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Mingles awarded a third Michelin star in dining guide’s 2025 Seoul and Busan edition

Chef Kang Min-goo is emotional as his modern Korean restaurant achieves the ultimate accolade in the Michelin Guide Seoul & Busan 2025

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Chef Kang Min-goo receives congratulations after learning that his restaurant Mingles has been awarded a third Michelin star in the Michelin Guide Seoul & Busan 2025. It is the only restaurant in South Korea with three Michelin stars. Photo: YouTube/Michelin Guide Asia

More than a decade after opening, Mingles restaurant in Seoul has been elevated to three-Michelin-star status in the Michelin Guide Seoul & Busan 2025.

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Opened by chef Kang Min-goo in 2014, the fine-dining venue was awarded its first Michelin star in 2017, the year the Seoul edition of the international dining guide was launched.

It earned a second star the following year, which it has held until its elevation in the latest guide. In 2019, the restaurant relocated from Cheongdam to its current address in the South Korean capital’s moneyed Gangnam district.

“It’s still hard to believe that something I’ve always wished for and imagined is actually happening,” Kang says in an emotional video produced by the Michelin Guide Asia in which the chef is informed his restaurant has earned its third star via a video call with the guide’s international director, Gwendal Poullennec.

Kang Min-goo of Mingles learns of its third Michelin star in a video call with Michelin Guides international director Gwendal Poullenec. Photo: YouTube/Michelin Guide Asia
Kang Min-goo of Mingles learns of its third Michelin star in a video call with Michelin Guides international director Gwendal Poullenec. Photo: YouTube/Michelin Guide Asia

“I’ll keep working hard, challenging myself, and pushing to make sure this restaurant is one I can be truly proud of,” Kang adds.

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