A nice, but not entirely convincing lunch experience at No. 28 of The World’s 50 Best Asia: Restaurant Mingles (15. December 2023)

Mingles is listed on The World’s 50 Best Asia restaurants, so I figured to try this as well. The “Signature Lunch” (280’000 KRW) comes in a bit cheaper than at the Mosu, but I suppose this is due to the fact that the Mingles has ‘just’ two stars instead of three. The lunch started with “sweet potato rice cake and chestnut soup, caviar, chestnut chip” and it was a good start. I especially liked the chestnut soup, as it was a good combination of crunchy, sweet, and salty.

Next in line was the “Korean seasonal raw fish and the fried hairtail fish & gamtae roll”. All three elements were enjoyable, although, to different degrees. The best one was the gamtae roll, in my opinion.

The third course looked simple, but nice in its own way. The “Korean radish namul & rice cake tart, shrimp, perilla, turnip” consisted of three components. The radish itself was a bit too intense in my personal opinion, but the rice cake tart worked nicely. The shrimp was great in flavour, but it was also incredibly crispy, which made it stick between the teeth at all times.

For the next course, they also showed the different ingredients, which would be part of the dish. Frankly, this is a bit unusual, i.e., not something I have seen often, but I liked that you get to see what you eat, which was the next course …

… the “Mingling Pot: seafood morel & Hanwoo cabbage mandu, sea cucumber, abalone, Korean pork, spinach, cold-brewed anchovy broth”. I absolutely enjoyed the anchovy broth, and it worked well with the other ingredients as well. There were a few interesting combinations, as the morel was stuffed with seafood, and the cabbage was wrapped around the Hanwoo beef, so, it was all in all, quite an interesting combination of different flavours and textures, and one, which worked well together.

Next in line was the “Jeju fish, crispy black rice, dried fish porridge, pressed caviar” (which is funny to see where it comes from, as I’m just flying over Jeju as I’m writing this review). The fish itself was relatively bland, i.e., not much taste to itself, but the crispy black rice on top of it made it for a great bite. And the pressed caviar slices, which came with it, were even more enjoyable. I mean, I’m usually not too big a fan of caviar, but the saltiness of it really added to the dish – and it came in a form I’m not used to.

Then it was time for a “sticky rice risotto, crab, tomato, sesame oil, caviar” – and again, you would see which ingredients were used to make your dish, which is definitely something I liked in this case. The sticky rice risotto was actually exquisite. The combination of flavours and ingredients really did the trick. For sure, this was a nice bite and one of which you could keep going for a while (i.e., get more of it).

Then it was time for the “temple style acorn jelly, cucumber, local herbs from Mingles farm with a black chicken skewer” and while I was positively surprised by the jelly, I was somehow expecting a more intense flavour of the black chicken (due to its dark colour), but it turned out to be relatively smooth and not too intense.

The “Handon Soondae / hanwoo Korean beef, autumn yam, kimchi” dish was a bit disappointing. I liked the little hammer at the top, and I liked the little cake (the one with the sprinkles), but the main meat was somehow not really having these meaty flavours, which make beef so delicious. However, if you combined them with the pickled citrus fruit, it would actually turn out to be nice.

Last but not least, it was time for dessert – and dessert was a bit different than usually, since the dish, which was first served as dessert was “Bibimbab”, but this time it contained “rice ice cream & pudding, sesame oil, and …”

… “soy sauce”. Frankly, the two drops of soy sauce really worked well with the sweetness of the ice cream. Something I had not expected, but which was actually a nice surprise.

Then, I went for the “sweet pumpkin rice meringeu & cream, pumpkin sikhye sorbet, herb”, which was lovely, but also surprising. In the sense that the dish wasn’t actually all too sweet, but rather had a taste of sweetness with a bit of a savoury flavour, which was nice as a ‘next course’ to fully transition into the sweets.

The “Jang trio: Doenjang cremè brûlée, Ganjang Pecan, Gochujang puff” was a combination of three different desserts in one. And, surprisingly enough, it actually worked quite well together. Something I had not expected, but the basis with the cremè brûlée and the crumbles and the puff on top really worked well.

Then, it was time for “beautiful Korean sweets”, respectively their explanation. There were five different dishes, i.e., “Yam Joo-ak”, which consists of yam, rice, and vanilla, respectively is a “deep fried doughnut-shaped dough made with yam and sticky rice powder, dipped into vanilla syrup”, which was also my absolutely favourite sweet.

The “Kamtae puffed rice”, the “Gochujang, dark chocolate macaron”, the “peanut sable” and the “bellflower root jeongwa” were all nice, but did not match the “Yam Joo-ak”.

It was nice to finally have a “Jerusalem artichoke tea” to finish the meal, especially since it had been raining cats and dogs the whole day, which really made it necessary to warm up once you’re inside.

The view onto the little balcony had something calming with the droplets of the rain splashing on the ground – but in terms of view, the Mingles is definitely not the most amazing place. I mean, it is located on the 2nd floor and you would definitely not walk into this area randomly. That being said, the staff is exquisite and really attentive, when it comes to the service. However, compared to Mosu the evening before, it is not exactly at the same level of excellence.

Personally, I found the Mingles wouldn’t really be at the level of two Michelin stars. Definitely one, that’s for sure, but when it comes to the food, I was somehow missing that little bit extra, which would make it truly incredible. In any case, it’s worth trying, and what I liked somehow that it felt more authentically Korean than Mosu (although this is probably not a fair assessment).

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Contact Details:

Restaurant Mingles

Dosan-daero 67-gil, 19 힐탑빌딩 2층

Gangnam-gu

Seoul (KR)

Tel.: +82 25 15 7306

E-Mail: reservation@restaurant-mingles.com

Homepage: http://www.restaurant-mingles.com

About the Author: Sven

I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org. Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City.