Ottawa Foodies

Contrary to LiveToEat's blatant speculation, the owners of this establishment have and have had nothing whatsoever to do with Seoul House. They are only in the country a few years and this is their first restaurant.

You know, somehow I recognized the owner of this place. I suppose if you’ve been in Ottawa as long as I have, and eaten at as many restaurants, even though these Koreans all look the same, they start to look the same…

Anyway, I didn’t confirm, but I am sure he was the previous owner of Seoul House. And his kids have grown and started to help.

Lunch was $50 all in for two…That’s pretty expensive in my book, especially for a Korean greasy spoon. Would have been much cheaper at Arum’s, but then my son, who I went with... the sushi fiend, liked the taste at this place better than Arum. And I must say he has more delicate taste than I.

For a place that calls itself Mi Ga, which loosely translated is The House of Taste (or Mi), the miso soup was insipid! I added salt to it! But then I am rough at the edges….

Then we thought we would order two lunch specials, but before that, assuming the portions were small, we thought we would order a soft shell crab appetizer to share ($11.95!). The soft-shell crab was OK to interesting at best. Looked nice, but suspect it was not thawed out properly before deep frying. Smelled fishy. It was a nice crab as in before freezing as you could see the central roe… but for two bites, it was expensive at that price.

Then we had the bulkoki lunch and the sashimi domburi lunch. Presentation was excellent. Explains a lot of the pics from FF. But the taste while being better than Arum was OK. Pretty hard to make minced raw fish taste good. You have to sub with quantity as in Steak Tartare… as opposed to the Koreans that fill with veggies… finely sliced up of course.. Their kimchi was not very good….Arum’s is better...much.... Taste was essentially flat, not spicy. But then I am rough at the edges, right… The other veggies were nice, but nothing to write home about. The beef had a nice taste, my son says better than Arum’s, but Arum’s is in deep trouble because their sizzling plates don’t even sizzle! And they are just down the road

Service was ok... with tea for two, it came to $25 pp for lunch, the portions were small, and I am still hungry…presentation is just not enough and prices are still from the old days of Seoul House... expensive…..

Would I go back... if in the mood for expensive Korean greasy spoon… maybe… but there’s Kwon’s, Seoul House and more…. And for the sushi… my son’s reply was … I would go to all you can eat… it’s a lot cheaper and well…. He’s the expert on sushi….

I was here on Thursday and had the Spicy Tuna Roll; I’m a vegetarian that eats fish occasionally, and I was quite impressed. The service was wonderful, the soup was tasty and a great way to start our meal and my sushi was just spicy enough. Although, there was something crunchy in the sushi that threw me off. I chalk this up to ignorance as I don’t eat sushi that often. Any ideas about what it could be?

I’ve been here in the past and ordered the smoked salmon rolls and would highly recommend them! It comes with mustard sauce which I didn’t really use. Both times, the waitress has brought our table free cinnamon ice tea after our meal and I found this a great compliment to the spicy sushi.

The place is super clean including the washrooms.

Always fans of Korean food, we were eager to visit this place. The Ottawa Express review stated that Miga labels itself as "fine dining" so we tried not to dress like slobs. However, it turns out to be very casual and you could wear anything here. It is also extremely clean and nice inside.

Service was perfect: friendly, attentive and unintrusive. Food arrived to our table swiftly and with good timing. Prices are similar to what you see at standard Japanese restaurants.

My favourite thing about Korean dining is the tasty complimentary side dishes. This time, we received the ubiquitous kimchi, a pickled diced root vegetable, and a cold soba-like sesame flavoured dish. Our only complaint was the miso soup; it didn't have enough salt and only tasted of green onions. Even so, it was a welcome treat.

The green tea was pleasant and mild -- great for soothing our palates when we needed a reprieve from the chili burn of our spicy dishes.

After the meal, we were given complimentary small cups of ice cold sweet cinnamon-flavoured punch. Not that gross artifical cinnamon, but a sort of cold tea that was clearly made by boiling sticks of pure cinnamon. Very nice! Some web research indicates that this is known as Soo Jeong Gwa.

In this photo, you see some of our appetizers: the Tempura appetizer, the Edamame and the Seafood Pancake. We also tried the California Roll, which I thought was pretty good although wifey found the rice to be more dry than usual.

We will return!

I've eaten at Miga half a dozen times or more since it opened, and haven't had a bad meal yet. The seafood pancake is great--lots of squid, shrimp, and veggies, sometimes eggy to the point of being more like a omelet, never greasy like other places tend to make it. Oh, and it's huge. Another favourite is the sashimi donburi: chopped raw fish (sometimes salmon, sometimes tuna or snapper, sometimes all three) with four or five kinds of shredded raw vegetables, to be mixed with rice and chili paste. All the raw fish and veg makes me feel virtuous, and it's tasty as all get out. Good dolsot bibimbap too--a bit light on the beef, but made with more of the shredded raw veggies rather than the usual pickled ones, and topped with a raw egg (it cooks in the hot stone bowl) rather than the fried one most other places use. And last but not least, the sundubu chigae: soft tofu, clams, squid, and little chunks of pork in a boiling chili broth with an egg poaching in it. I've had other versions where you taste nothing but the chili, but here there's some depth of flavour, a kind of smokiness to the broth, as well as a hefty hit of chili heat. For some reason, though, the heat starts out fierce and gets milder as you keep going--the first spoonful is like "I'm never going to finish this," and then twenty minutes later (because it's boiling as well as chili hot), you're scraping up the last spoonful of broth,and your mouth isn't on fire, but your scalp is tingling and your little toes are warm. Nothing like chigae on those cold, damp days where you feel like you'll never warm up! (My dad would add that it's because chili is good for your circulation, too.)

Review: www.ottawaxpress.ca

I visited Miga Thursday evening and ordered the Dolsot Bibimbap. I've also tried this dish at Seoul House, and definitely thought Miga's was superior. Completely agree with Fresh Foodie's take on the dish. The sesame oil adds a nice flavour, and the vegetables on the top are fresh and the bowl sizzled nicely as it arrived.

You can also order the Bibimbap, which I believe is the exact same dish except without the stone bowl. It is $2 more for the Dolsot Bibimbap, which kind of makes a frugal foodie like myself think about downgrading to save the $2 if that's the only difference. But the crispy rice on the bottom of the bowl is definitely tasty.

The Dolsot Bibimap is very good here! A strong taste of sesame oil permeates the dish and they give you a bottle of spicy sauce that you can squirt in to bring the spice up to just past your comfort level. Presentation is beautiful and memorable.

Quite good. I didn't realise how good until I had more elsewhere a week or two later. Chilled but not refrigerated, and not mushy in the least.

A coworker of mine's parents own Miga and he just gave me one of these which he could not finish from his lunch. Basically a giant, triangular sushi - it was extremely yummy!

Wow! Your picture captured the steam coming out from the soup.

I followed Duckfat's recommendation and ordered the Sundubu Chigae. It arrived still boiling, and continued to bubble vigorously for a good 3 or 4 minutes!

The flavour was nice and very spicy indeed! So spicy that it might be better as a miso-sized appetizer. That said, I happily finished it and enjoyed the warm afterglow. It comes with a little bowl of steamed rice, which helps extinguish the fire once in a while. Thanks for the recommendation Duckfat!

I found the kimchi to be not very spicy, but wifey reassured me that this was only because the soup I was eating was more spicy! :-)