Vegan/Vegetarian Eats in South Korea with Jordann! – Youngmi Gimbap + Maru Jayeonsik Gimbap (영미김밥 + 마루자연식김밥)

Welcome or welcome back to my blog! If you’ve already heard/read the spiel about my food series, you can go ahead and skip ahead to the first heading that says “Youngmi Gimbap (영미김밥)” and read on from there for my food reviews! If you’re new/have not seen the spiel about my food series, please read the next few paragraphs to get an idea of what this series is all about and some pertinent information about me.

This series will be all about vegan/vegetarian/veg-option restaurants around South Korea (mainly concentrated around Seoul) that I have tried. I will give a rundown of what I ordered at the place, the vibes of the place, and a rating of the food I tried. Certain places will have multiple food items listed, whereas others will have only one listed, depending on how often I visit the restaurant. I’ll also give the Naver Maps link to the restaurant if it interests you and you’d like to save it on your Naver Maps to explore!

A bit about me: I am vegetarian and have been since I was about thirteen. I mainly became vegetarian for moral and health reasons. Because I have not had meat in over eight years, I can no longer stomach it (or seafood, which I never liked in the first place). While vegetarian typically includes being able to eat dairy products, I actually learned here in Korea (very unfortunately, might I add ㅠㅠ) that I am lactose intolerant, but only to specific dairy products. I cannot drink milk or consume anything that is fairly unprocessed that has milk in it (e.g. cream/creamer, heavy cream, etc.). However, I can still eat cheese and butter (as those require more processing and therefore are further away from the milk that they started as), which is great for my Wisconsinite genes (Wisconsin is the cheese state lol). Anyway, that’s a little bit about me and my dietary restrictions 🙂 

In Korea, I prefer to go to vegetarian/vegan places or places with a specific veg-option menu listed, as I can never guarantee that a “regular” restaurant will have something vegetarian/vegan or will even willingly accommodate my dietary restrictions. By ensuring that I’m going to a vegan, vegetarian, or veg-option restaurant, I can guarantee that I will have something to eat. That is why a vast majority of the restaurants I recommend/talk about will be specifically vegetarian or vegan restaurants. I also have a few veg-option restaurants I’ve been to that I will recommend.

Youngmi Gimbap (영미김밥)

The first restaurant that I will be highlighting is Youngmi Gimbap (영미김밥), which is really close to the Yonsei campus! It’s a small restaurant that serves a bunch of variations of kimbap (김밥), noodle dishes, and a few other Korean dishes. My friends and I stumbled upon this place when we were looking for something to eat that was fairly small, as we weren’t too hungry at the time. I was pleasantly surprised when their menu featured one thing I could eat: veganized kimbap! Do keep in mind that this is the only thing I can eat on the menu, as everything else has meat and/or seafood in it. I’ve been to this restaurant a few times if I need something small to eat. They offer eat-in and take-out options!

I always order the Vegan Gimbap (비건김밥). Instead of putting meat or seafood in here, they fill the kimbap with more carrots (which is fine with me lol I love carrots). The kimbap definitely tastes good! The pickled radish and burdock root really give the kimbap its flavour; without it, I think the kimbap would taste pretty bland. That being said, it is not my favourite kimbap that I’ve ever tasted; that spot is reserved for Trader Joe’s Vegan Gimbap. That stuff is literally so good; it has the same ingredients as the kimbap at Youngmi Gimbap but has really flavourful tofu added, making it just that much better. If Youngmi Gimbap did this, I think it would be able to compete with Trader Joe’s for the spot of my favourite kimbap.

Here are my ratings for Youngmi Gimbap:

• Atmosphere: 6/10 – good atmosphere; not my favourite and the seats aren’t that comfortable but it does what it is supposed to do, so what else can you ask for, really?
• Vegan Gimbap (비건김밥): 6/10 – good kimbap, fills me up for a little bit, but not my favourite; i would appreciate it more if they put tofu in it instead of just adding more carrots!

Total average rating: 6/10 – decent food for a cheap price; not really much more you can ask for! i wish there were more vegan options, but honestly, i’m just glad that there even was an option in the first place. close to campus/the dorms as well, so that’s a plus!

Here is the Naver Map link if you are interested!

Maru Jayeonsik Gimbap (마루자연식김밥)

The second restaurant I want to highlight in this post is Maru Jayeonsik Gimbap (마루자연식김밥)! This is a completely vegan restaurant that serves veganized versions of traditional Korean street food, like kimbap (김밥), tteokbokki (떡볶이), bibimbap, oden (fish cake soup; 오뎅), noodle dishes, and more! It’s located in Insadong, Seoul. Insadong is an area that has a lot of traditional Korean food, crafts, and art! It’s like the art district of Seoul. It’s a very beautiful area with a lot of fun things to do! You’ll hear me mention Insadong a lot in future posts as well lol.

The one time I went to this restaurant, I went with a friend! We ordered one serving of the Fried Tofu Gimbap (유부김밥) to share as well as one serving each of the Fried Dumplings (튀김만두). Splitting the Fried Tofu Gimbap between us and having one full serving of the Fried Dumplings each was definitely the way to go; we were super stuffed after finishing our meal! The Fried Tofu Gimbap was a lot more flavourful than Youngmi Gimbap’s Vegan Gimbap, but it still wasn’t as good (in my opinion) as Trader Joe’s Vegan Gimbap. The Fried Dumplings were good, but nothing super special. Overall, the meal was really satisfying, and I would definitely come back here again!

Insadong is a beautiful place, but something that tripped me up about Maru Jayeonsik Gimbap is that the seating was outside instead of inside (there was not even a space to sit inside). Again, there is very little seating, so coming here with a small crowd (or by yourself) is best! I did not like that we had to sit outside, as we went when it was really humid out and there were bugs everywhere ㅠㅠ. The restaurant is run by the owner and her daughter(?); it seems like just the two of them run the whole thing. The owner is very kind! 

Here are my ratings for Maru Jayeonsik Gimbap:

• Atmosphere: 5/10 – i did not like having to sit outside on a really hot day, but at least we were covered from the direct sunlight; insadong, in general, is really pretty, and there’s lots to do, so it was nice to people-watch!
• Fried Tofu Gimbap (유부김밥): 7/10 – again, not the best that i’ve ever had, but it was better and more flavourful than youngmi gimbap’s vegan gimbap; would definitely eat this again and be wholly satisfied with my meal!
• Fried Dumplings (튀김만두): 7/10 – nothing special to write home about, but still very satisfying! had more flavour than other veggie fried dumplings that i’ve had here, so that’s something to note. the crispiness was to die for, honestly; when i get fried dumplings, i love a nice crisp, crunchy shell, so these definitely accomplished that

Total average rating: 6.33/10 – despite this number seeming low, i still recommend this place! it has a tonne of different food options that i haven’t even tried yet that may be a lot better than what i’ve rated here. if you’re interested in trying traditional korean street food but don’t want to risk getting sick from meat or seafood (traditional markets will typically include meat or seafood in their sauce if not in the actual food item), i would definitely highly recommend this restaurant! it has so many different options to choose from; you’re bound to find something that you like! and that way, you can still get a little bit of that traditional korean street food experience!

Here is the Naver Map link if you’re interested!

See you in the next post! 🙂