Mingles (Seoul, SOUTH KOREA) ★★★☆☆

I didn't have much time to plan for this trip but one thing was certain, I was going to try my best to include either Mingles or Soigné (or perhaps both) in my action-packed schedule. Unsurprisingly, fitting both into my compact itinerary proved impossible at last but I did manage to squeeze Mingles into our first day.   

It was a Friday night but the restaurant wasn't entirely full. I would say, about 70% full.

As usual, there was only one tasting menu (₩340,000) available with just the choice of main dish and dessert. It didn't take very long for me to make a decision on both.

Dinner started off with a small soup and some canapés. Taking center stage was a small bowl of chilled sweet corn soup topped with sea urchin. Starting the meal with a refreshing dish like this was a nice way to kick off the evening, especially on a hot and dry summer night.

The canapés featured a pair of chilled strawberries, one stuffed with caviar and the other with finger lime, elegantly presented on a bed of thin ice.

I have had a few Korean rice cakes in my life but not one made with potato. Always a first time I guess!

These were immediately followed by a trio of Korean nibbles (themed "Korean seasonal seafood"), including a small piece of big fin squid served over rice (like a sushi) which was nicely topped by some radish, cucumber and red pepper sauce, gizzard shad with fermented kimchi hidden underneath and last but not least, a small tartlet with brown croaker, soy bean paste and seaweed.  

Just when I thought we were done with our amuse bouche; here come two more nibbles. Fried red mullet and gamtae roll.

I had this one last time as well. Hanwoo beef tartare with smoked eel and pickled purple onion hidden inside the tube made with seaweed.

Korean zucchini namul and rice cake tart – I have seen a different version of this made with radish instead of zucchini on the social media.

Underneath the thin layers of Korean zucchini, we have some shrimp tartare covered beautifully by some frozen juice made with shrimp head and coral, along with chopped spinach all resting on a base of crispy rice cake. The sweetness and freshness of the shrimp were nicely complemented by some perilla notes. In my opinion, the best dish of the night.

Mingling pot – I have enjoyed a few Mingling pots in the past with slightly different ingredients. Before the soup was served up, our server brought along this plate to show us what they used to make this cold brewed anchovy broth.

As always, the broth came with an abundance of locally caught seafood including abalone and sea cucumber. There were also different mandu (Korean dumplings) like fish mandu, Hanwoo cabbage mandu and morel mandu in the mix.

I love the noodles made with acorn, perhaps a little more than the broth itself. Tonight, I found the broth to be a bit too strongly infused with herbal flavors. As a Chinese, we would normally save this for winter time when the weather's cold and wet.

Tile fish, golden puffed rice crust – Tonight's fish course was tile fish from Jeju beautifully crusted with golden puffed rice and served with dried fish porridge and summer pepper. The tuile on top of the fish was actually pressed caviar, adding some distinctive saltiness to the dish.

Sticky rice risotto, crab, tomato, sesame oil, caviar – A closer look at all the ingredients for our next dish, our seafood risotto.

This was very nicely presented with the disk of sticky rice risotto on the bottom, topped elegantly by snow crab meat, caviar, tomato and egg. It was pretty tasty, although Jelloman thought it was a little heavy handed with sesame oil. 

Chicken roulade, black vinegar sauce – I originally thought this was a play on the traditional Korean ginseng chicken but it wasn't.

The chicken roulade wrapped with paper-thin chicken skin was delicately paired with mushroom purée and drizzled with a black vinegar sauce. Less successful was the side dish of ginseng chicken wanja (traditional Korean meatball) with sesame and jangajji (Korean onion pickle).

Hanwoo Korean beef, Korean pork soondae – The main dish was Hanwoo beef done two ways, served with yam pancake. 

I was a little surprised with the portion here. One really thin slice of charcoal grilled tenderloin and two equally thin slices of sirloin. Both of them tasted alright (tenderloin slightly better than the sirloin) but nothing that blew me away. However, at a two-Michelin-starred restaurant, I expected to be blown away.

A side dish of nectarine and white kimchi that came with the beef.

And a homemade Korean pork soondae (blood sausage). That was the end of the savory stuff.

Bibimbab, rice ice-cream and pudding – Chef Kang's signature pre-dessert inspired by the Korean bibimbap with the ice cream made from glutinous rice pudding, garnished adorably with fresh herbs, sesame oil and soy sauce.

Apple & ginger – The main dessert was a choice between Mingle's signature Jang Trio and the seasonal creation, Apple & Ginger. A part of me wanted to have the savory-sweet Jang Trio again but my adventurous side got the best of me this time. This was simply a combination of apple sorbet, sliced apple, ginger gelée and jujube mousse. I thought the heat from the different textures of ginger was a little too overpowering for the apple and jujube to handle. 

The kitchen did a great job with pacing so we actually got some extra time to enjoy a cup of tea with some Korean snacks.

Our three snacks included Yam joo-ak, a deep-fried doughnut shaped dough made with yam and sticky rice powder which has been dipped into vanilla syrup, Kamrae puffed rice (I called this the Korean sweet crispies "馬仔"), and gochujang choux.

Some of you may have noticed that my experience rating for Mingles dropped from 5 stars to 3 stars on this recent visit. Did something catastrophic happen tonight? Not really. It was more a mix of things that happened (or did not happen) at the same time. 

First and foremost, I thought the service team was awful tonight with the exception of one guy. They were not attentive enough and their English accent was quite challenging to understand. In fact, more than half of the things they said about the dishes were lost (I did not have this problem with my next two meals at Eatanic Garden and Alla Prima). Worse yet, they seemed content to mumble these descriptions and move on swiftly.

And finally, the tasting menu. It has been a year and a half since we paid our last visit but there were still a number of similar dishes around with some minor tweaks. I love the fact that they kept their most popular dishes around (like the rice ice-cream and Jang Trio) but the rest of the menu could benefit from a fresh update. I thought the Hanwoo beef dish tonight was particularly underwhelming and it was not just the small portion that left me disappointed. All in all, it was just an OK experience, not one shining with two Michelin stars.

Food Rating: 7.1/10

Price: ₩₩₩₩

Address: 2/F, 19 Dosan-daero 67-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Closest Metro Station: Apgujeong Rodeo

Tel: +82 02 515-7306

Website: www.restaurant-mingles.com

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 10:00pm (Tue - Sun)

S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants: 44th (2024)

S. Pellegrino Asia's 50 Best Restaurants: 13th (2024)