At the end of last year, I spent two weeks in Seoul with my family. Three out of four of us are vegetarian (and I am gluten free) so I did a lot of research before we left to ensure we could eat. Although it involved research and organisation, it is definitely possible to be vegetarian in Seoul.
Vegetarian in Seoul
It is difficult (but not impossible) to be a vegetarian in Seoul. Most places are meat-focused and vegetarianism doesn’t seem to be that common. However, with a bit of research and dedication, you can make it happen! Here are all my best tips for being a vego in Seoul.
A note on hotel breakfast
Unless you have a solid plan for where to eat breakfast every morning (and a flexible schedule) get the hotel breakfast. None of the hotels I looked at included it for the base rate – it was something you had to add on (and it was expensive!). However, it’s important to keep in mind that a lot of places in Seoul don’t open early. In fact, cafes sometimes opened at 10-11am. If you’re an early riser, it is really hard to wait until that time to get breakfast (and coffee!).
To add insult to injury, the super popular cafes (aka the ones you have saved after seeing them on TikTok) are SO busy. We waited an average of (at least) 1 hour for Artist Bakery – sometimes longer. In summer this wouldn’t be so bad because you could get takeaway, but we went in the depths of winter.
The flow on effect of eating breakfast late is that you’re eating lunch late and basically spending the whole day in search of food you can eat. Some of the restaurants had a break in the afternoon, which means that the specialty vegetarian restaurant you factored in to your itinerary might be closed by the time you arrive.
You are also hungry (or hangry) and desperate by this point, which probably means you’ll end up eating a baked good for lunch (again). Honestly, the one thing I would change about how we did Seoul would be to always include the hotel breakfast.
Tips for being vegetarian or vegan in Seoul
We sought out a list of vegetarian restaurants before we arrived in Seoul. Because we were staying nearby to them, we didn’t try to communicate with any ‘regular’ restaurants in regards to altering a dish. However, we did have to do this in Busan. I had researched a vegetarian friendly bibimbap place only to find there was nothing vegetarian on the menu. So, we successfully used Google Translate to ask if we could have bibimbap without the meat.
All this to say, it’s worth a shot to see if you can leave the meat off a dish if you get stuck. This also might be helpful if you are travelling with a meat eater. This requires that you’re the type of vegetarian who is chill about a bit of stray meat or meat presence, but still.
Bibimbap is quite a vegetarian friendly dish, on the whole. You might be able to find a regular store that happens to do a vegetarian bibimbap. This also goes for gimbap/kimbap – you might get lucky with a vegetarian option. Kimchi is not often vegetarian, but gochujang doesn’t generally have any fish or meat containing ingredients.
Provided you know what you are looking for, food markets are a great way to eat in Korea. You get to try a bit of everything and a number of dishes happen to be vegetarian. I will include a list of things I wanted to try below. It’s worth using Google Translate to double check with the vendor if the dish is vegetarian, as people can put their own spin on dishes. We did a vegetarian food tour of Gwangjang market, but Mangwon and Myeondong are other street stall options. I have a list of potentially vegetarian street foods to try at the bottom of the post.
Apps to have when hunting for vegan and vegan food in Seoul
I recommend researching on TikTok or Happy Cow before you choose a place to stay. We chose Insadong for the culture but also the amount of vegetarian restaurants. I found a lot of my restaurants on TikTok or on Naver.
Happy Cow can be a little hit or miss when it comes to opening times or whether a restaurant has closed. I recommend cross referencing it with Google Maps or Naver and checking that there has been a recent review. I also found that the opening times listed could be a bit hit or miss, too. Double check before you treck somewhere.
Trawling through a Reddit thread, a user suggested that there are Korean apps for vegetarian food. They specified 비건로드 which you could type into Google or your App Store. These might be more up to date than Happy Cow.
There is a Facebook called group called Vegan Korea which you can find here. Worth checking out before your trip.
I used Naver maps to pin all of my restaurants, bars and cafes before I left. This way, it was easy to pull up the map and find something to eat wherever we ended up. You can find my Naver map here – it includes bars, cool shops, gluten free places and anything I wanted to see as well.
Where to stay as a vegetarian in Seoul
If you want to try Korean temple food, I recommend staying in Insadong/Ikseondong/Jongno areas. This area had the largest concentration of temple food restaurants that I researched. This meant that there were lots of options for vegetarian/vegan lunch or dinner within walking distance from our hotel (we stayed at Moxy Insadong). Temple food is naturally vegetarian or vegan. Oftentimes it is also onion and garlic free which is great for low FODMAP diners.
Another option is Myeongdong because of the central location and ability to walk to restaurants. Myeondong is about a 20 minute walk from some of the temple food restaurants in Insadong.
If you are not fussed about trying Korean food, Itaewon area has a breadth of Western style or International vegetarian and vegan restaurants.
I will list the restaurants I had on my agenda in (very rough) suburb groups below. You can also find this link to my Naver map – it includes vegetarian and gluten free places as well as great bars.
Something to keep in mind is that so many new restaurants pop up all the time. These are all open as of June 2025, but I recommend double checking before you hail a taxi over.
Vegetarian restaurants in Insadong, Myeondong and Jongno areas
- Sanchon – temple food in a gorgeous little quirky gallery/restaurant
- Osegyaehyang – delicious temple food
- Vegan Insa – a cute and delicious temple food style restaurant
- Balwoo Gongyang – temple food sort of fine dining (we didn’t go but it was high on my list!)
- Maru Jayeonsik Gimbap – Vegan authentic Korean food
- Maji – temple food (we tried to go but they were closed)
- Jihwaja – Korean banquet with vegetarian and gluten free options as well as regular options
- Han Gwa Chae – buffet style vegan temple food
- Future Bakery – vegan cakes and breads along with smoothies, sandwiches and apparently some gluten free options
- Ashville Bakery cafe – vegan cakes, sandwiches and baked goods. If you are not gluten free this place looks delicious
- Gmanim – Korean vegetarian food with good gluten free options
- Soiroum – vegetarian and vegan food with gluten free options
- A Flower Blossom on the Rice – an eco friendly restaurant that has vegan/vegetarian options as well as meat based dishes
- Onmaeul – Korean tofu restaurant where some items can be vegan
- American Brunch cafe – not vegetarian but has vegetarian options as was open early when we went so a good breakfast option
- Artist Bakery – a bakery with the best salt bread (according to my gluten eating trip companions) as well as delicious soup for the vegetarian/gluten free amongst us
- On the Move* – International vegetarian and vegan food on a rooftop (Eujilro) *might be called Move Green @Euljispace now
- Vegan Kitchen in Myeongdong
- Mokmyeoksanbang – Michelin bibimbap with vegetarian options as well as regular options (Myeongdong-ish area)
- Daom Vegetarian Noodle Restaurant in Yongsan (not quite either Myeongdong or Jogno-gu but worth including – it’s right by Seoul Station if you have time before a train trip)
- Cafe Siva in Yongsan district – a vegan fusion restaurant near Seoul Station in Yongsan district
- Little Gangster in Yongsan district – vegan Western inspired menu
Vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Itaewon and surrounds
- Plant Cafe – a vegan cafe and bakery open for lunches and dinners. They have one venue in Itaewon and another in Yeonnam.
- Camouflage – An American Chinese restaurant that uses faux meats
- Monk’s Butcher – vegetarian and vegan with a creative international menu
- Vegetus – vegan restaurant with good gluten free options
- Vin Vin – a delicious restaurant and wine bar in Haebangcheon. Not vegetarian but catered amazingly to vegetarians. Their sister restaurant Neighbours also has vegetarian brunch options.
- Nono Shop – vegan cafe/restaurant with bulk food store as well. The website isn’t clear whether it is desserts only or meals as well
- Buddha’s Belly – a Thai restaurant in Itaewon with vegan options
- Alt.A – Michelin casual vegetarian Pan Asian inspired dishes
- Lazy Farmers – Vegan with an international/Italian flair
- Mama Ethiopia Cuisine – Ethiopian with vegetarian options
- Parc – Korean restaurant with meat and vegetarian options
- By Tofu – Vegan cafe and bakery that also does hot foods
- Spoonery – healthy brunch cafe with vegan and vegetarian options
Vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Gangnam and surrounds
- Plantude in Coex Mall – Modern fusion Korean
- Mahina Vegan Table – vegan restaurant with international menu
- Nammi Plant Lab – plant based cafe and dessert bakery that also does pizza and pasta
- Veg Green Buffet – Korean vegan and vegetarian buffet food
- Vegan Veganing – vegan sandwiches and bakery items as well as hot dishes
- Pinch Brunch Bar – sustainable plant based food and wine bar
- Loving Hut – vegan/vegetarian chain with Pan Asian food
- Alt.A – Michelin guide casual vegetarian Pan Asian inspired dishes
- Dahlia Dining – a vegan ‘fancy’ restaurant with pizza and pasta
- Legume – plant based fine dining
Vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Mapo-gu and Hongdae areas
- Chez Valerie – a French Canadian vegan restaurant
- Base is Nice – seasonal vegetarian and vegan brunch and dinner restaurant
- URT – vegan restaurant and bakery serving hot dishes as well
- Veganique – a vegan bakery serving alt milks for coffee and delicious cakes
- Around Green – vegan pizza, pasta and rice dishes
- Cow Tteokbokki – regular and vegetarian/vegan dishes
- Sunny Bowl – vegetarian and vegan pastas, rices and curries
- Sunny Bread – delicious gluten free bakery with vegetarian and vegan options (near Sangsu station)
- Fully Gimbap – gimbap and bibimbap with vegetarian options
- Around Green – vegan pizza, pasta and some Asian inspired dishes
- Dupuri Dupang – vegan gluten free bakery
- Greener – salad bar chain with vegetarian and vegan options
- JumJumJumJumJumJum – plant based Korean fusion
- Weirdough – vegan pizza and pastas (in Seodaemun-gu so not quite in Mapo-gu)
Vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Seongsu-dong
- Cosmos Grocery cafe – vegan restaurant with sandwiches as well as Korean dishes
- Grandmothers Kitchen – not vegetarian or vegan but there were options. Inexpensive and delicious
- Mitbord – Plant based Danish style cafe
- Seongsu Baking Studio – a bakery that seems to have vegetarian bagel and toast options
Korean street food that may be vegetarian
A few quick caveats: this all depends on the vendor and their understanding of vegetarianism. Vegetarianism is not as widely understood in Korea as it might be where you live. Whether or not you decide to try street food depends on how willing you are to get some accidental meat or animal product in your food. You can use Google Translate to ask, but that doesn’t always mean the spirit of your question will be understood. I have read it is better to ask ‘is there meat or fish in this?’ as opposed to ‘is this vegetarian?’ because of the lack of understanding in regards to vegetarianism.
For definition purposes, I include eggs, dairy, honey and cheese in my idea of a vegetarian diet. Whether you do or don’t will change this list.
These are things I researched for our trip and are (hopefully) vegetarian. They are not necessarily vegan, nor are they necessarily gluten free. Take it as a loose guide!
- Hotteok – a sweet hot pancake filled with syrup (sometimes honey) and nuts. There are flavour variations as well.
- Pajeon – spring onion pancakes (My mum got a surprise shrimp one so double check that yours is vegetarian)
- Kongguksu – soy milk noodle soup
- Mattang – deep fried caramelised sweet potato
- Japchae – cold sweet potato noodle dish that is delicious (make sure it’s vegetarian though)
- Hweori gamja – potato swirls on a stick (sometimes called potato tornados)
- Bindaetteok – mung bean pancakes (some of them contain pork so be sure to get plain)
- Tanghulu – sugary glazed fruit sticks
- 10 won bread – cheese coins filled with mozzarella (the mozzarella may or may not be made with animal rennet)
- Twisted donuts – we had delicious donuts at Gwangjang market. They are made with glutinous rice flour but I suspect wheat flour as well sadly.
- Injeolmi – mochi-like dessert made with glutinous rice flour and covered in roasted soybean powder. Delicious and conveniently gluten free.
- Bingsu – a shaved ice dessert often topped with fruits, red beans and condensed milk
Tips for eating vegetarian and gluten free in Seoul
At home, I am 100% gluten free. In Seoul, however, I found it almost impossible to eat both gluten free and vegetarian. While on the surface it would appear that Korean food is naturally gluten free, almost all the dishes use soy sauce which is often made with wheat. Many dishes also use gochujang which is traditionally made with barley.
I am not a diagnosed coeliac, so I did the best I could eating low gluten foods. I prioritised gluten free where possible and flour free where possible. However, here are my tips for being both gluten free and vegetarian in Seoul.
- Stay in a BNB or a space with your own fridge and kitchen. This sucks, but it is true. If you are a coeliac, I would probably recommend cooking most of your food at home. My experience was that a fair few places make gluten free goods, but they aren’t dedicated gluten free. 100% rice flour baked goods were a trend when I was in Seoul (December 2024). As such, they were made and served alongside regular, wheat based goods.
- When researching a restaurant, make sure it is dedicated gluten free and not just offering gluten free options. The only places I found were Sunnybread (which has changed names to SunnyHouse since I visited) and Snackroom (which closed down right before my visit due to water damage) and is now called Nageunae Seoul. I am sure there are more, so do a deep dive (I will be writing up a gluten free guide to Seoul soon).
- New restaurants and cute little spaces pop up all the time in Seoul, so be open to trying places if you walk past them and can be sure they are 100% gluten free for coeliacs.
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