Mingles Restaurant - Apgujeong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea

One of the best meals I’ve had in my life was in Seoul, South Korea. What’s even better is that in Seoul, you can do progressive lunches at Michellin restaurants at a reasonable price. In this post, I’m referring to Mingles Restaurant. It’s a restaurant that’s positioned at number 11 in Asia’s 50 best restaurants as of 2018. It has also been voted as Korea’s best restaurant for 3 consecutive years.

Mingles is also located in the upmarket area of Apgujeong and is not far from another Michelin star restaurant, Jungsik. The interior and vibe of the space is both warm and hip without any pretention even in their service. The name Mingles comes from the “mingling” or fusion of cooking styles/flavours from European, Korean and Japanese cuisine. Head chef Mingoo Kang is said to have worked at Nobu and also trained under renowned chef Martin Berasategui. The menu is seasonal and it changes every few weeks so dishes in the post may not be available at the time of your visit. We opted for their 7 course lunch (we ordered different dishes on some of the courses), which was ₩85,000 per person at the time.

It was love at first taste for me with their Amuse bouche. It’s Mingle’s egg custard with sansho pepper dish (still available). The beautiful silky custard had garlic, smoky and peppery citrus notes.

Squid carpacio dressed with fish roe.

Fruits appetiser with seasonal seafood and pinenut sauce.

We also had a Korean Cabbage Seon which had abalone on cabbage, cabbage consomme and rice cake (still available). It was delicate and simple but it had so much umami.

The butterfish from Jeju island with fried potato was delicate and perfectly cooked. The fish was velvety and juicy.

The braised Korean short-rib with roasted onion was amazing! The meat was fatty, tender and buttery as expected from a Korean short-rib. If your buttery umami from the short-rib was not enough, you will get the same extra goodness from the beef tartare along with the crunchy tile of battered nori.

High quality striploin with Jang (or Korean style sauce) consomme with seasonal vegetables and beef tartare. This dish was umami packed with from the meat to the veggies. The medium rare striploin was super tender, perfectly cooked and seasoned well. The veggies also had some sour and sweet notes.

The Jang trio is a “Doen-Jang” creme brulee, “Gan-jang” pecan, “Gochujang” blackrice, vanilla ice cream and whisky foam dessert was more than just a great treat. It was a party of well balanced flavours in my mouth!

The chestnut Korean style mont blanc was also nothing short of excellent. It had jujube, Korean citron, pear and mascarpone. It was almost like a hybrid of mont blanc and cheesecake.

We ended our lunch with a long black coffee made from Fritz coffee beans and specialty tea with sweet treats.

I was highly impressed from the space to the service and food. So much attention to detail and creativity went into each dish. I will definitely come back here next time I’m in Seoul. Another plus side to this restaurant is that you can book ahead online too!

Mingles
757 Seolleung-ro, Nonhyeon 2(i)-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Koreaa
Hours:
Tues-Fri 12 to 10:30pm
Sat-Sun 12 to 10:00pm
Monday - closed
Reservations: http://www.restaurant-mingles.com/v2/contact/

Jungsik Seoul - Apgujeong, Gangnam gu

Apgujeong is known for luxurious shops, chic department stores, high-end beauty clinics and global business centres. It's Gangnam's Rodeo Drive and Milan. It's also home to many prestigious restaurants like the Michelin restaurant Jungsik.

This is one of those must visit restaurants when you're in Seoul. Their 4-course lunch menu at ₩60,000 (roughly AUD $72) per person is value for money and a steal considering this is a prestige Michelin restaurant. When I say prestige I mean a very chic contemporary interior with clientele ranging from businessmen, new money to ladies of leisure. The essence of Jungsik's cuisine is a modern (almost on a molecular gastronomy level) take on traditional Korean cuisine using cooking techniques. Chef Yim Jungsik is basically the pioneer of modern Korean cuisine. There are no gimmicks here. Just great food executed and presented well to please all the senses.

We started with their amuse bouche bite sized dishes. They had us already with their take of a mini corn dog! There was also velvety salmon mousse in a cone topped with roe, rice wrapped in fancy seaweed and fish seaweed pancake.

One of our starters was the "Mushroom", which is a pile of umami packed buttery field mushrooms hiding a perfectly crisped egg with runny yolk.  

Their octopus (10,000 won surcharge) was the best octopus dish I've had to date. It was perfectly cooked with a nice char caramelisation that gives the octopus smoky and sweet notes. The sweet, spicy and garlicky flavours of the creamy gochujang aioli pairs nicely with the octopus. 

The Aromatic rice with barley and perilla oil was all about roasted nutty and umami flavours. The egg yolk serves a nice textural contrast to the barley and rice. 

Their sea urchin was a luxurious bowl of beauty and it also packed with so much umami flavour and sweet notes. 

The tenderloin (20,000 won surcharge) was fatty, buttery and nicely seasoned. This is one of the tastiest steaks I've had in my life. Pairing this with lovely mushrooms may seem simple but you need some simplicity to bring balance to an outstanding dish.  

The duck was one of the most beautiful duck dishes I've come across. It was twiced cooked leaving the meat tender, juicy and so tasty whilst the caramelised skin was so crisped.  

The desserts were impressive too. There was Cheongdam pie, which is their interpretation of the apple pie. Beautiful caramel sauce, apple puree, and ice cream layered with two crispy flaky pastry-like biscuits. 

There's also the rose de versaille, which tastes as beautiful as it looks. It consists of blueberry mouse, milk ice cream, yoghurt meringue and blueberry sauce.

Complimentary sweet treats

I love the fact that you can make reservations via their website. You can book up to a month prior to your preferred visit. Whenever you decide to visit Seoul or on your next visit to this vibrant city, I highly recommend dining at Jungsik. I will definitely pay them another visit next time I'm in town.

Jungsik

11 SEOLLEUNGRO 158GIL

GANGNAMGU SEOUL

+82 2 517 4654

http://www.jungsik.kr/

Hours: 7 days 12pm-3pm, 5.30pm-10pm