Sanchon Temple Food Restaurant in Seoul

South Korea is doing a great job of promoting seasonal fruits and veggies. Fall is the perfect season if you like persimmons, sweet potatoes, corn or Korean pears. Sanchon, a Korean temple food restaurant in Insadong, also builds its 16-course menu around seasonal veggies and herbs from mountains around the country. This is a place where the health benefits of the ingredients are just as important as their flavors. Book a table here for dinner and enjoy delicious vegan dishes prepared according to Buddhist beliefs with a fascinating dance performance at 8 PM.

The same course menu is served for lunch and dinner but guests visiting in the evening can enjoy a unique Korean dance performance at 8 PM every night. I visited Sanchon with two friends who came to Korea for my wedding from Germany, one of them a vegetarian, one a vegan. They had actually discovered this place on HappyCow, a vegan and vegetarian restaurant finder. Since the vegan temple food restaurant has great reviews on the platform, we decided to give it a go.

Even though we hadn’t made a reservation, we got a wonderful table with views of the beautifully decorated dining area. The waitress explained that there is only one course menu available that’s 45,000 KRW per person, a heavy price compared to other places around Seoul. However, for the quality and types of foods, it is completely reasonable. I was completely blown away by the different flavors of the dishes presented to us during our dinner course.

Appetizers included a delicious miso soup, fermented alcohol, black sesame porridge and various greens nicely presented on a large square plate. Each and every dish united completely different flavors that all complemented each other just perfectly.

Next up was a mouthwatering salad from fresh mountain herbs and lettuce as well as mushrooms on a stick and dried seaweed in sweet seasoning. We couldn’t believe our eyes how much food the waitress was bringing out onto our table. My friends, too, were completely in awe of all the delicious vegan meals. Every single dish was so full of texture and flavor. My vegan friend soon declared Sanchon her favorite food experience in Seoul so far. I couldn’t agree more.

Finally, we were presented with the main course. Seven kinds of greens in different seasonings were beautifully surrounded by a more familiar set of Korean banchan, or side dishes. This included vegan kimchi, tofu, mushrooms, japchae glass noodles, beans, sweet potatoes and a delicious vegan doenjang jjiggae, fermented soybean stew. 

Sanchon appetizer

seven greens dish

Just when we thought we couldn’t fit anything more into our bellies, the waitress delivered delicious tea, dried sweet potato chips, and Korean rice snacks to our table. A perfect last course of our dinner, we were able to enjoy the atmosphere and take in the nightly Korean dance performance to the fullest.

Read more about Sanchon in the full article: http://lindagoeseast.com/2017/10/17/sanchon-seouls-famous-vegan-temple-food-restaurant/