lead than as someone shaped by survival. Gyu Rim has faced a difficult life, but Hani emphasized that hardship has not made the character bitter toward the world. Instead, she continues forward, protects people close to her, and searches for a way to smile again.

A Character Built Around Responsibility

That framing is important because Love on the Menu appears to lean into the emotional language of classic family melodrama while giving Hani a role with layered pressures. Gyu Rim is not described as strong because she is untouched by pain. She is strong because she has had to become strong, especially after carrying family responsibility from a young age.

Hani said she approached the character with two faces in mind: a motherly side that learned to care for others early, and a daughterly side that still longs to be cared for. That tension gives the role a clear emotional engine. Gyu Rim is someone who can protect others, but that does not mean she is free from fear, loneliness, or the need for comfort.

The romance with Moo Jin is also being presented through that lens. Rather than a simple second-chance love story, the drama seems to ask what happens when affection returns to people who have already learned to defend themselves. Hani noted that the more deeply Gyu Rim loved, the more afraid she may have become, suggesting that the breakup and reunion will be rooted in vulnerability rather than a single dramatic misunderstanding.

Why Hani Chose the Role

Hani identified resilience, love, and strength as key words for Han Gyu Rim. Those choices point toward a character whose imperfect decisions may be central to the plot. According to Hani’s explanation, Gyu Rim may lie or run away at times, but those actions come from a desire to shield the people she loves. That does not excuse every choice, but it gives the drama space to explore why people under pressure sometimes protect others in messy ways.

The project also marks Hani’s return to acting after about three years, which adds another layer of attention around the drama. Since moving from idol activities into acting, she has taken roles that often rely on a mixture of sincerity and emotional directness. A weekend family romance gives her a broader canvas, because the performance has to carry romantic history, family strain, and everyday warmth at the same time.

Ha Seok Jin’s presence as Kim Moo Jin adds to the drama’s appeal for viewers who follow grounded romance stories. The central pair’s history, eight-year separation, and family entanglements give the series a familiar but durable setup: two adults do not simply fall back in love, but must decide whether they can face the past without repeating it.

The title Love on the Menu also signals the drama’s likely emotional motif. Food and family tables are common but effective images in Korean dramas because they can turn ordinary domestic moments into scenes of conflict, forgiveness, and care. In this story, the “warmest table of life” premise suggests that healing will come through repeated acts of staying, listening, and sharing space rather than a single grand confession.

A Warm Slot for Family Viewers

Hani’s comments make clear that she hopes the drama will feel accessible to households, not only to romance fans. She described the series as a story about people who keep choosing to love and live even when they are imperfect and wounded. That message fits the weekend drama format, where long-form storytelling often allows characters to stumble, change, and rebuild trust over many episodes.

For viewers, the main question will be how Love on the Menu balances its softer warmth with the heavier background of broken families and old heartbreak. If the drama can keep Gyu Rim’s resilience specific rather than generic, Hani’s performance could become the emotional anchor of the series.

Love on the Menu is scheduled to premiere on July 25 at 8 p.m. KST. With Hani stepping into her first weekend drama and Ha Seok Jin joining her in a reunion romance built around family healing, the series is entering the summer lineup with a clear promise: comfort, but not without scars.