Miga, E8

Love at first bite

It didn’t take me long to fall in love with Miga. One bite, in fact, of crisp-fried tofu was enough to send me to my phone, calendar app open in a flash, plotting how quickly I could come back for more.

Six days later, it turns out, which is when I returned for my second lunch in a week. Those slabs of tofu earned a repeat order, perhaps unsurprisingly. Served atop a thick sauce made from the fermented soybean paste doenjang and some slivers of marrow, this is a plate of perfect contrasts: the tofu’s softness to the crunch of batter; its mildness to the intense umami hit of that thickened soybean stew.

I’ll confess: I’ve eaten an awful lot of fried things in my 30-odd years on this earth. I can’t think of many that have stopped me in my tracks like this.

That deft hand at frying repeats beyond the tofu. A single sea bream fillet is battered even more delicately than the tofu, the soft flesh cooked just firm enough to hold up to the rigours of dunking in a light soy vinaigrette. Cold, spicy noodles come topped with two slivers of beef jeon: strips of battered red meat, fresh from the frier, usually translated slightly optimistically as ‘beef pancake’. From the description you’d marvel that this isn’t the artery-clogging regional specialty of some Irish county’s chippies, but out of this kitchen it feels almost virtuous.

There’s a family to thank for all this. The open kitchen is staffed by a father-son duo, while another (son, not father) manages service. Apparently their mum runs a takeaway by the same name in Morden, and the whole family used to have a spot in New Malden. You don’t have to take my word for it; the writing’s on the wall. Ahem.

This iteration of Miga seems a little different to what’s come before though. They’re pitching this as a modern take on Korean food, not least reflected in the minimalist décor, all white walls and bare wood. You’ve seen this before, but it’s well executed and helps the high-ceilinged dining room feel open and airy. But what makes this Miga modern extends beyond its white walls, carefully chosen menu font, and in-house array of cold-brew teas.

Thickened doenjang sauce, fried fish, and beef joen are all Korean staples to one extent or another, but here repurposed, recombined, and reimagined ever so gently to form a menu that shares obvious DNA with restaurants from Seoul to New Malden, but still feels distinct to itself.

Not every dish requires reinvention, and Miga’s menu is just as careful to leave well enough alone. Their soy-braised short ribs could certainly attest to that, slow-stewed with vegetables and served only with white rice and a simple salad. This is simply a Korean standard executed excellently, meat ready to flee the bone with only the gentlest prodding from a spoon, saving you from the need to jab about awkwardly with flat, metal chopsticks — surely sent as a punishment from God for white men who get too cocky about their table skills.

The soy braise is carefully balanced, its touch of sweetness a perfect foil to the deep bass oomph of the fat-rich ribs, though the sugar threatens to overwhelm a little with the accompanying chunks of carrot and Korean pear, each sweet in their own right.

There’s no such risk with a bowl of brisket and noodles, filled to the brim with ox bone broth. This is the sort of immaculately mild soup that Korean cuisine secretly excels at, though you might not know it from the international rep for kimchi and BBQ. If you were feeling uncharitable you might accuse this of being bland — something I’d clearly never stoop to — but ‘subtle’ is probably fairer. It’s that lightness that keeps the broth from weighing you down, though the remarkably generous serving of perfectly pink brisket will handle that just fine on its own. I only wish they served a bowl of this cold; chilled noodle soups were my repeated saviour on a muggy trip to a sweltering Seoul last August, and I think heatwave London deserves the same treatment. 

My twin visits to Miga have fallen — quite accidentally — on either end of a run of Korean meals that’s taken in bibimbap at Dodam, fried chicken from Masigo, and a mini crawl down in New Malden. I’ve eaten well, to varying degrees, at the lot, but Miga clears them comfortably. This is the best Korean food I’ve had outside of Seoul or L.A., and while I haven’t booked my next visit just yet, don’t be too surprised if you see me there before long.