Korean Job Discussion Forums

[leavingprovidence]

Hello dear, dear vegetarian friends. I have just moved to Junggye dong in Nowon, and I've had a pretty rough time eating anything other than pizza. I'm writing this first to ask if anyone has any recommendations of vegetarian/veggie friendly restaurants in the area, and second, to see if any of you vegetarians would like to go out for dinner/lunch sometime with a newbie to show me the ropes! I moved here with a friend from college (we're both non-sketchy recent college grads), and we've been teaching for about a week. We'd love to meet other people and find good vegetarian food! Any replies are appreciated.

[aaabank]

Hi newcomers,


I live up in Uijeongbu (just north of Seoul in the NE) but have a few vegetarian Korean foods for you...

- Dulsot Bibimbap is my personal favorite (it does have an egg in it though in case you were also a vegan)
- Soon Dubu is basically a tofu soup (it can be a little (hot) spicy depending on the restaurant)


It can be difficult at times to find Korean food without meat in it and so you might want to stock your kitchen with some ingredients to make some of your own meals. Good luck...

[littlelisa]

I'm not near you exactly, though I am in Seoul. I live near JangJi station on line 8. The metro is super easy to get around in, though, and I'd meet up with you sometimes if you'd like. If you like cooking, that's cool, cause I prefer cooking with others anyway. I've got a fairly big kitchen here.

You should check out the seoul veggie club (seoulveggieclub.wordpress.com) and vegetarian korea (vegetariankorea.org), both of which may be useful to you.

Edit: the poster above me has good advice! Yum, vegetarian bibimbap!

[CentralCali]

Here is a list of some vegetarian restaurants run by one Buddhist outfit. The food's really good, in my opinion, and they have restaurants around the world. (I found out about them while I was attending university in Davis, California--the restaruant was in the next town up the highway.)

I've discovered, being vegetarian myself and having a bit of an allergy to shellfish, that one must be incredibly specific when ordering foods at most Korean restaurants (this does not apply to the ones in the link above). Just telling the staff "no meat" won't cut it. Oddly enough, ham isn't considered meat by the cooks here, apparently. They consider it ham. I'm actually afraid to ask, "What plant do you think this stuff comes from then?" I'll drop dead on the spot if the response is, "Hormel." One must also specify, "No seafood and no shellfish."

That being said, do a search on 채식 (Vegetarian) on daum's map function (make sure you select the "whole country" option for the search. I got 4 pages (58 hits) for that and they're all restaurants. You can check Naver's map function too. Naver will ask you to refine your search by selecting 음식. When I did that, I got 5 pages of hits.

You will find more places if you look for 웰빙 뷔페 (Health Food aka Well-being) also. For those, you have to call and ask if they have vegetarian options.

[Bramble]

Hi Leavingprovidence,

Welcome! Others gave you some good links. I don't know of any veggie places in Nowon, but there are a couple of restaurants near Hoegi Station that might not be too far for you. Regular restaurants often don't understand the concept of vegetarianism and may screw up your order without any malicious intent. But there's tons of good stuff available in supermarkets, at the handful of veg-friendly restaurants around town, and at the Seoul Veggie Club meetings. (BTW, when are they meeting again? I haven't seen any announcements lately.)

[littlelisa]

I haven't seen any either, lately.

[Bramble]

[aveguard]

Have you joined the Veggy Group Yet?
Next meetup is November 17 in Hongdae.

[kermo]

[HapKi]

There's a cheap buffet in the area that has lots of vegetarian dishes (plus meat) for 5,000w.

According to someone who lives in the area-

If you're at Junggye Station, be on the La Doris corner and walk towards Nowon Station. After you pass Baek Hospital, keep going a bit. It's in the basement near Kookmin Bank and is called "Well Being."