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Miga

London, Hackney - Korean - Restaurant - £££

Hugely hospitable, family-run Korean eatery

Overall Rating: Very Good

Uniqueness:Does the establishment stand out in the context of the local area? Good

Deliciousness:How delicious is the food? Very Good

Warmth:How warm is the service and the hospitality in general? Very Good

Strength of recommendation:How enthusiastically and widely would you recommend the establishment? Good

Make no mistake, Miga is a Korean family business in the most deep-rooted way. Grandma sold ox-bone broth in Seoul before a transcontinental uprooting of the clan led to the establishment of a venue in New Malden, epicentre of the expat Korean community. It's possibly an even bigger cultural leap from the suburbs of Greater London to the streets of Hackney, where a polyglot restaurant scene saw Miga welcomed with open arms by locals. Despite the spare decor (the minimalist aspect is broken by a single painting), the place exudes the warmth of familial hospitality, with Mr Ko cooking in the open kitchen and his sons running the front of house with great enthusiasm. The food brings a contemporary sensibility to the traditional cooking methods and red-alert seasonings of Korean food, adding tofu and marrow, for instance, to gang doenjang, a thick stew founded on soybean paste. King prawns in gochujang sauce marry seafood freshness and assertive chilli heat to stimulating effect. Ma...

Make no mistake, Miga is a Korean family business in the most deep-rooted way. Grandma sold ox-bone broth in Seoul before a transcontinental uprooting of the clan led to the establishment of a venue in New Malden, epicentre of the expat Korean community. It's possibly an even bigger cultural leap from the suburbs of Greater London to the streets of Hackney, where a polyglot restaurant scene saw Miga welcomed with open arms by locals. Despite the spare decor (the minimalist aspect is broken by a single painting), the place exudes the warmth of familial hospitality, with Mr Ko cooking in the open kitchen and his sons running the front of house with great enthusiasm.

The food brings a contemporary sensibility to the traditional cooking methods and red-alert seasonings of Korean food, adding tofu and marrow, for instance, to gang doenjang, a thick stew founded on soybean paste. King prawns in gochujang sauce marry seafood freshness and assertive chilli heat to stimulating effect.

Main dishes try out innovative treatments such as perilla-seed aïoli with slices of tender brisket, leeks and baby leaves, but don't miss the galbi jjim, traditional beef short rib braised until the meat falls obligingly off the bone, partnered with pear, carrot and shiitake mushrooms – a ‘comforting hug’ of a dish in the words of one reporter. The ox-bone broth, a tribute to grandma's original spirit of enterprise, is nourishing and cleansing, a fitting end to the experience that stands in for the usual empty calories of a pudding.

There’s still no dessert menu – coffee and a bun at Italian Forno next door is an option if you’re there during the day – but Miga is now licensed and has a short list of soju, natural wines (from £35), and beers including Korean Cass and Five Points, brewed down the road. Teas come from Korean specialists Be-oom in Clerkenwell.

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VENUE DETAILS

1 Mare Street
Hackney
E8 4RPGB

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