Vegan Seoul

Order almost anything in Seoul and banchan, the little free side dishes, land on the table before your main does. Kimchi, namul (seasoned greens) and pickled radish look like a vegan’s dream, but much of it is made with jeotgal (salted shrimp or anchovy), and most broths start with dried anchovies.

So every place below cooks without the shrimp and the anchovy stock: a Bib Gourmand Korean-Chinese kitchen, temple food opposite Jogyesa, wood-fired pizza in Yeonhui-dong and a basement bakery in Bukchon. I would book ALT.a first and build the rest of the trip around it. For more cities, browse all the vegan travel destinations.

Vegan Seoul at a Glance

• Best first meal in Itaewon: Plant Cafe Seoul
• Best Korean-Chinese: ALT.a
• Best special occasion: Balwoo Gongyang
• Best near Gangnam and COEX: Plantude
• Best lively dinner: Monk’s Butcher
• Best pizza and paella south of the river: Nammi Plant Lab
• Best gluten-free: Vegetus
• Best bakery and brunch: Ashville Bakery
• Best pizza: Weirdough

Best Vegan Restaurants in Seoul

1. Plant Cafe Seoul: Comfort Food and Cake Since 2013 Vegan

Recent diners keep ordering the mushroom truffle pasta, which one liked so much they plan to recreate it at home, and the tempeh wrap with hummus, packed full and sturdy to the last bite. The popcorn chicken is mild, crunchy and very easy to keep eating, and the cake counter pulls in plenty of people on its own.

Save room for a brownie, crisp at the edges and soft in the middle, or a slice of pumpkin spice cheesecake. Plant started in Itaewon in 2013 and has been the city’s vegan meeting point ever since, with a Western menu of bowls, burgers and wraps plus craft beer and kombucha on tap. You order on a screen, so no Korean needed.

💡 Tip: Plant opens 11AM to 10PM Tuesday to Sunday, with the kitchen closing at 9PM. It is shut on Mondays, so plan your Itaewon day around that.

📍 2F, 117 Bogwang-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul | Itaewon | 🌐 plantcafeseoul.com | 📸 @plantcafeseoul

2. ALT.a: Vegan Korean-Chinese With a Bib Gourmand Vegan

Korean-Chinese food is the country’s favourite comfort cooking, and ALT.a makes the whole canon without animal products. Diners rave about the tangsuyuk (crispy fried pieces in sweet-and-sour sauce) made with Veef, a plant-based beef, and the Veef japchae (glass noodles stir-fried with vegetables). Fried dumplings and morning glory fried rice are regular orders too.

Jjajangmyeon (noodles in black bean sauce) comes in a truffle version, and the silken tofu salad is a good opener. One recent diner found the ma po tofu sweet and mild, so ask for extra chilli if you want heat. The kitchen made the Michelin Bib Gourmand list in 2025 and 2026, and the front patio is lovely on summer evenings.

💡 Tip: Book on CatchTable, especially for weekends, because walk-ins get turned away. Hours are 11:30AM to 3PM and 5PM to 10PM daily, with last orders at 8:50PM.

📍 109 Bogwang-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul 04391 | Itaewon | ☎️ +82 2-790-8688 | 📸 @alt.a_official

3. Balwoo Gongyang: Temple Food Across From Jogyesa Vegetarian

Balwoo Gongyang serves Korean temple food as long set menus, and recent diners describe a parade of small dishes: a vegetable pancake, dumplings, rice soup and other soups, kimchi and pickles, then dessert. Flavours are gentle and mostly mild, closer to Japanese food than the fiery Korean meals you may expect. Go hungry, because the sets are huge.

Every party gets its own private room, even a table for one, and the cooking follows Buddhist rules, so there is no meat, fish, garlic or onion. The Jogye Order, the largest Buddhist order in Korea, runs it from 5F of the Templestay centre opposite Jogyesa temple. Honey has turned up in some drinks, so ask before you order one.

💡 Tip: Book ahead and pick a sitting: lunch runs 11:30AM to 3PM with last orders at 2PM, and dinner starts at 6PM, Monday to Saturday. It is closed on Sundays, and Anguk Station (Line 3) is a short walk away.

📍 5F, Templestay Information Center, 56 Ujeongguk-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul | Jongno | ☎️ +82 2-733-2081 | 📸 @balwoogongyang_official

4. Plantude: Fully Vegan Korean Fusion in COEX Vegan

Order the crispy tofu with mushrooms, which one recent diner called crunchy, sweet and savoury all at once, or the tofu karaage with buckwheat noodles. The tofu ramen is warm and comforting with gyoza on the side, and the stew the menu calls soft tofu in hell earns more praise than the summer bibimbap.

Plantude belongs to Pulmuone, the Korean tofu company, which goes a long way to explaining the tofu. It sits on B1F of the Starfield COEX mall, so it makes an easy lunch between the aquarium and Starfield Library. Service is quick, prices are fair, and plenty of the diners around you will be omnivores who came for the same crispy tofu.

💡 Tip: COEX is huge, so look up store I-111 on the mall maps before you set off. Plantude opens at 11AM daily with last orders at 8PM.

📍 B1F, I-111, Starfield COEX Mall, 513 Yeongdong-daero, Gangnam-gu, Seoul | Samseong-dong | ☎️ +82 2-551-3933 | 📸 @plantude.official

5. Monk’s Butcher: Orange Tofu Karaage and a Buzzy Itaewon Dinner Vegan

The orange tofu karaage is the order everyone mentions, crispy tofu in a sticky orange glaze. The lion’s mane mushroom gangjeong (a sweet, sticky Korean fried dish) has its own fan club, and recent diners also loved the mushroom risotto, the Moroccan carrots and a tomato coconut curry with paratha that one called properly Malaysian.

The burger gets milder reviews, so put your money on the fried dishes and the black lemon pasta. Monk’s Butcher fills 3F and 4F of a building on Itaewon-ro, with a lively dinner crowd and seats upstairs where you can watch the cooks. One recent visitor called it one of the best vegan meals of their life.

💡 Tip: Book on CatchTable for dinner. It opens 12PM to 10:30PM daily, with a 3PM to 5PM break on weekdays and last orders at 9:30PM.

📍 3F and 4F, 228-1 Itaewon-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul 04400 | Itaewon | ☎️ +82 2-790-1108 | 🌐 monksbutcher.com | 📸 @monksbutcher_itaewon

6. Nammi Plant Lab: Paella and Pizza South of the River Vegan

Pizza is the most talked-about thing here, and the eggplant pizza with hummus is the one people name. The chipotle paella is the most popular dish on the menu, and the ricotta cheese salad, made plant-based like everything else, keeps getting singled out. A free starter of bread with kimchi lands first and sets a generous tone.

Rosé cream pasta and the spinach cream lasagna are good backups, though one regular found the perilla pesto risotto a miss. Nammi means South America in Korean, and owner Christian Oviedo runs it as a neighbourhood restaurant in Bangbae-dong, with craft beer, wine and prices well below Itaewon. Portions are big and dogs are welcome.

💡 Tip: Book for weekends. It opens 12PM to 9PM daily, with a break from 4PM to 5:30PM and last orders at 8PM. Sadang and Isu stations are both nearby.

📍 2F, 55 Bangbaecheon-ro 4an-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul | Bangbae-dong | ☎️ +82 2-522-1276 | 📸 @nammiplantlab

7. Vegetus: Gluten-Free Vegan Comfort Food in Haebangchon Vegan

Recent diners order the Vegetus burger and the jalapeño burger with a side of falafel, and one table rated them on a par with their favourite burger spot back home. The gluten-free lasagna and the nachos are the other big sellers, and mac and cheese with a gluten-free chocolate brownie to finish is the classic Vegetus meal.

Everything is vegan and much of the menu is gluten-free, which makes Vegetus a lifeline for coeliac travellers. It sits in Haebangchon (literally liberation village, HBC to locals), the hillside neighbourhood above Itaewon. Paninis get plenty of love at lunch, and the restaurant is women-owned and openly LGBTQ+ friendly.

💡 Tip: Vegetus is closed on Tuesdays. Other days it runs 12PM to 2:45PM and 5PM to 9:30PM, and it is an uphill walk from Noksapyeong Station (Line 6).

📍 59 Sinheung-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul 04338 | Haebangchon | ☎️ +82 70-8824-5959 | 📸 @vegetuskr

8. Ashville Bakery: Stone-Oven Ciabatta in Bukchon Vegan

The ciabatta is the reason to come: baked in a stone oven and turned into sandwiches that recent diners call gorgeous and full of flavour. One standout uses a potato pancake as the filling, and the mushroom and hash brown buns get specific shout-outs. Pair one with the creamy tomato soup and the house salad.

For dessert, the pistachio cream cake is the most-ordered slice, and reviewers keep describing the cakes as moist and fluffy. The bakery sits below street level on a Bukchon lane, with soothing music and homey seating, and nothing outside announces that it is vegan. Several visitors came back more than once in a single trip.

💡 Tip: Ashville opens 10:30AM to 6PM daily, until 7PM on Saturdays, and brunch runs 11AM to 4PM. Come early for the widest choice of bread. Anguk Station (Line 3) is a short walk away.

📍 5-5 Bukchon-ro 5-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul | Bukchon | ☎️ +82 70-8839-9999 | 📸 @ashville_bakery

9. Weirdough: Wood-Fired Vegan Pizza in Yeonhui-dong Vegan

Book for the lotus root pizza with basil pesto, the dish nearly every review names, and one couple who have eaten a lot of vegan pizza called it the best they have had. The truffle pizza is the other favourite, and the heirloom tomato salad, house pickles and a glass of natural wine round out the table.

Every pizza comes out of a wood-fired oven, and the kitchen’s motto is farm to pizza, heart to table. Weirdough is small, cosy and openly LGBTQ+ inclusive, with an open kitchen and a friendly chef. It sits in a 2F unit in Yeonhui-dong, a residential neighbourhood near Yonsei University.

💡 Tip: Weirdough is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Dinner runs 5PM to 9PM on the other days, lunch runs 12PM to 2PM on weekends, and booking through CatchTable is the safest bet.

📍 2F, 80 Jeungga-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03695 | Yeonhui-dong | 📸 @weirdough.friends

Cheonggyecheon: The Stream Under the Streets

Cheonggyecheon spent decades buried under concrete and an elevated highway, until the city tore the road down and reopened the stream in 2005. It now runs about 11km east from Cheonggye Plaza, a few metres below street level, with stepping stones, small waterfalls and herons fishing in the shallows. It is the calmest walk in central Seoul.

Start near Balwoo Gongyang after lunch and follow the water east toward Gwangjang Market, or come back after dark when the bridges are lit. The traffic noise drops away as soon as you take the steps down.

Vegan Seoul: What to Know Before You Go

• Most kimchi contains jeotgal (salted seafood), and many soups and stews start with myeolchi (dried anchovy) stock, so ordinary Korean restaurants are hard work even for vegetable dishes.
• Learn 채식 (chaesik, vegetarian food) and 비건 (bigan, vegan). 고기 빼 주세요 (gogi ppae juseyo) means “no meat, please”, but it will not take out fish sauce or anchovy stock.
• Download Naver Map or KakaoMap for walking and subway directions, because international map apps give patchy directions in Korea.
• Popular restaurants take bookings on CatchTable, which has an English version. ALT.a, Monk’s Butcher and Weirdough fill up fast on weekends.
• Expect closures over Seollal (Lunar New Year) and Chuseok (the autumn harvest holiday), when many owners shut for two or three days.
• Load a T-money card for the subway and buses. It also pays at convenience stores, which is handy for snacks between meals.

When to Visit Seoul

Spring and autumn are the easy seasons. Cherry blossoms usually peak in early April, and the Lotus Lantern Festival before Buddha’s Birthday sends a parade of glowing lanterns down Jongno, past Jogyesa and Balwoo Gongyang. Autumn colour arrives in late October and lasts into November, with dry, clear days made for wandering Bukchon.

Summer is hot and humid, and the jangma (monsoon) soaks late June and July. Winters are dry and often well below freezing, which is perfect weather for a long temple-food lunch and a bowl of truffle jjajangmyeon. Book further ahead for spring and autumn weekends.

Vegan Seoul FAQ