Korean vegetarian temple cooking at Sanchon

One of the more interesting meals we had was at Sanchon - located in an alleyway off the main Insadong shopping strip. Sanchon's cuisine is Korean vegetarian temple and it did not disappoint in its sheer variety of exciting vegetarian dishes. There was no cheese or diary in sight but plenty of wild greens, mushrooms, seaweed - all artfully prepared. Buddhist temple cuisine uses no 'stimulants' such as onions, scallions, garlic and chives. It is believed that these stimulants encourage negative emotions such as lust and anger which interfere with meditation. Plus the onion grows downwards in the soil which again is not seen as a good thing.

The owner was a Buddhist monk who had collected temple cuisine recipes from all over Korea including North Korea. He has written 5 recipe books to date and there was certainly a lot to buy in the restaurant - everything from the tasty snacks we enjoyed as appetizers and dessert, his cookbooks and even the beautiful napkins!

The interior was dimly-lit with lots of mysterious antiques including a whole set of temple bells hanging from the ceiling. There was also a central performance stage where every night at 7.30pm, there was a brief show of traditional korean dancing and drumming.

We enjoyed the performance while sampling the appetizer plate with kimchi and a smooth black sesame porridge.

Appetizer plate with kimchi, black sesame porridge and carbonated tea

The black sesame porridge was good - reminiscent of Cantonese black sesame sweet dessert but with no sugar. I actually preferred this savory version so much more.  The appetizers came with a tangy cold tea that almost tasted like sweet carbonated alcohol. We were told though that it was definitely tea.

Sanchon only serves one set menu - which makes selecting dishes from a menu necessary. The price for the dinner set was KRW 45,000 (approximately US$45) which is very reasonable for the generous helpings. The set also comes with a free glass of wine, unlimited buckwheat tea as well as other speciality teas during the appetizers and dessert.







The main affair took up all of our table. A rustic basket of small dishes was presented - along with several other surrounding dishes. There were about 16 dishes - tofu, sweet potato, okra, mushrooms, burdock root, radish as well as many ferns and wild greens that I did not recognize. Every diner was also given their own scorched rice bowl and there was a tureen of soup for the table as well. The soup was very appetizing with all kinds of different mushrooms and tofu in a miso-based broth.

Vegetarian Food Heaven

The whole table

After our main dishes were cleared, we were presented with our dessert platter consisting of homemade vegetable chips with some cinnamon and ginger tea. There was sliced lotus root and burdock and one other vegetable I couldn't identify. The rice puffs were mildly sweet, chewy and delicious. The chips were not too salty which was good.

Dessert platter with cinnamon tea

Red wine included with the dinner set

The creativity needed to make the natural food stuffs taste good was astounding. I have always loved vegetables but rely heavily on using garlic and strong spices to create flavorful dishes. This meal definitely gave us a lot of food for thought.

Sanchon's Oriental Medicine cabinet

By the time we finished at 9.30pm, there were only a few tables left and the dimly-lit surroundings took on a mysterious and almost spooky atmosphere. We finished our visit by buying one of the cookbooks - looking at the pictures to draw inspiration on cooking Korean vegetarian cuisine.

This is truly an ideal meal for the overseas visitor who enjoys vegetarian food!  If you are vegetarian for ethical or health/enjoyment purposes, this is a great destination restaurant in Seoul. Further details can be found at Sanchon's website.