Meal Ticket: Miso, Sligo

Korean food boasts some of the most profoundly delicious flavours on the planet. My love of this cuisine is closely linked to the fermented chilli paste of gochujang. A friend from Sligo, knowing of my love of Korean food, sent me a note on Miso Sligo, the town’s first Korean-Japanese restaurant.

In the kitchen is Head Chef and owner Nae Young Jung. Born in the small town of Suanbo in South Korea, food was a big part of his childhood. His mother ran a traditional Korean restaurant in their town in the 1980s and his uncle ran a BBQ restaurant in Seoul for close to 30 years. But it wasn’t food that initially brought Jung to Ireland; it was technology. He moved to Sligo in 1991 to work for Saehan, a Korean company that made videotapes, and worked there until the company closed in 2006.

Alongside his wife, Jung went back to his roots and opened Miso in June 2015, enlisting the help of his top sushi chef Ben . “The whole purpose of Miso,” says Jung, “is not only to serve healthier, happier food to the people of Sligo, but to break down the walls that exist between Korea, Japan and Ireland and form stronger links between these three countries.”

Jung brings out our Kimchi Jeon ( €7.50), a large savoury pancake, pan-fried and drawing on the flavours of kimchi, the spicy fermented cabbage that accompanies most Korean meals. It’s sticky and spicy in all the right spots. At our table, we debate the difference between mandu and gyoza (€6.50 for pork mandu/gyoza). Jung explains that they are essentially the same thing, but at Miso Sligo they simply steam the Korean mandu, whereas the Japanese gyoza get a steaming and a spell in the frying pan. Their fillings and the glossy pastry that surrounds them are impeccable, so it’s really a matter of personal choice.

I’m beyond pleased when my Bibimbap (€13.50 with an egg) arrives with my very own squeezy bottle of spicy sauce, laced with gochujang. The success of a bibambap – a bowl of rice and freshly shredded vegetables that can come with beef or tofu – relies on a large dose of the spicy sauce so be generous. The optional egg on top arrives cooked with a soft yolk, instead of a raw egg that gets cooked by the sizzling hot stone bowl in my favoured incarnation of this dish. I miss the sticky crispiness that this serving technique brings to a bibambap, but it’s a gratifying dinner nonetheless.

The Japanese influence on the menu is largely designated to the sushi section, while the larger meals include Korean favourites such as beef bulgogi (€17.50) galbi jeongsik (€19.50), and my aforementioned bibambap. The menu seems pretty set but they keep things interesting by changing their roll of the day every day. In April, that meant an impressive display of lobster sushi roll served in a lobster shell. They source their fish locally from Killybegs and the silky fish in the Tuna Roll (€10.50) is a testament to freshness.

The locals have fallen for Miso, and the 2016 Connaught Restaurant Awards named Miso Sligo as the town’s Best World Cuisine restaurant. Jung is grateful. “At first, I was very hesitant of what people would think of both Japanese and Korean cuisine. You rarely hear people going out to dinner for a bite of ‘bibimbap’ or a meal of ‘galbi jeongsik’ on a Friday evening. But the overwhelmingly positive responses we have been receiving has filled me with an even greater passion to make more recipes and try new, more interesting dishes.”