Myung Ga Korean Restaurant

This is the go-to restaurant for Koreans in the neighborhood.  On-site owners maintain strict quality control, especially over banchan (side dishes), which are excellent.  Forget meat dishes - the house specializes in fish, especially their spicy fish stew (dongtae jjigae).

December 2016 Korean Food Trip

You would know that a Korean restaurant is authentic when you see that most of its patrons are Korean. That is certainly the case for Myung Ga. There are many Korean restaurants in Ermita-Malate area tucked in every street corner but this one stood out because of outstanding recommendations from friends and frequent visitors.

They serve a variety of appetizers. While most serve 5-6 varieties, this one serves up to 8 different appetizers. According to the waitress, several of its ingredients are flown in from Korea. That is why some of the vegetables are not familiar. Mostly vegetable appetizers were served, they also offered clams and dried seaweeds. My personal favorite was the cucumber kimchi because of its crunch, freshness and heat.

We ordered 2 servings of samgyupsal (grilled pork belly) accompanied spicy scallion salad and lettuce. It was served with the following dips: sesame oil with salt and fermented soybean paste. Meat was tender and not overcooked. We asked waitress to cook it in the kitchen instead of table side. My only comment is they don't have a wide selection of grilled meats as compared to the other restaurants within the vicinity.

We also ordered kimchi stew with tuna instead of pork (kimchi-chamchi jjgae). As always soup was spicy and flavorful. Tuna was tender and fresh. Soup had this distinct fishy taste which was very appetizing.

To cap off the wonderful meal, we were served with an interesting dessert. Its actually sweetened rice broth which washed away the spice in our taste buds.

This restaurant has become my favorite go-to restaurant. Simply the best Korean restaurant in town. I'm quite surprised that it's not listed in Zomato when I checked in November 2016. We'll definitely come back for more!