Jeju Haenyeo at The Arts House opens an outdoor traditional Korean pub with a vibey atmosphere

Jeju Haenyeo’s new outdoor traditional Korean pub is the place to go for the vibes. It is set in a courtyard of The Arts House along Old Parliament Lane, and it’s built for a casual and social evening under the open sky, with food made for sharing and drinks to unwind. 

If you’re new to Jeju Haenyeo, “haenyeo” refers to Jeju’s female divers who harvest seafood by free diving without oxygen tanks — a practice recognised by UNESCO. 

This outdoor concept comes from the “bulteok”, which is a stone hearth where Jeju’s haenyeo warmed up and shared food after a day in the water. It was where people gathered, ate, and talked.

This restaurant is the first overseas outpost of Haenyeo Kitchen, a concept started by Jeju native Kim Ha-won, 35, in 2019. It opened in Singapore in November 2025, and is built around the stories of these divers.

Jeju Haenyeo’s immersive dining (S$148) experience came with the restaurant’s opening — a two-hour, multi-course meal that moves through Jeju’s four seasons with digital projections, live performances, and ingredients flown in from the island twice a week.

If you’re coming earlier and simply want to enjoy the food, a three-course lunch menu (from S$45) without the performance is also available on weekdays, from 12pm to 2.30pm.

This outpost has even caught the attention of South Korea’s First Lady, Kim Hye-kyung, who visited during her state visit in March.

The outdoor pub menu

The outdoor traditional pub is the restaurant’s latest addition, and runs from 5pm until midnight.

There’s a firepit onsite, much like a bulteok, albeit for decorative purposes only. The team initially meant for diners to grill their food, but found that it produced too much smoke and eventually scrapped the idea.

There are 12 bites to choose from on the menu, along with plenty of drinks. The dishes aren’t quite full meals, but a few of its carb-heavy picks will fill you up just as well.

We started with the bulteok skewers (S$20), which are chargrilled horn conch and vegetables on sticks. The char gives the conch some smokiness, and it’s chewy in texture, with a natural brininess at the forefront.

These are best eaten warm, so don’t let them sit on the table.

The spicy pork wraps (S$20) might just be the highlight — the gochujang-marinated pork speaks for itself. It was tender and well seasoned, with that sweet-savoury profile coming from the marinade. 

It comes with a side of ssamjang — a savoury, slightly spicy dipping paste that adds a salty depth to each bite.

We also loved that the lettuce came crunchy and fresh.

We also tried the corn cheese in sweet pumpkin (S$18), a small pumpkin filled with corn and cheese and baked in its shell. The corn is sweet and the cheese comes out gooey. 

As someone who loves pumpkin, I appreciated that its natural sweetness came through. It clings to the sides and bottom of the shell, so scrape it down and mix it in.

It was addictive and we kept going back for more. Plus, it’s one of those dishes that keeps your stomach satisfied if you’re coming hungry.

Other bites on the menu include a pan-fried Korean pancake (S$15) in kimchi or potato, served with a soy dipping sauce, sausage and rice cake skewers (S$12) that’ll come sweet-savoury and chewy, and butter-grilled abalone (S$22) with a liver sauce for a rich, briny bite.

The drinks were harder to choose, as they all sounded enticing. 

We settled on the honey makgeolli (S$54), served in a brass kettle with bowls. Makgeolli is a lightly sparkling Korean rice wine that’s creamy and slightly tangy-sweet.

We think that the honeycomb inside the bowls is a great touch, balancing out the rice wine with the extra honey sweetness.

The other makgeolli options are strawberry (S$54), lychee (S$31), misugaru (traditional Korean multigrain seed and powder, S$28), and matcha (S$28).

You could also try some of its signature drinks, and these are made with Joomidang, a Korean flavour-tech brand, served long over ice in glasses.

Some options include the Doldam (S$24), a soft black rice makgeolli cocktail with a crunchy topping, and the Dongbaek (S$21), a sweet bokbunja (Korean black raspberry) finished with freeze-dried strawberry.

We went with the citrus-forward Gyul (S$16), which tastes bright with a tangerine-like flavour. At 5.7% ABV, this is the lightest of the five signatures. It was sweet, addictive, and so easy to drink that we finished it in no time.

For something more familiar, there’s the Singapore Sling (S$16), soju & beer set (S$37 for two beers and a soju), and highballs (S$8).

Happy Hour runs on weekdays until 8pm, offering a full pint of Guinness for S$10.

The outdoor pub really is a place to unwind — with drinks in hand, a few bites to snack on, and a pretty backdrop of tall buildings with tiny lights at night. More importantly, though, it keeps a culture alive by letting diners experience how the haenyeo gather at the end of a long day.

This was a hosted tasting.

For more ideas on what to eat, check out this LA-inspired Mexican spot in the CBD and Marymount Bakehouse’s return to Upper Thomson!