Last week, I was in search of a nice vegetarian restaurant where I could eat some real healthy food. It was during our long Chuseok or Korean Thanksgiving holiday.

For those of you know by now that I became a vegetarian by choice after suffering a severe allergic reaction over 3 years ago.

I was at a Vietnamese restaurant in Toronto and I was having rice and grilled shrimp on skewers. I had just finished eating the first when all of a sudden I turned red, then purple and next thing I know I was on my way to the E.R! I’m lucky I didn’t leave…just yet. That was a close call or so said the doctor!  He said to be careful in the future & to avoid any seashell or my food coming into contact with any type of seafood. I now have to remember to ask every time I order anything or cook. I also decided not to consume meat anymore cause I started having allergic reactions to chicken & beef. Fun huh?

Damn shrimp! If it wasn’t for you I would be happily eating my favorite Peruvian food, arroz chaufa or jalea (that I loved dearly). So that made me 😦

Anyway, here I am 3 years later and going on strong!  Now the biggest challenge here in South Korea is trying to explain in the simplest way, in English (if the other person can understand a word or two) why you don’t eat meat. They are totally clueless or think you’re a weirdo (well, technically & literally I am an alien resident -> it says so on my residency card lol!).  So I found a way to say no meat, no ham please (so gogi or ham annyeo) Forgive the mistakes but that’s what I use. It has worked for the past 7 months 😉

So I’ve been on a real hunt of 2 types of food since I came here: Mexican / Latin American and Vegetarian food (there are very few in a city of 15 million (suburbs included) :O )

I’ve written a post already on Mexican food & am still not enchanted but I found a nice restaurant last w-end. Will write a separate post on that.

Now let me tell you about this important discovery! My friend looked up vegetarian restaurants in Seoul and called a couple of them but they were closed during the holidays. The only one that was open was New Start. It’s quite an interesting name for a restaurant right?

We called a cab, gave directions to the driver & thank you heaven for GPS! They get you from point A to B in no time! 😉

We arrived at our destination in Gangnam:

We went in & found the restaurant on the 2nd floor.  We were marvelled already. There is a health food store within the restaurant & it’s full of goodies.

Now we were greeted with a big smile & the waiter explained to us how it worked. It is an all you can eat buffet and it has a fixed price. That was music to our ears! Great way to start don’t you think?

I also asked if it would be okay for me to take pics because I would put them here on my blog and he agreed.

Look at what is available!

Kamut bread with fig and peanut jam. Sunflower seeds and dried apricots are to the left.

Pumpkin soup, roasted potatoes, pasta and more.

Several salads, corn, sweet potatoes (loved the peaches & apples salad yum!)

Traditional kimbap, quesadillas, beets and more.

The salad bar and dressing!

Now I couldn’t wait anymore so I went and helped myself. My 1st meal consisted of a pumpkin soup, kamut bread with fig jam, grilled tofu with soy sauce, roasted potatoes, lettuce, some black beans and a few pieces of eggplant. DELISH! I was savoring every morsel as if I had just come from a deserted island back to civilization ha ha 😉

That was really good and satisfying! Totally worth the trip. Now I’m thinking about returning for round 2!

How to get there?

New Start Restaurant is located on the 2nd floor of Namgok Building (897-13 to be precise) in Gangnam. The closest subway station is Seollung Exit 2 (Green line no 2)

From the exit, head straight until you reach the corner where the Linko store is.

Turn left and cross the street. Walk to Hollys Coffee and look across the street. There’s the Namgok Building.

What do you think of my little culinary adventure? I had so much fun and in great company!

I hope you had a laugh or two cause that was my purpose, besides entertaining you 😉

I will tell you a bit more about this other neighborhood I visited last w-end. It’s in the pipeline!

Til next time, have a great one.

Much ♥ always

Miss K