Back on weekend television
Ha Seok-jin plays Kim Mu-jin, the owner-chef of an Italian restaurant, in the KBS2 weekend drama Love on the Menu. The drama premiered on July 25, 2026. Nielsen Korea recorded an 11.7% nationwide household rating, which placed it second among terrestrial television programs that day. The figure is a useful record of attention to the first episode, but it should remain attached to that date. A long weekend series can change over time, and one premiere rating cannot establish the direction of every later episode.
Ha introduced the production and Kim Mu-jin at KBS's official presentation on July 22. The same day, he appeared with Ahn Hee-yeon and Bae Jung-nam on KBS CoolFM's Park Myung-soo's Radio Show. The presentation, radio appearance and first two episodes created a concentrated return to regular weekend television. Official clips then gave audiences two sides of Mu-jin immediately: a controlled professional working in a restaurant and a man whose romantic feelings move faster than the circumstances of the person he approaches.
A perfectionist at work and a beginner in emotional timing
Kim Mu-jin is exacting in the restaurant he owns, but he is less guarded in love. In the opening episode, he is drawn to the warmth of part-time worker Han Gyu-rim. In Episode 2, he does not simply switch off his feelings after she rejects a sudden confession. Ha places the neat posture and confidence of an owner-chef beside a more awkward quality: Mu-jin is direct, yet he has not fully understood how different Gyu-rim's daily reality is from his own.
The drama brings two people together again 8 years after an earlier separation and expands the relationship through the wounds of two families. Mu-jin can state what he wants quickly, but Gyu-rim supports her four younger siblings and lives with practical responsibilities that cannot be swept aside by a romantic gesture. For the relationship to develop persuasively, his directness has to become attention. The performance challenge is to let a confident man learn another person's pace without turning that growth into a sudden personality reversal. In a long family drama, small changes in listening, patience and choice can matter more than a dramatic declaration.
Experience across romance, workplace drama and strategic television
Ha was born on February 10, 1982, and was 44 on July 26, 2026. He began acting in the 2005 drama Sad Love Story and made his film debut in See You After School, released in 2006. His calm public image, engineering background and quick delivery have supported roles across romance, family stories and workplace dramas. They have also shaped his television appearances outside fiction, where the audience often sees him analyze a problem rather than simply react to it.
The original Korean article lists Merchant Kim Man-deok, The Legendary Witch, Drinking Solo, Something About 1 Percent, Radiant Office, When I Was the Most Beautiful and Blind among his drama credits. On variety and competition television, Problematic Men showed a more playful side of his reasoning, while he won The Devil's Plan through sustained strategic play. Those strands can both inform Kim Mu-jin: the character is organized, fast to decide and accustomed to control. Yet the role will not be complete if he remains merely competent. The more revealing question is whether Ha can show Mu-jin recognizing that another person's burdens cannot be solved on his preferred schedule.