After a year and a half of pop-ups across the Hudson Valley and Berkshires, chef Hannah Wong and business partner Sarah Jane (SJ) McLaughlin are opening Haema, a brick-and-mortar restaurant at 538 Warren Street in Hudson. The space is the former home of Bar Bene, the wine bar that closed late last year.
Wong built her career in the New York City kitchens of Gramercy Tavern and db bistro Moderne before co-launching the Michelin Guide-recommended Van ฤa. She moved to the Hudson Valley during the pandemic to help open The Aviary in Kinderhook, where she served as executive chef. It was there she met McLaughlin, an industry veteran who ran the New World Bistro Bar in Albany for a decade. The idea of doing something of their own grew out of conversations after service. “It just kind of became real,” McLaughlin says. “It felt very natural.”
“The ultimate goal was always brick and mortar,” McLaughlin says. Wong explains: “I think at some point last year, we felt like there were so many variables that were not within our control [at the pop-ups]. We wanted to operate from a home base and be able to control more of the controllables and provide the kind of hospitality experience that we really wanted.”
Wong and McLaughlin reached out to Bar Bene owner Marie Wong when the wine bar announced it was closing, and a walkthrough in early December sealed the deal. “As soon as we walked into the space, I felt like everything was pretty perfect,” Hannah Wong says. The lease was finalized in late February.
The kitchen will be a modest build-out, extending into the basement below the existing service kitchen. The all-electric setup is shaping the cooking style, steering the menu toward steaming, poaching, and dishes that hold well at room temperature. “We’re just kind of adapting to and figuring out what can work in that space,” Wong says.
The menu draws from Wong’s Chinese, Korean, and American background, her European culinary training, and time spent traveling through Southeast Asia, filtered through McLaughlin’s front-of-house sensibility. “It’s kind of hard to describe the style of food because it is so multifaceted,” Wong says. “It will be a playful, intimate environment where we can serve really bold, delicious, interesting food that is still accessible to people, and that’s made with loveโthese are the things we want to focus on.”
The menu, still in development, will include a dedicated section of handmade noodlesโa signature of Haema’s pop-up daysโincluding hand-pulled noodles and a silver needle noodle, a rice noodle traditional to Hakka cuisine in southern China. Other early items include Raven and Boar Chiang Mai sausage larb with toasted rice powder, herbs, and sesame crackers; wok-fried Indonesian rempeyek crackers with peanuts and makrut lime; MX Morningstar kabocha squash with yuzu chimichurri and black lime; and hand-pulled noodles with braised Kinderhook Farm lamb, cilantro, celery, and chili oil.
Gluten-free and vegan options will feature throughout. “Hannah has a very special touch with vegetables,” McLaughlin says. “Things often are vegan, but not for the sake of being vegan.”
Local sourcing is a continuation of what the two built through their pop-up years and their relationships with Hudson Valley farmers. “It just feels like the way one cooks up here,” Wong says. “You’re just kind of part of the cuisine.”
The design is still taking shape, leaning into what McLaughlin calls a high-brow, low-brow eclecticismโfriends helping with interiors, pieces being made for the space, and some of what Bar Bene left behind folded in thoughtfully. “Being able to have our friends who are more specialized in different things help usโfrom interior design to making playlistsโhas been a really fun and important part of the process,” Wong says.
On hospitality, McLaughlin is clear about what she wants Haema to feel like. “I really want people to feel like they’re coming into a space that they’re really excited to be there and that the staff is excited to have them there,” she says. The vision is old school: A host who knows your name, knows your kids, knows what you ordered last time.
Hours will be Wednesday through Saturday dinners, with Sundays open during the day on the same menu. Sunday pre-order family-style dinners for pickup are also in the works, a model the team tested successfully at Kinderhook Farm last year. A private courtyard on the property opens up possibilities for small events down the line.
Wong and McLaughlin are hoping to open as soon as possible, with a target of May or June pending getting their liquor license. When that comes through, expect wine, beer, and cocktails. “A good cocktail can be made without a lot of fuss and be really delicious,” McLaughlin says.
A friends and family soft launch will precede the full opening, with possible preview dinners around town in the meantime.
Haema will be located at 538 Warren Street in Hudson. Follow @haemahospitality for updates on the opening.
