Myung Ga

I'm a sucker for a gimmick. And although this Korean restaurant isn't being deliberately gimmicky, the idea of having your food cooked on hot-plates installed in to your table is something I had to try! I actually went here for the first time on a work night out and knew I had to experience it again. Based on Kingly Street in London, Myung Ga is slap bang in the middle of alleyways and back streets which run between Oxford Street, Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus. 

When inside, it doesn't try to be anything it's not. It's not sleek or modern in any way but it still draws the crowds in consistently. As I said, the main feature of this is the fact that food is cooked on your own hot-plates. We had our waitress do it for us but I was aware of other tables doing it themselves (maybe they're regulars and could be trusted not to burn the place down?!). 

The drinks menu is lacking unless you're really into Sake of any kind (which I can safely say I'm not). Only the house wine is sold by the glass which, lets be honest, is always going to taste like vinegar. Put it this way: don't come here for the booze. 
The food menu on the other hand is totally different from what I might normally stumble across. Again, it doesn't try to be glamorous. It is simple, traditional Korean food which features a wide range of meat, seafood and pancake-style dishes. 




We decided to order a bunch of stuff to come together so that we could mix and match. However, we ended up with a selection of cold vegetable dishes as a "starter" which kind of defeated the point but they were nice all the same. These assorted vegetable dishes included the traditional kimchee (pickled cabbage), marinated cucumber, radish and beansprout. On their own, they don't consist of much but they are awesome when added to the main attraction (more on that later!)






We also got some of the panfried dumplings stuffed with beef and vegetables and some of the panfried courgette. Both were nice although you could've had the same items anywhere else.  



Now to the hot-plate. You get to choose from a selection of meat cuts or seafood (or both), which have been prepared and marinaded differently depending on what you order. For example, you could have beef ribs marinated in soy, onions and garlic sauce, or even sliced ox tongue marinated in lemon juice. Being a seafood lover, we went for the assorted seafood BBQ which included prawn, squid, scallops and mussels. Whatever you decide, it gets prepared in front of you and served with large lettuce leaves which you use as your "wrap". 

Now comes the bit to get creative! Using the lettuce leaves, you can construct your own little beaut of a wrap using the sauces they automatically provide, vegetables and whatever your protein you opted for. Think of it as REALLY low-carb burger. Having said that, we ordered a side of rice so you can easily bulk it out a bit with that. 

And there you have it! Each bite can be filled with pride at knowing you (kind of) made it yourself. You get plenty of stuff to put together about 4 wraps each but, if not enough, just order more!

Overall, I would 100% recommend this place, even if just for the fact it's something a little bit different. The only downside though is that, due to ordering all items separately, the cost can very quickly add up. We were definitely left wondering how we'd spent so much money considering we didn't really eat that much. So yeh...have a calculator to hand!

Nic
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