While there aren't too many vegan restaurants in Korea, Baru Gongyang--also known as "Balwoo"--is a heaven for vegetarians of Seoul. Baru offers various courses of temple cuisine, ranging from 10 to 17 dishes. Check out the menu here: page 1, page 2/3 and page 4.
My friend and I ordered the 10-dish course Paramita (10 바라밀상). It was more than enough food.
Three Colored Pancakes with Seasonal Vegetables (삼색전 = Samsaek Jeon).
Three Combinations Dumpling, Tofu with salt-pickled herbs and rice wrapped with wild herbs (계정혜삼합 = Gye-jeonghye Samhap).
Mushrooms and Vegetables with Korean chili paste sauce (버섯강정 = Buseot-Gangjeong).
Rainbow of banchan (sidedishes).
Soup made of Temple's Homemade Bean Paste with seasonal veggies.
Rice Porridge topped off with Sliced Dried Jujube.
Wild "deodeok" root mixed with seasonal vegetables and pine nut dressing (더덕샐러드 = Deodeok Salad).
Rice of Cirsium Setidens (곤드레밥 = Gondeurae Bap).
Assorted Wild Veggies and Fruit Chips. Comes with either shikhye or sujeonggwa.
Perilla Seeds Soup with tofu and wild greens topping (들깨탕 = Deul Kkae Tang).
Important things to know:
- Reservations are highly recommended as there is limited space.
- Baru serves lunch until 3pm and open again for dinner at 6pm.
- Everyone sharing a table must order the same course.
Located on the 5th floor of Temple Stay Information Center, across the street from the Jogyesa Temple.
Baru Gongyang
Phone: 02-2031-2081
Address (in English): 5층 71 Gyeonji-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-170 110-170
Address (In Korean): 서울시 종로구 견지동 71번지 템플스테
