[Seoul - Insadong] Osegyehyang - Where to Eat Vegan/Vegetarian Food in Seoul, South Korea

Ever wondered where to take your vegetarian and vegan friends to eat in Seoul? Take them to Osegyehyang!

This is a post I have been meaning to write forever. Eating vegan while you're out to eat is pretty challenging in Korea as I'm sure you can guess. In case you're not totally familiar, there are often fish or shrimp components in most items that you may assume is actually vegan! For example, kimchi is not usually vegan and many of the vegetable-based banchan (side dishes) are made with fish broth or the like.

Please note that only a few of the options on the menu are vegan, but the whole menu is vegetarian.

This is a more formal table service restaurant of the Loving Hut brand. I've introduced Loving Hut in the past, but RIP my favorite location. Osegyehyang 오세계향 is located near Insadong, which makes it a perfect place to take visitors.

The menu is very extensive and available in English. By extensive, I mean vegans can actually try out a bunch of traditional Korean food (non-fusion) with pretty darn authentic flavors.

As you may know, my favorite food from Loving Hug was the 두개장 (dugaejang), so I was so happy to have found this on the menu (right side of photo). I wholeheartedly recommend you get this. It a very good soup. It's the vegan version of the yukgaejang (spicy shredded beef soup with sweet potato noodles and vegetables).

This version a spicy soup made with mushrooms, soy protein, vegetables, and sweet potato noodles. It tastes so great and is pretty much the same flavors as you'd get with the yukgaejang. The dugaejang meal came with a side of the purple rice, too. Bonus!

We also got an order of the mandu (fried dumplings). These were pretty good for what they are. I, personally, would order a different fried option next time (I'm looking at you fried sweet and sour soy protein - vegetarian version of tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork)).

We also got the Mushroom Roll and Hot Sauce. This looked so fancy! I, personally, think that maybe it's a little overpriced for the quantity of food you get. It does taste great, though. The texture and flavor was great, so I would recommend this if you're okay with the price and want a nice, flavorful meat alternative. It wasn't spicy, I would liken it more to something like a bulgogi than a spicy food.

One of the other people at the table ordered the soy sauce-based vegetarian bbq and rice. This was a very safe choice. It had some flavor, but I would not necessarily order it for myself. Honestly, this is a great idea for someone who is not a very adventurous eater. They can still eat, but don't need to necessarily jump out of their comfort zone.

If you want another soup option, I would also recommend the Grilled Soy Protein Stew, this is a sweeter stew than what I ordered. It's the non-meat version of the bulgogi ddukbaegi.

If you want a really Korean Chinese meal, I would recommend you order: Chinese Style Hot Noodles (jjamppong), jjajangmyun (Chinese black bean noodles), and maeshil tangsu chae (sweet and sour fried vegetables).

The menu is below and has English descriptions of the food. Some of the descriptions lead a little to be desired, but they are there, along with pictures.

If you're wondering about the red and green words, I will add a little translation and explanation about it, but since I'm not Buddhist, I'm in no way an expert about this.

오신채 (red) - This indicates that the menu item includes any/all of the five herbs that some Buddhist sects avoid (garlic, onion, leek, chives, and green onions).
무신채 (green) - This indicates that the menu item does not contain any/all of the five pungent herbs listed above.

This may actually be useful for non-Buddhists, too! I know some people have sensitivities to any of the above listed pungent herbs, so if you go here you can eat in comfort by choosing any of the green options.

Some of the menu items are actually available in both versions, so make sure you point to which version you want.

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