Looking for vegan restaurants in Seoul, South Korea?
Looking for vegan restaurants in Seoul, South Korea?
This list includes cafés, restaurants, dessert shops, bakeries and street food markets. Local specialties such as hotteok, chapssal donuts, mungbean pancakes and tteok, as well as other foods such as croissants and cookies.
In this list, I have only featured the vegan restaurants in Seoul that I personally visited and ate at. There are many more that I haven't visited yet, some of which I have added to the bottom of the post, and I will keep updating this list as I keep visiting more!
Tips for eating at vegan restaurants in Seoul:
- Restaurant opening times can be irregular - before visiting, make sure to check the opening days and times to make sure that you are not disappointed by a closed restaurant!
- Allergies - some of these vegan restaurants offer gluten-free options, but if you have coeliac disease, a wheat allergy or are severely gluten-intolerant, I would recommend double-checking at the restaurant to ask about cross-contamination.
- English menus - restaurants in Seoul with vegan options tend to be popular with foreigners and tourists, so a lot of vegan restaurants there have English menus too.
- Navigation - please note that Google Maps does not really work well in South Korea, so it's recommended to download an app called Naver Map to use for navigation while you're there.
Yeopguleugi
Location:
Mangwon.
What type of food they serve:
Soups, salads, pasta dishes, cookies, different types of drinks.
Is the restaurant fully vegan?
No, but there are a lot of vegan dishes.
Gluten-free + allergy-friendly?
Some of the menu items should be naturally gluten-free, but best to ask and double-check.
Comments:
Food was delicious, and there was a lovely relaxing vibe inside the restaurant!
Peace Coffee House
Location:
Gangnam.
What type of food they serve:
Cakes, traditional Korean desserts like glutinous rice flour donuts, tea and coffee drinks.
Is the restaurant fully vegan?
No, but some of the items are naturally vegan.
Gluten-free + allergy-friendly?
Some of the traditional Korean desserts and most of the drinks should be naturally gluten-free, but it's best to ask to double-check.
Comments:
- I tried the glutinous rice flour donut which was naturally vegan, and it was delicious.
- There's a nostalgic vintage/retro vibe inside this café, which you might appreciate if you've watched some Korean dramas set in the 80s or 90s.
Gwangjang Market Chapssal Kkwabaegi
Location:
Gwangjang Market.
What type of food they serve:
Traditional Korean donuts made with glutinous rice flour.
Is the restaurant fully vegan?
No, but most of the donuts are naturally vegan.
Gluten-free + allergy-friendly?
The donuts should be naturally gluten-free as they're made using glutinous rice flour, but it's best to ask to double-check.
Comments:
The donuts here were really delicious! The shop is really popular and there was a long line, but it moved quickly.
Nuldam Space
Location:
Near Gyeongbok Palace. There's also another location in Haebangchon.
What type of food they serve:
Vegan croissants, croffles (croissant waffles), brownies, different types of tea and coffee drinks.
Is the restaurant fully vegan?
Yes.
Gluten-free + allergy-friendly?
The croissants etc all contain gluten, but most of the drinks should be naturally gluten-free, though it's best to ask to double-check.
Comments:
This café is special because they also have a letter-writing service. It's a really fun concept - you can buy a letter-writing set to write a letter to your future self, which the café will schedule to be posted to you 1 year later!
Gwangjang Market
Location:
Jongno.
What type of food they serve:
It's a street food market with lots of different types of traditional Korean foods.
Is the restaurant fully vegan?
No, but a lot of the items are naturally vegan!
Gluten-free + allergy-friendly?
Some of the items I've featured below should be naturally gluten-free, but best to ask to double-check.
Comments:
This is hotteok - a sweet pancake filled with cinnamon and sugar.
These are bindaetteok - savoury pancakes made using mung bean flour!
- This is sikhye - a fermented rice drink, which is subtly sweet and very refreshing.
- This may not be fully gluten-free, as sometimes it's fermented using malt, which may contain gluten. So it's best to ask to double-check!
These are tteok - glutinous rice cakes filled with red bean paste. They sell many different types in different flavours and shapes.
Mangwon Market
Location:
Mangwon.
What type of food they serve:
I found this Korean donut shop at the end of Mangwon Market, which is a local street-food market selling different types of traditional Korean foods.
Is the restaurant fully vegan?
No, but a lot of the items are naturally vegan.
Gluten-free + allergy-friendly?
These donuts are made using glutinous rice flour, so they should be naturally gluten-free, but ask to double-check.
Comments:
I tried a glutinous rice flour donut filled with red bean paste (chapssal donut), which was delicious!
Other vegan restaurants in Seoul
I didn't get to try any of these places, but they also all offer vegan food:
- Maru Jayeonsik Kimbap - Insadong
- byTOFU - Yongsan
- Vegan Kitchen - Myeongdong
- ALT.a - Itaewon
- Rooted Seoul - Songpanaru
- Plant Cafe Seoul - Itaewon
- Cafe SIVA - Namyeong
- STYLEVEGAN - Gangnam
- Osegye Hyang - Insadong
- Plantude - Coex Mall Gangnam & CGV Park Mall Yongsan
- Vegan Insa - Insadong
- Cow Beer+ - Sinchon
- Lovinghut Cafe Gangnam - Gangnam
- Nammi - Bangbae
- Cafe Turtle - Bangbae
- Apbbang Future Bakery - Jongno
- Overte - Myeongdong
- La Pause - Hapjeong
- Dotori Yongsan - Yongsan
- Veganique - Sinchon
- Veganature - Songpa
- For Four Bread - Mangwon
- Ooh Breado - Sangdo
- The Bread Blue - Sinchon
- Vegan Mama - Gwanak
- Sunnybread - Yongsan
- Pan honesta - Gangnam
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