The award-winning team behind Mexican Seoul has taken over the kitchen at The Adam & Eve in Homerton, serving Korean-influenced smash burgers and some of the best wings we have eaten in London.
Founder Ashley Chipchase and his team spent more than a year pulling apart the components of a great burger and rebuilding them in their own style, even travelling to Seoul as part of the process. The result is Seouls of Mischief, a burger-led sister concept with serious ambitions for London’s burger crown.
Korean ingredients are used with purpose; ssamjang mayonnaise, oi-muchim pickles, soy-braised onions and gochujang sauces are deployed in a way that revitalises pub favourites.
The Ambience
Seouls of Mischief operates from the kitchen at The Adam & Eve, a characterful East End boozer on Homerton High Street.
On the Sunday of our visit, the pub is packed with locals watching football across its screens.
Saturday nights are apparently even busier, so it is worth booking or arriving prepared for a crowd. The atmosphere is lively and relaxed, with groups crowding around tables and orders of burgers and wings constantly emerging from the kitchen. It’s a promising sign of things to come.
Chef Viv is exceptionally helpful, talking us through the sauces and helping us navigate the menu. The pub itself is a good place to spend an afternoon, but Seouls of Mischief is reason enough to make the journey.
The Food
The signature Seouls of Mischief burger costs £12 for a single or £14.50 for a double. Dry-aged beef patties are seasoned for extra umami and layered with American cheese, diced onion, oi-muchim pickles and secret ssamjang mayonnaise inside a soft potato roll.
It is an outrageous burger. The beef is deeply savoury and properly meaty, while the ssamjang mayonnaise is moreish to the point of indecency. The fermented depth of the sauce amplifies the meat, and the pickles bring enough acidity and crunch to keep all that beef and cheese in check. We order the double and, while magnificent, it is almost too much of a good thing. The juices and sauce quickly compromise its structural integrity, leaving us with a delicious landslide. Next time, we would choose the single for a better ratio of bread, toppings and meat. This is also a moment for some practical advice: bring gloves and wipes, abandon any hope of remaining elegant and prepare to get your hands wonderfully dirty.
The Gilbert is also good, combining dry-aged beef with Gouda, soy-braised onions, smoked candied bacon and roast garlic and sesame aioli. However, the caramelised sweetness of the onions and bacon pushes it a little too far in that direction for us. The signature burger is better balanced and comfortably our favourite of the two.
The wings are every bit as impressive as their collection of more than 20 Wing Fest awards suggests. Buffanero wings are coated in the team’s homemade buffalo sauce and served with chipotle blue cheese dip. They deliver a satisfying level of heat, tempered by cooling, gently funky blue cheese. It is a familiar combination, which is executed extremely well.
The Gochu-Gang wings (£11) are the mildest of the three. Glossy, sweet and indulgent, they are finished with sesame seeds, spring onions and gochujang mayonnaise. They would be the best starting point for anyone cautious about spice, although heat seekers may prefer the other sauces.
Soy garlic wings (£11) are a real highlight. Double-fried until exceptionally crisp, they carry a light coating of savoury soy garlic sauce which doesn’t compromise on crunch. They sit on a bed of brittle fried chicken skins, which the menu calls chick-charrones, while caramelised jalapeños add smoke, sweetness and another layer of texture, that makes the plate almost impossible to leave alone.
Corn ribs are ever so slightly heavy handed with the salt but they provide a welcome crunchy sweetness that rounds off the meatier dishes. House fries (£4.50) are perfectly decent, double-fried and dusted with the house seasoning. However, beside burgers and wings this accomplished, they inevitably feel like supporting cast. We would return for the meat and happily treat the fries as an optional extra.
The Verdict
The team ar Seouls of Mischief has thought carefully about balance, texture and how each ingredient contributes to the finished dish. Korean flavours run through the menu without kimchi being thrown at everything for effect, and the only real misstep is the Gilbert’s sweetness. The Adam & Eve is a fitting home: casual, noisy and built for food eaten with both hands. If this is the opening menu, London’s burger crown has a serious new challenger.
The Details
Seouls of Mischief at The Adam & Eve
155 Homerton High Street
London
E9 6AS
Kitchen hours:
Monday to Friday: 5pm to 10pm
Saturday: 12pm to 10pm
Sunday: 12pm to 8pm
Website: www.seoulsofmischief.co.uk
Instagram: @seoulsofmischief