Saumya Jain, New Delhi
The increasing trend of K-dramas and K-pop has been spreading worldwide and so is the widespread K-lifestyle and K-food. Nowadays people are so fond of tasting and exploring Korean food as much as they can hence resulting in high demand for Korean Restaurants in India. From Soju to Korean Ramyeon, which caught our attention from Korean dramas, we have been trying to explore more Korean dishes.
But here comes the twist, being an Indian and especially vegetarian, it becomes challenging to try every Korean dish, plus if we wish to travel to South Korea someday it is going to be challenging to search for vegetarian options. So, to lessen your worries, I did some research as to what possible options are available for you to try from Korean dishes and also, some options which can help you on your trip to South Korea as a vegetarian. Some of the Korean dishes that can be easily converted into vegetarian options are:
Firstly, Gimbap in which rice vinegar and sugar are commonly added to sticky cooked rice for Japanese-style sushi rolls. Gimbaps’ rice is seasoned with sesame oil and salt for a unique flavour. Kimbap can contain processed cheese slices, tuna, meat, spam, or a scrambled egg strip, but the vegan version will contain cucumber, radish, carrot etc. to fill you up, so basically you can customise your ingredients as a vegetarian.
Secondly, we have Japchae also called Korean sweet potato noodles, ordering japchae without pork is a simple way to make it vegan. Sweet potato noodles are a great side dish or main meal when coupled with mushrooms, carrots, and other vegetables.
Third we have the Bibimbap, which is a combo of veggies and rice. This can be another dish as part of your survival kit. This dish’s heart is made up of vegetables, rice, and gochujang (red chilli paste), and it can be requested in a hot stone bowl! Don’t forget to mention vegetarian/vegan bibimbap, just in case they put eggs on top of the bowl or any other non-veg items.
Now let’s talk about some of the vegetarian and vegan cafes and restaurant options in South Korea-
Starting with Loving Hut which is a vegan restaurant franchise whose each location is independently owned and operated, and each menu is created and set by the business owners. Loving Hut eateries are springing up all over the world. It’s an invitation to enjoy excellent international cuisine at a fantastic price that’s entirely created without animals and with healthy vegan ingredients, making it an accessible starting point for individuals who wish to make the honourable switch to a plant-based diet. The restaurants are widely spread across South Korea, a link has been provided for checking out the locations.
Address: 35 Gaepo-ro 22-gil, Gaepo-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Picture Credits: Loving Hut (http://www.lovinghut.kr/)
Second, we have Plant Cafe Seoul, it is a 100% plant-based restaurant and bakery in Seoul’s downtown district. They’ve been one of Seoul’s leading vegan restaurants for quite some time. Once you enter this café, you can freely and without any worry order anything as it’s completely vegetarian and vegan.
Address: 2 floors, 117 Bogwang-ro, Itaewon 1(il)-Dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Picture Credits: Plant Cafe Seoul (https://www.plantcafeseoul.com/)
Third, we have a list of some Indian restaurants where we can surely find vegetarian food at any cost, after all, it is our desi and safest option-
1. TAJ- Taste of India (Myeongdong Store) has multiple floors and is a large, upscale Indian restaurant. A menu of traditional Indian cuisine, including vegetarian options, is available. Lunchtime fixed menus (big/small, veg/non-veg) are also available.
Address: 73 Myeongdong-gil, Myeongdong 1(il)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
Picture Credits: https://www.instagram.com/taj_tasteofindia
2. Jyoti Indian Restaurant is a good place to go if you want to eat Indian food. Both vegetarian and non-vegetarian alternatives are available on the menu, which is prepared by competent chefs with plenty of expertise. On weekdays from 11.30 a.m to 2 p.m, set lunches are offered, and for dinner, a variety of sets are provided.
Address: 6, Sinchon-ro 20-gil, Mapo-gu 3 Floor, Seoul 04101 South Korea.
Picture Credits: https://www.jyotifood.com/
3. New Delhi Restaurant has a 5-star rating on TripAdvisor and is an Indian restaurant in Seoul which has been liked by many travellers and tourists across the world. One should give it a try when you go to South Korea, especially, for vegetarians as it has many vegetarian options on its menu.
Address: 28, Nonhyeon-ro 176-gil, Gangnam-gu, Sinsadong, Seoul 06022 South Korea.
You can check out more Indian restaurants in South Korea on websites like TripAdvisor etc and can select the ones you like the most and would like to visit. A link has been provided for the same. I hope this article will be of your help once you travel to South Korea. Keep this article saved with you, it will benefit you later, especially for all the vegetarians out there.
Link for more Indian restaurants in South Korea:
https://www.tripadvisor.in/Restaurants-g294197-c24-Seoul.html
Let us know in the comments which of these restaurants would you like to visit in South Korea?
Thanks for these vegetarian options! I would love to try japchae😍
I tried gimbap earlier which was so good but never tried japchae and bibimbap so wanna try them soon and as a vegetarian I was always wondering whether I can get veg options in Korea but now I’m tension free after reading this article. Thanks a lot to hallyuism for sharing such a informative article. These places are now in my list for future travel♥️
I loved the article 👍
Wow! Awesome.i wanna try it😋
One of my close friends is planning to go to Korea, and moreover, she is a vegetarian. So I was wondering if there are some vegetarian options in Korean food. And this article is the perfect answer😌 I am a hardcore nonvegetarian, but sometimes I prefer vegan foods, so it’s also helpful for me😍❤
Wonderful options provided. Lovely article. I have tried gimbap and bibimbimap, I am yet to try japchae.
Good for vegetarians
Added all in my bucket list
Woww..Thanks to this article that I got to know about the vegetarian options and some awesome hotels 👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻
Aigoo such a nice help for all the vegetarians like me!!
Can’t wait to visit and try everything 🤌🏻💜🥹
Good for vegetarians
Presently Korean Cuisine has been popular among the young people, but there are very stipulated veg options available, regarding this issue, most of traveler’s gets to fear travel to South Korea. But presently thanks to Culinary Arts & great Chief, now we can taste Kimbap, Bibimbap, Totkkeoboki without any hesitation. Let’s try…
All about tasty tasty food🤤❤️
Thankyou for this article 🤩🤩💞
YUM YUM YUM🤤🤤
Sonia..
Wonderful options provided. Amazing article. I want to tried gimbap and bibimbimap, japchae. I Added all in my bucket list . ❤❤ i can’t wait for try 🤭
Great article
It will be of great use if I ever get to visit the country
A very helpful article for people visiting South Korea
Thank you for these suggestions… Very informative💙💙
Thank you for writing this article on Vegetarian Food Options in South Korea – it was much needed and very helpful! I especially appreciated the information about the Indian food restaurants – I can’t wait to try them out when I go there.😍😍😍
Thanks for the article it’s really informative this article will be really useful to me when I Korea 💜💜🙏🙏
I loved the article 👍
Loved the article 🔥
For someone who is vegetarian, this article is miracle, literally 🥺 and that someone is me. We definitely need articles like this.
Although I’m a non-veg food lover but sometimes I love veg food also. Thanks to this informative and we’ll written article, i got to know many veg food options available in South Korea. And one of my friend is going to visit Korea soon and he’s vegetarian too. Therefore, this article will be helpful for him and many veg food eater as well. Thankyou~ 😍💜
My vegetarian frnds are so happy…. and so interesting article 😍😍✨
Gimbap is a very favourite vegetarian option. Love it.
As a vegetarian I’m very grateful for this article! Even tho I don’t know when I’ll be able to visit Korea but I’ll sure save these recommendations!!
Thank you for all the recommendations and I wish to try all of them😭❣️
Thanks for the recommendation! Would love to try these
One of the best article for the vegetarians like me, indeed enjoying japchae and kimbap as a vegetarian is same you have nectar from Heaven 😋😋
There are so many options for veg ppl..but still in korea I don’t think 😄 I would prefer veg food. Nice article 👍
Whenever I think about South Korea, I alwayS thought thát it’s gonna be a lot of problems for me for food as I am vegetarian, thank god I received this article. It’s so helpful
A meat eater on most days, 😁😋, it’s good to know that I can explore vegetarian options should I crave for anything veg. Also, very helpful article.. i have so many friends who want to try korean food but can’t because they don’t know about the vegetarian options…
This was very helpful and well written 🤤
Very informative would love to try them 🤤😋
I’m a non vegetarian but if ever visit South Korea it’ll be helpful for me to search veg restaurant cuz of this article. It’s very informative.
Such a thoughtful article and well written 🤤
Very informative would love to try this 🤤😋
Amazing will try🤝🏻👍🏻💖💖
Sometimes when i saw YouTube bloggers sharing that in korea all food items got meat I always thought about how will i survive… But after knowing this articles I am happy to see there are many options for veggie lovers…
wow
I really want to try all of these cuisine 🤤
So helpful and delicious 💯
Thank you so much for this helpful article
Bibimbap is my favourite and japchae looks so yumm would love to visit all these restaurants…must try Taj restaurant food ❤️😍
gonna send this article to all my vegetarian friends who like Korean food! 😀
This article is so helpful 👍🙌
Oh my my…so many options :O Amazing content!
🤤🤤🤤